Phoebe singing, fi-bee

Phoebe is my constant strolling companion, a bird who joins me on every walk. She drops in with a startling little high pitched whistle which sounds like an air kiss. She shows a simple white under her belly and charcoal black feathers worn like a "hoodie" atop crown, upper breast and over her back and tail. Her keen little dark eye shines out handsomely, and, it seems to me, curiously, from her (or his) khol-tinted face. Phoebes are uniform-looking ;one resembles the next nearly exactly in plumage, but each is also beautiful and somehow unique in the moment. Their uniqueness could be in their bold presence and precision as bug catchers that hunt on the wing. It could also be their penchant for choosing open and prominent perches on which to alight. They favor trail posts, benches, metal signs, drinking fountains and lower outer tree branches--also stream boulders or upjutting logs and vegetation which overhangs water. They are fine little potters fashioning their nests from creek mud and grasses, stucco architecture of the birdworld. 

Snowy Egret

I watched from the cliff edge as two Snowy Egrets stalked prey in the tide pools off of West Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz. It was a bright but cold December Day, so there was a whitish glare reflecting off the ocean into my eyes and the Egrets slipped in and out of view as their forms blended into the swabs of light, becoming visible again against the dark wavelets. Snowy Egrets feed on mudflats, in rivers, on pond banks and tidal flats as well as irrigated fields. Their profile whether standing erect or stretched out in flight is distinctive. They are long- legged with long necks and a long and sharp, pointed beak. I suppose they appear thin, even for a bird. Though their legs are fragile looking, the Egrets seemed comfortable contending with the waves washing swiftly over the rocks. Snowy Egrets are more active fishers and do more scrambling and sprinting than White Egrets who use a stealthy stillness. The Snowy does more chasing of shrimp, aquatic insects, small fish, frogs, etc. They have a habit of stirring up shallow waters with their bright yellow feet ("golden slippers") as they wade and forage for prey, much as we might stir our soup with a spoon to lift the carrots or the beans. In flight they stick their long black legs rigidly straight out behind them and tuck their 's'-shaped necks in. They have a very wide wing span and slow graceful wing beats. Their breeding plumage is lace-like and becoming almost like a bridal veil or lightweight intricate shawl. The herons were my first favorite birds, and so they remain.

Northern Flicker

 The Northern Flicker is suited up with a black crescent at the throat and spots disbursed all along the breast, flanks and undertail coverts. Their black-barred backs seen against crisply spotted chests are an uncommon but successful fashion pairing of spots with stripes.
This species is very noticeable in the field with their red moustache (male), underwing and tail undersides. Out west we have Red-shafted Flickers; the other, eastern, subspecies is Yellow-shafted. They have been recorded as interbreeding, so they are not counted as separate species anymore. They nest in tree cavities which they chip out themselves. I've always spotted these members of the woodpecker clan alone or in small groups. About two weeks ago there were three who cruised through my backyard together. This group paused in the black walnut tree.They have the soft grey toned feathers which feather also the mourning doves on their heads. Flickers are a type of woodpecker and their flap-flap-flap-glide-flap-flap-glide flight movements (undulating) reveal this kinship as well as their stature (about 12" long), their stout and strong beak with potrusible tongue and their zygodactyl feet. Their toes are arranged differently from other birds, two facing forward and two backwards for scaling trees. This is how they shimmy up and down, plus side to side so smoothly. Woodpeckers' potrusible tongues wrap up around the eye socket when they are pulled in, so as to refit the whole tongue's length within the bill. They can stick out their tongues past the tips of their beaks by a couple of beak-lengths using special muscles as a part of their unique skull and tongue anatomical adaptation. Flickers eat a lot of ants, so they feed often on the ground using their pointed, extensive and sticky tongues. Most other woodpeckers feed up in and under the barks of trees and not the ground, though I've seen Pileated Woodpeckers, also eaters of ants, on fallen tree limbs (in Montana). The Flicker call is a clear and far-carrying Kyeer.With its patterning and flashes of red in flight, the Red-shafted Flicker is eye-catching in the wintertime when many other birds display toned down plumage. Look for the white rump patch as Flickers fly off.

Red-winged Blackbirds

Wild Birds Unlimited

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=c0Lw23yQFwQ

 Conk-a-ree they sing out from the reedy edges of ponds and lakes where they feed and nest, V-rrrrreee! Their voices provide the sound track of lazy summer days. Males are polygynous, with five or more nesting females in their territory. Their song may be uncomplex but they put their whole bodies and voices into singing it-- wings rounded, tail fanned out and heads in the air. Their singing style has its own name, "song spread." The males show those lovely "epaulets" of the upper wings to advantage. The shoulder badges on the wings stand out strikingly against jet black feathers. He's got this one flashy attribute to boast of with his robust singing and he makes the most of it. "If you've got it, flaunt it." Redwings form immense flocks, in the hundreds and tens of thousands, during the winter. Within this family group are other blackbirds as well as Screaming Cowbirds (I kid you not) and Boat-tailed Grackles, among others.

Gulls: What's so Special about a "Seagull"?

tgreybirds.com (California gulls)

   I am able to drink up sea water and expel the salt with a pair of salt glands located in my head above my eyes. Super salty water is absorbed from my bloodstream and excreted through the glands down my beak, trickling out my nostrils. Did you know I have this magic? Did you know we birds have nostrils?

 

www.kiwifoto.com

  I saw many gulls in their great colonies on the mudflats at Alviso Marina County Park. Ho-hum, seagulls; of course I kept my eyes peeled for something less ordinary. The ones pictured here, in an apparent embrace, are Western gulls, residents of the Pacific Coast. Many types of seagull (and people probably won't stop calling them that despite birders' urgency for accuracy) are birds I see daily without looking for them as they fly high overhead or float around on a city pond or take leftovers off the schoolyard. Birders are ever in pursuit of that rare sighting, but, for me, there is no ordinary bird. Gulls too possess their secrets.

http://www.pbase.com/tgrey/yard  Tom Grey has a helpful, friendly website with amazing photographs he took of many types of birds. Check this out!

Bushtits, or no see 'ums

North Coast Land Conservancy/Teresa

If you are reborn as a bushtit, you will never have to be alone. Bushtits travel in fluffed out little bands of ten, seventeen, twenty, forty, and then some. There isn't a creature such as the Lone Bushtit. They are the heart of sociability. They are dark, restless little forms like commas or apostrophes in a tree. Their bodies are small like several cotton balls stuck together with a longish tail tacked on. Psaltriparus minimus is their "proper," Latin name. Minimus would be a fitting name for one of those teensie chihuahuas or a parakeet, or maybe for a large pit bull or giant goldfish. "Minimus, down!" These birds are accomplished knitters binding thready green, grey knee socks in trees to hatch and raise their young inside. Their nests are long, coarse, flexible, spongy tapestries of moss, webs, animal hair and other filaments the pair weaves together on the outer limbs of trees. They are remarkable in the nest world and unique. The hanging shelters would seem to have been blown there and snagged by the tree except for the little cheeps and shaking of the lichen threads when the bushtitties are active. If I were a bushtit to-be, I would be warm, dry and happy in my sleeping bag, with its inner lining of feathers right where my bushtit tush fits. The parents climb in through a small opening at the top of the tube sock and pick their way down with insects for their nestlings. A perfect arrangement, in all.                                               

Sharp-shinned Hawk

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/132363676521127807

 I was walking at dusk by the Chinese statuary and birdbath sales yard near Kelley Park Zoo. I figured it was a bit dark to bird anymore and I wasn't likely to see anything "special" out in front of a 7-11 on a busy intersection. I wasn't paying any particular attention, but some swift motion, or it could have been a powerful presence, up to my left drew my eye. I looked up and there perched on a billboard was a Sharp-shinned Hawk taking a look on the birdbath and street scene below. I find the element of surprise keeps birdwatching new and exciting. Sometimes I surprise the bird and other times I am the one caught by surprise. Sharp-shinned Hawks are small birds of prey and they hunt passerines (perching birds) on the wing. They  also eat small mammals, an occasional reptile or amphibian, as well as large insects such as dragonflies. The "Sharpie" I saw was poised forward, his eyes fixed on the tree canopies for his end of day catch. He had handsome colors like the one here pictured with the rusty and white speckled breast and slate back. They have a reputation for taking food to-go from backyard birdfeeders, but wouldn't you? Hard to pass the buffet table without taking a nibble or two of the offerings...A bustling birdfeeder must be the Sharped shinned Hawk's idea of a QuickieMart stop.

howardsview.com (immature Sharp-shinned)