May 13 - San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory's Photo Big Day! Join me for a "birding big day" in honor of the event. We'll be visiting some of my favorite watery spots around the Napa Valley's "south county." Event details in the second half of this post! Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with SFBBO other …
What's a painted redstart? A brash singular tweet punctuates the calm air among lilting finch songs, buzzy wren calls, and high, soft warbler chips. A few minutes later, another. "There is a stranger among us," I assume the first Santa Clara birder to hear the Painted Redstart thought. The call is similar to a California …
Continue reading Chasing Sightings – The Painted Redstart of Santa Clara
Years ago, the City of Napa launched a Riparian restoration project to bring back some of the crucial habitats destroyed by development along the Napa River. This led to the creation of two parks along the edge of town, Trancas Crossing and the Oxbow Preserve. Both feature a grassy middle, a 1-mile long paved trail …
Continue reading Dodging dive-bombing Swallows and Hawk Poop – Field Notes 6/4/2022
The San Pablo Wildlife Refuge is out in the boonies, past the "Road Ends" sign on Buchli Station Road. To get there, you must continue past Bouchaine Vineyards, down a washed out gravel road. You will feel like you are trespassing. But then a tiny parking lot appears around a bend, and the grassland blends …
Continue reading Field Notes 1/31/22 – Off the Beaten Path at San Pablo Bay Wildlife Refuge
Moore Creek Park is just past the end of the Chiles Pope Valley arm of Lake Hennessey. The trees are a mile high up here, and while only between 600-900 feet elevation, you feel on top of the world. The creek rushes along the Western edge of the park, what is now a mighty roar, …
Continue reading Field Notes 1/18 – A 4-mile Hike in the Mountains
What is a vagrant bird? Why do birders get so excited about them? Let me tell you a story about my vagrant and how my birding group made history.
With no wind and a break in the rain, it looked to be a nice morning for birding at the cemetery.
December 5 marked the first in a series of three bird walks at di Rosa. Chilly fog settled over Winery Lake, lending an air of mystery to the environment.
Even when I think I understand the birds in my own backyard, I'm still sometimes surprised.
It was a brisk 37 degrees on the way out the door at 7:18am. A female hairy woodpecker flew out of the old evergreen as a white-breasted nuthatch pecked at the feeder. The hairy woodpeckers seem to have moved in long-term, and I couldn't be more exited! That brings the total to four woodpecker species …
