Today’s post includes a selection of photos from several recent bird walks at various locations — including my neighborhood and yard.
Westlake Park is a small park with a lake. It’s a great little place to see ducks, American Coots, grebes and smaller birds. This was where I saw my first Green Heron a couple of years ago. The highlight of this recent and brief stop was a Belted Kingfisher.
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I recently returned to Pescadero Marsh Natural Preserve. You might be thinking, weren’t you just there? Yes, but it has such a variety of birds: ducks (especially Northern Shovelers) and grebes and egrets and herons. We always get a thrill from seeing them. Katherine and I saw two sets of Belted Kingfishers on this trip. Raptors include Northern Harriers and Red-tailed Hawks.
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I’d never even heard of Santa Cruz Gardens County Park when Katherine took me there recently.
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Another trip to Wavecrest in Half Moon Bay netted me this photo of a Red-tailed Hawk preening the feathers its beak won’t reach.
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Walking through the neighborhood, I saw drama in the sky above between an American Crow and an uninterested Red-tailed Hawk. (Yes, those Red-tails are ubiquitous.)
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A California Scrub Jay was seen in our backyard looking for a place to hide his acorn.
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I saw Bewick’s Wrens in our yard in May of this year. Before that, I’d seen them at Henry Cowell State Park and in Wilder Ranch State Park.
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A Hermit Thrush is another bird that I’d seen before (Moonglow Dairy, Wilder Ranch are two places) but not in our yard — until now. I spotted this bird underneath the Bottlebrush tree. His white eye-ring first drew my eye. I keep the camera near when I’m in the backyard and was able to grab a few pictures of it before it disappeared.
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You don’t need to go far from home to view birds. Your neighborhood or backyard will do…if you are looking!