Cosmic Strings

Well, I’ve been very busy with work and have procrastinated on writing up the birds I have seen. Though the birds haven’t been too exciting in my yard the past two weeks. Mostly the regular assortment of
2-3 nuthatches
2-3 titmice
2-4 scrub jays
1-3 steller’s jays
2-3 acorn woodpeckers
4-12 juncos
2-6 golden crowned sparrows
0-3 western bluebirds
1-2 lesser goldfinches
2-4 house finches (though a couple days ago I had 8, I don’t know where they all came from)

Other birds I’ve seen in the past week that I don’t see everyday:
1 ruby crowned kinglet
1 northern (red-shafted) flicker
~10 california quail
2 red-tailed hawks
2 ravens

And to top it all off this morning:
1 kestrel (male)

I rarely see kestrels on top of Mt. Hamilton, usually I see them down at lower altitudes.

Today was yet another day with no sightings of pine siskins. They may have moved on to their winter feeding grounds (wherever that may be).

Acorn Woodpecker 2
Nuttall’s Woodpecker 1 (female)
Red-breasted Sapsucker 1
Dark-eyed Junco 8
Golden-crowned Sparrow 4
Lesser Goldfinch 3 (1 male, 2 female)
Western Bluebird 2 (1 male, 1 female)
Scrub Jay 3
Steller’s Jay 1
Band-tailed Pigeon 10
Anna’s Hummingbird 1 (female)
White-breasted Nuthatch 2
Oak Titmouse 2
House Finch 4

This morning had gorgeous weather and I decided it would be nice to take and hour
and survey the birds in the my yard. Nothing unusual today except that there were no pine siskins (I saw one yesterday, but they may have left the mountain).

Today’s tally:

Oak Titmouse 2
White-breasted Nuthatch 2
Dark-eyed Junco ~12
Golden-crowned Sparrow ~8
Nuttall’s Woodpecker 1 (female)
Western Bluebird 3
Acorn Woodpecker 2
Lesser Goldfinch 2 (male & female)
Scrub Jay 4
Steller’s Jay 2
Red-tailed Hawk 1
House Finch 2 (male & female)
Band-tailed Pigeon 6
Common Raven 1

Last night, just as I was starting to drive down to San Jose, I saw a poorwill sitting
in the road. It flew off just as my car got to it, but I was surprised to see one (I rarely see this bird and this was the second one in two weeks!). I continued on down to town and had the misfortune of having a screech owl fly into my car (it didn’t survive the encounter – making it the 3rd owl to have a fatal encounter
with my car – I have exceedingly bad owl karma).

It seems that a blog is the easiest way for me to keep track of what birds I see
here in my yard. Today started off well with my adding a new bird to my life list:
Cedar Waxwing. There was a flock of about 20 of them flitting around the oak tree that has lots of mistletoe on it outside my bedroom window. I had been told they were around here, but after looking for them for a couple years I still hadn’t
seen one. Then today, luckily a big flock so I got a pretty good look at them. With that sort of start to the day, of course I had to see what else I hanging out in my yard this morning.

Nuttall’s Woodpecker 1
Acorn Woodpecker 2
Steller’s Blue Jay 3
Scrub Jay 4
Dark-eyed Junco 6
Golden-crowned Sparrow 10
Cedar Waxwing 20+
Oak Titmouse 2
White-breasted Nuthatch 2
Anna’s Hummingbird 1
Band-tailed Pigeon 4
Lesser Goldfinch 2

I just got back from a few days out of town and discovered it was so windy that some of my birdfeeders had been blown down. I put them back up and within
minutes many of the regular birds were back (scrub jays, juncos, titmice, nuthatches). I did get a view of a new bird (for me anyway) today here on Mount Hamilton, a rock wren. Keith, a colleague of mine, caught sight of a red breasted
nuthatch here. I added another bird to my life list down in Grant Park a few miles from here – a merlin. It flew across the road in front of my car with something fuzzy in its talons. It is always nice to see new birds here that I’ve never seen before.

This morning a quick look out the window and refilling of the bird feeders gave me a few birds.

Band-tailed Pigeon 6
Red-bellied Sapsucker 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler 1
Anna’s Hummingbird 1
Lesser Goldfinch 1
Pine Siskin 2
Scrub Jay 1
Dark-eyed Junco 3
White-breasted Nuthatch 2
Golden-crowned Sparrow 3

I’ll probably add to this list as the day goes on.

I’m also planning on doing a history walk at Grant Park and some bird watching. If I see anything interesting I’ll update this post.

Today I saw my first Pine Siskins at my feeder in months. They are probably
just passing though migrating to where ever they go.

Today’s sightings at my feeder were:
Pine Siskin 10
Dark-eyed Junco 8
Scrub Jay 2
Band-tailed Pigeon 1
House Finch 3
Anna’s Hummingbird 3 females
Black Phoebe 1
Western Bluebird 2 (male and female)
Acorn Woodpecker 2
White-breasted Nuthatch 3
Oak Titmouse 2
Golden-crowned Sparrow 3
Lesser Goldfinch 4 (2 male, 2 female)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
Spotted Towhee 1

Today between 1 and 2pm I managed to squeeze a little time to wander around my
house again to seek birds. It started pretty slowly (nothing hopping around in the fruiting elderberry bushes here – which is unusual this time of year). Best sighting today was finally discovering a nest hole for the acorn woodpeckers that are constantly here. I watched woodpeckers wander in and out of the hole for 20+ minutes.

Other birds sighted:

Band-tailed Pigeon 2
Turkey Vulture 2
American Crow 6
Scrub Jay 3
Lesser Goldfinch 4 (1 male, 3 female)
House Finch 2 (male + female)
Western Bluebird 2 (male + female)
Golden-crowned Sparrow 3
Dark-eyed Junco 20+
Acorn Woodpecker 3
Yellow-rumped Warbler 1
Oak Titmouse 3
White-breasted Nuthatch 2
Anna’s Hummingbird 1 female

Two days ago while driving through Grant Park I saw 2 white-tailed kites, which I rarely see down there (though I think this pair nests there because I see them regularly).

I managed to find another small chunk of time to see what birds are around my house. Surprising today were no band-tailed pigeons (usually ubiquitous around my bird feeders).

Acorn Woodpecker 3
Nuttall’s Woodpecker 1 male
White-Breasted Nuthatch 3
Dark-Eyed Junco 10
Oak Titmouse 2
Western Bluebird 3
Scrub Jay 3
Steller’s Jay 1
Lesser Goldfinch 1
Golden-Crowned Sparrow 5
Red-Breasted Sapsucker 1
House Finch 2
Ruby-Crowned Kinglet 1
Anna’s Hummingbird 1 female