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| Anna's Hummingbird Nest, West Portal |
Nesting season is off to a wet start. I hope rain is the worst of what this hummingbird has to endure. I stopped to see what some crows were doing in a pine tree across the street, and the hummer made a couple of chirps that drew my attention to the plum tree right in front of me. She looked so exposed up there, and I can only hope the nearby crows were just passing through. The tree is far from fully leafed out, so maybe she'll have more cover soon.
A little farther along I came to a school where the cacophony of noise was being produced by American robins, not school kids. (In the distance I could hear cheers and horn-honking for the striking teachers.) A handful of cedar waxwings flew across the sky, then doubled back to find out what the robins were so excited about, although I didn't notice any of them diving into the fruit-producing tree to take part in the feast. The tree was in someone's yard, too far away for me to make out the actual fruits, which I suspect were small berries.
While I watched the robins, I noticed a chestnut-backed chickadee nimbly foraging for insects and tree sap right in front of me. I guess paying attention to the chickadee upset a nearby scrub jay who probably thought any human standing still was handing out peanuts or some other tasty treat. It darted into the tree and chased off the chickadee, then bounded toward me. Sorry pal, school's out.
I managed to finish my walk without getting rained on, but I did end up donning the rain gear shortly into my bike ride. I dropped in on the barn owl to see how it was faring in the rain. I was excited to see it awake and moving, but alas it finished preening and returned to snoozing by the time I got my camera out.
On the way home I spotted a second nesting bird -- a pied-billed grebe at Blue Heron Lake that appeared to be in the same spot in which it nested last year.
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| Cedar Waxwings Playing It Cool |
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| Foraging Chestnut-backed Chickadee |
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| Scrub Jay, All Business |
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| Scrub Jay In Profile |
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| View Over The Aeonium aboreum From Golden Gate Heights |
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| Pied-billed Grebe On Its Floating Nest |
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