Weekend Walk Report: How's Your Bird?

 Walks for Saturday, February 10th and Sunday, February 11th.

Saturday, it was dangerously windy so the walk was short and the photo ops were few. Here's what I got. Special thanks to Docken for joining me over the phone both days.

I was especially impressed by a pair of red-tailed hawks and their ability to navigate the blustery currents. Check out the "rudder" action on this one. They moved out of my view quite rapidly.

 Onto today, Sunday... Superbowl Sunday even. 

It was barely breezy today and for this I was thankful. Male Calypte anna hummingbird, Dusty was hanging out.

So was this mockingbird. There's always a mockingbird and there's usually one in this tree.

I misID'd this bird twice today but this time I have it right. This is a Cassin’s Kingbird (Tyrannus vociferans).

Canada geese. This was basically a blind shot with the sun glaring into my face.

Heading back to the car to drive up the hill I spotted this common raven in the parking lot. I'm reasonably sure this is the raven seen in this post from January 7th. Since its beak wasn't full of olives this time I picked up some dry cat food from the car and tossed a couple handfuls so it would notice. It wasn't until I started driving away that the bird flew down and started munching. I did a slight u-turn in the parking lot and caught a few images. 

Up to the hilltop.

This is an American kestrel, also known as a sparrow hawk. It's the smallest and most common falcon in North America. In my effort to get closer to this tree I lost track of the bird. However, I'm pretty sure that the kestrel on the tree that follows was the same one.

Kestrels are identified as a species of concern in 21 State Wildlife Action Plans, and they are included in several regional lists of Birds of Conservation Concern by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The causes of kestrel decline remain unknown. My best guess would be to look at stupid stuff humans are doing. 

A pair of juvenile white-crowned sparrows were hanging out in front of the kestrel.

That's all folks! Have a nice day!