We checked in on the many nests, and all were occupied. Even the red shouldered hawk nest that we thought was abandoned, is again occupied. The red tailed hawk that we call Yoko was sitting on the side of the nest - we are certain that her chicks have hatched. At that same nest it appears that some smaller birds, finches perhaps, have nested in the lower part of the nest. No idea if that is really the case, but they are always there, and show nesting behaviors flying in and out. Previously we thought that they might be stealing nesting materials, but now suspect that they are actually nesting there. The white tailed kite was also sitting on the side of the nest and gave us a great show of gently climbing back down to sit.
There are loads of western kingbirds now, especially in the sycamores by the airfield. They sound like a roomful of squeaky toys being stepped on repeatedly.
On our return, at the footbridge, we stopped to watch the tree sparrows flying about in the meadow with their nest boxes. We then were treated to a troupe of cedar waxwings. They were a bit far to get good photos, but they were great to observe. The interesting thing about the waxwings is their troupe behavior. They stick together as a unit and move almost in synchrony. I caught some nice shots of them preening in unison. There was also a beautiful yellow rumped warbler there, whose spring gray plumage was so brilliant that it read a shade of blue. He matched the tree that he was hopping around on so perfectly that the lens consistently failed to read him properly with AF and he moves too fast for MF. a shame to not get a good shot of such a nice bird.
Photo set is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hawkperson/sets/72157623800004429/
No comments:
Post a Comment