Browsed by
Author: Elizabeth Olin

Morning Routine

Morning Routine

Anna's Hummingbird

Anna’s Hummingbird, one of many birds I hear in the mornings

Groggy and disoriented, I pulled myself out of bed. What day is it? Do I work today? Did I oversleep? Quarantine-brain is in full force, causing the days to blend together. Bleary-eyed, I wandered into the kitchen to grab my breakfast and watch the birds. I heard a squabble at the bird feeder just outside the window. The feeder was nearly out of the much-desired sunflower seeds causing fierce territory wars. I threw open the window, which would normally scatter all the birds, but one brave Lesser Goldfinch remained behind. She watched me grab the feeder and patiently waited for the refill.

Once the feeder was back in place, the delicate female goldfinch plopped herself onto the plate and hogged down for a solid six minutes with no interruptions from other birds. I watched as she grabbed a seed and meticulously chewed it down, all while darting her gaze looking out for danger. Her bill was plastered with chunks of seeds – I wanted to offer her a napkin. Grabbing a bit of my bagel, I moved just enough to spook her, thus ending the buffet.

The rest of the morning was spent listening to the leftovers of the morning chorus. I watched a pair of crows tend to their nest. A pair of Dark-eyed Juncos picked through dropped seeds in the gutter below. Pigeons were flapping against a brilliant blue sky. Shelter-in-place has been challenging for us humans. But sitting at the window watching the birds helps to let go of worries for just a little while.

Bird Feeder Blues

Bird Feeder Blues

I woke up to a chilly February morning, grabbed my phone, and surfed through my emails in bed. This is a typical routine for the weekend as I look through my rare bird alerts. One of my emails was from the National Audubon Society advertising a pretty blue bird feeder. A few hours later, I was the proud new owner of a feeder.

I’ve had bird feeders in the past. A finch sock for thistle attracted House Finches and Lesser Goldfinches, but after the roof was redone on our apartment building, we decided to remove the feeder since it made a mess and could have affected the new roofing from our third-story location.

Then I had a hummingbird feeder for a while. Sadly, I forgot to refill the feeder for several days and it was outside cooking in the hot sun. Mold grew inside the glass tube, and despite multiple rounds of bleaching, I couldn’t get rid of it. I didn’t want to harm the hummers, so I threw it away.

Now I’m using a feeder that can attract multiple types of birds. I filled it with no-mess sunflower seeds, and waited.

And waited.

And waited…

February comes and goes. March comes and goes. What the heck? Daily I would stare at the bird-less feeder, jealously hearing all the finches calling outside. Why won’t they come?

With the stay-at-home orders in place, I’m now working from home. No commute means I have some extra time before I start work. I’m spending that extra time in the mornings watching the crows build and tend to a nest and listening to the morning chorus of songs and calls. And watching the bird-less feeder.

On a warm April afternoon, I was in the living room and heard a Lesser Goldfinch sing. It sounded close! I snuck into the kitchen to look at the feeder through the window. Aaaand nothing. Bummed, I went back to the living room. But wait, I heard it again! I repeated my slow approach, and spotted it – a male Lesser Goldfinch downing the seed and singing! It was later joined by a female.

I’ve been watching this pair visit the feeder sporadically throughout the day. I’m happy to finally have some bird action at the feeder.

Birding in Place

Birding in Place

Dark-Eyed Junco

Dark-Eyed Junco

It’s been nearly a week since the beginning of the Bay Area shelter in place order, and just a few days into the California mandate to stay at home. I’ve been trying to take special care to ensure that I maintain social distancing, but I’m also currently pausing my park visits. We are allowed to go to parks for exercise, but so far I’ve been preferring to walk in my neighborhood since I figure the parks would be quite populated. I’m still adjusting to this new reality as is everyone else, and perhaps I’ll sneak in a park visit soon.

Birding is an important part of my life, and in an effort to maintain some sense of normalcy, I created a list of birding-related activities to do during these times that I wanted to share.

Bird from your window, backyard, or patio

I’m starting to slow down my pace of life. For example, I’m eating meals at the dinner table and not mindlessly shoveling down food in front of a computer. During one of my recent relaxing meals next to the window, I spotted an American Crow carrying a stick. I watched it land and spotted a nest! I would have never noticed this camouflaged nest had I not been watching the birds while eating. Now I have something to watch during the breeding season.

Crack open your field guide or use AllAboutBirds.org to study birds

Have you mastered gulls yet? Sparrows? Sandpipers? Warblers? Now is a good time to start!

Plan future birding trips

This is definitely not a good time to travel, but that doesn’t mean you can’t plan a future trip once things get back to normal. Get planning now so that you can easily put it into action.

Sign up for a course on Bird Academy

I’ve signed up for three courses thus far. The first one I finished over the span of a year and a half – “Ornithology: Comprehensive Bird Biology.” This is really science-based. I learned about the physics of flight, biology, ecology, and more.

I’m in the process of going through the “Be a Better Birder: Shorebird Identification Archived Live Series” and “Be a Better Birder: Warbler Identification.” The first course is a recorded webinar from a few years ago, but it’s still very helpful. The second course is designed for web-based learning and so far has been enjoyable.

Paint, draw, color, needlepoint, or other projects that involve birds

Are you crafty or want to start a new creative outlet? Merge your favorite pastimes!

Subscribe to a birding magazine

What better way to spend the time indoors than reading about birds! My favorite is the Bird Watcher’s Digest which takes me a long time to read. It’s worth every penny.

Talk a walk around the block

It’s OK to get exercise! Just be sure to practice social distancing in order to keep you, family, and others safe. I already spotted an Oak Titmouse nest cavity and a possible California Scrub-Jay nesting site by slowing down and looking at the local birds.

Watch a webcam

There are a lot of webcams! Check out some of these:

Cal Falcons

Cornell Feeder Watch

Ontario Feeder Watch

Panama Fruit Feeders

Watch documentaries and nature shows

Got Netflix or other streaming services? Look at their selection of nature shows. No streaming service? Go to YouTube! One tried-and-true movie that is awesome is The Big Year (2011).

Monthly Bird Photo Project 2020: Macro/Attention to Detail

Monthly Bird Photo Project 2020: Macro/Attention to Detail

California Towhee

California Towhee: Face Details

For the month of February, I pursued bird photos with “attention to detail” as the focus. In other words, pay attention to features of birds that can be often overlooked.

The most difficult part of this theme was getting close enough to the birds to capture details (or at least close enough to crop later on) without spooking them. My 400mm lens, while very powerful, still required birds to be a bit closer for this theme. However, I did manage to pull off a few pictures, mainly head shots, that I enjoyed. I hope you like them too!

Golden-Crowned Sparrow

Golden-Crowned Sparrow, Face & Wing Details

Wild Turkey

Wild Turkey, Upper Body Details

See Monthly Bird Photo Project for details of this project, and the February 2020 post.

OAS Trip: Redwood Regional Park

OAS Trip: Redwood Regional Park

This past weekend I co-led a bird walk for the Ohlone Audubon Society. We visited my favorite park: Redwood Regional Park, now named Reinhardt Redwood Regional Park.

Over 30 birders attended, which made me nervous about making sure we used the full three hours and keeping participants engaged. My fears were calmed after we spent a full 30 minutes just birding in the parking lot.

I saw more Varied Thrushes on this trip alone than I probably have in my entire birding experience! It helps to have several dozen extra sets of eyes. The top moment of the trip was when a Pacific Wren sang its little heart out for at five minutes or more while we all watched. I rarely see these mouse-like creatures, so it was a joy to sit and watch one for such an extended period of time. It was also a “lifer” for many participants, which made it all the more special.

Hermit Thrush

Hermit Thrush, 2020

Joining a bird walk with locals is a great way to learn more about birds, get to know an area, and meet people with a similar interest. You can look for local Audubon groups that sponsor trips or do a search on Facebook for other birding groups. If there is none, start your own! I’ve joined several Facebook birding groups that are out of state so that I can study the pictures and learn their local birds. If I’m planning to travel to that location, reviewing the discussions can yield insider tips on hot spots.

This weekend marked the one-year anniversary of my participation in Ohlone Audubon Society trips (I wrote about my first trip here). I’ve also been participating in the Fremont Birding Circle field trips for several years. I’ve met some wonderful people, and despite being an introvert, I always look forward to these bird group gatherings.

Gull ID Project: Introduction & California Gulls

Gull ID Project: Introduction & California Gulls

Various Gulls

Various Gulls

“GULLS? No Waaaayyeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” This is my favorite line in Gulls Simplified: A Comparative Approach to Identification by Pete Dunne & Kevin T. Karlson.

My sentiments exactly. I have avoided diving into gull identification for many years. Gull plumage and hybrids make my head swirl. Then one day I read a review in the Bird Watcher’s Digest magazine for the aforementioned book, which took a more non-plumage approach to gull ID. After reading this and in combination with a field guide, I am starting to find gull ID not so scary.

I plan to write about common SF Bay Area gulls and include a few tips on ID. I found that starting with local birds and focusing on adults was the best way to ease into this project.

First up, the California Gull (CAGU).

There are a few things I look for right away when I’m hoping to ID an adult gull, including eye color, bill shape/coloring, and legs. This is usually enough to get me started.

California Gull

California Gull, Non-Breeding Adult

Adult California Gull: Basics
Eye Color: Dark
Bill Shape: Straight with no bulk
Bill Color: Yellow with red and black spots
Legs: Yellow

If all these traits line up, then chances are you’ve got yourself an adult CAGU! I used these four features to start identifying these gulls until I felt a bit more comfortable with picking them out of a crowd.

California Gull

You can see just enough of the four traits to ID this as a California Gull. Note the yellow legs, dark eye, black & red spotted straight bill.

The following features were tips I learned from the Gulls Simplified: A Comparative Approach to Identification book:

California Gull: Going Deeper
Standing Position: The body dips at the end so that the tail is angled downward. Compare that to the very horizontal stance of other gulls like Ring-billed Gulls.

Winter Plumage: On adults, there is grayish spotting that is concentrated on the back of the neck. This is a different spotting pattern than other winter gulls where the entire head and neck are splotchy.

California Gull

CAGU, Subadult. Note the tilted stance with the tail angled towards the bottom. Subadults also have blue legs.

There you go! Of course, this doesn’t even scratch the surface of CAGU ID, but at least the adults should be a bit easier to identify. Sit down with a bunch of gulls in a parking lot and spend some time looking at the differences in eye color, leg color, how they are standing, and anything else that seems different. Take pictures and study them at home, draw them in a notebook – whatever works to help commit this to memory!

Warbler Wobble

Warbler Wobble

AH-CHOO!

Crum. I don’t sneeze unless it’s related to allergies. How can I be sneezing in February? Sneezing, migraine, and vertigo settle in, rendering me unable to do anything but whine on the couch. Sounds of construction overpower any chance of hearing bird activity outside, except for the occasional crow.

This goes on for a couple days when I finally throw on some shoes and risk the great outdoors of my neighborhood. I have to be careful to not swing my head around too much lest the vertigo send a not-so-subtle reminder that I can’t walk straight. “Warbler neck,” the term used to describe neck soreness after staring up into tree tops for warblers, has turned into my dizzying version called “Warbler Wobble.”

The warm, golden glow of the sun cheers me up instantly, accompanied with a chorus of bird calls claiming territories for singing love songs. The Oak Titmouse is the loudest this early evening, with Anna’s Hummingbirds, Lesser Goldfinches, Mourning Doves, and Yellow-rumped Warblers offering backing vocals.

I stand in one spot straining my neck to see the finches and warblers without the help of binoculars. I’m hoping that the neighbors don’t think I’m weird, although I’ve worn my “Can’t Talk Now… I’m Birding” t-shirt for good measure.

While staring up, I see a woodpecker silhouette on a telephone pole. Wow, what a lot of red! Wait, it’s a Red-breasted Sapsucker! Only the second time I’ve seen one in this neighborhood over the years.

AH-CHOO!

There’s my clue that I’ve overextended my stay in the outdoors. I slowly walk home absorbing all the sweet calls and delighted to see a special bird to cheer me up.

Monthly Bird Photo Project 2020: Bird Groups

Monthly Bird Photo Project 2020: Bird Groups

Sanderling and Western Sandpipers

Sanderlings and Western Sandpipers Take Flight

See Monthly Bird Photo Project 2020 blog post for details of this project.

For the month of January, I selected the focus of “bird groups” for my year-long photo project. I chose this theme knowing that we would go to Sacramento NWR where there are thousands of geese that often take flight for stunning photo opportunities. Therefore, “bird groups” would be an easy first month project, right?

Wrong.

Group shots are harder than I expected, especially if you’re simultaneously learning to use the camera in manual mode. On the technical side, I found that my photos were overexposed, blurry, or too dark. On the artistic side, I found photo composition for groups difficult, especially when the subject includes fidgety birds. If you want a nicely composed photo, it seems that you can’t just take a picture of a group of birds. This comes out boring with no interesting story to tell. I learned that there needs to be more intentionality behind the composition if the photo is to shine.

For nearly two weeks, I tried taking more group photos, and none were coming out the way I envisioned. Subjects were too far or covered by distracting objects like branches. Birds mingled too far apart, making spacing awkward. It was interesting to see the various factors that frustrated my efforts.

Luck seems to be a big part of the game, and I did luck out on a few shots later in the month. Below are the results. I still have more learning to do, but this was an interesting way to begin this project.

Various Gulls

Various Gulls Avoiding the Splash

Sanderlings and Western Sandpipers

Sanderlings and Western Sandpipers

Sanderlings and Western Sandpipers

Sanderlings and Western Sandpipers Take Flight

Rock Pigeons

Rock Pigeons

Snow Geese and Ross's Geese

Ross’s Geese and Snow Geese at Sunset

Return of the Swallows

Return of the Swallows

Tree Swallow

Tree Swallow Getting Ready for Nesting, 2016

I step out into the chilly air, reluctantly escaping the warmth of the car. The sky is blue, the hills are green, and the ponds are inviting me to explore the wintering waterfowl. I make my way towards the water when something catches my attention in the corner of my eye. Actually, make that several somethings. Dark shadows are playfully darting in no discernable pattern across the sky. The swallows are back!

Swallows are starting to become active as they arrive back to the Bay Area. Returning from a winter absence to their breeding grounds, they bring a splash of color and excitement to the skies.

We tend to get several types of swallows with some occasional visits by rarities. Barn Swallows, Cliff Swallows, Northern Rough-winged Swallows, Tree Swallows, and Violet-green Swallows will soon become a common sight. (Tree Swallows are here year-round although seemingly not as active.)

Take a moment to watch the swallows as they dart and dive in a mysterious pattern in the sky. They are a joy to witness.

Monthly Bird Photo Project 2020

Monthly Bird Photo Project 2020

Steller's Jay

Steller’s Jay, 2016

About 10 years ago, I bought my first entry-level DLSR camera. I was interested in photography and focused on plants and objects with patterns or vibrant colors. Fast forward a few years, and I discovered my passion for birding. I blended the two interests and evolved into a very amateur “birder with a camera.” I mainly used my camera for ID shots to help me learn more about birds. Occasionally I would land an interesting shot that sparked an emotional response. I yearned to learn more about photography, and yet the technical challenges of the camera set me back. I tried reading photography books, but I found it hard to translate the concepts into the skills required to photograph quick-moving and distant birds. I was overwhelmed and simply stuck with ID shots.

2019 marked new beginnings with birding and photography. I upgraded my camera to a semi-professional model (Canon 7D mk II) and purchased a telephoto lens (100-400mm). I also read Mastering Bird Photography by Marie Read – finally a book written for my specific interests! She strikes a perfect balance of technical advice and guidance on composition that was inspiring and well-paced. It was a lot to absorb and I’ll certainly need to reread it multiple times to fully grasp the foundations, but it encouraged me to take that fear-inducing step of turning the dial to Manual Mode.

To encourage my development in bird photography, I’m going to do a bird photo New Year’s resolution. Each month, I’ll focus on a bird theme for practice. My goal isn’t to turn into a photographer per se, but rather to remain true to my birding roots while capturing images that bring emotion or awareness to birds. Let’s see if this goal helps with that. I’ll be sure to post the images each month.

Happy New Year!