My Birding World

It was supposed to rain today. The dark clouds were looming overhead accompanied by chilly winds. Despite the risk of getting wet, we ventured out to Livermore to a local park – Sycamore Grove Park – in search of the rare Blue-gray Tanager. This species is native to southern Mexico through the northern section of South America. It is quite possible that this particular bird is a pet-escapee, in other words, a pet that was released (intentionally or accidentally) back into nature. Nevertheless, birders have flocked to this location to get a glimpse of this bird living its life in Livermore. We tried to locate this bird on a previous birding trip, but after six hours of hunting we gave up.

We found our target bird while eating lunch. An added bonus was watching it sing briefly. Now feeling calm, I was able to really enjoy all the bird activity around me. The theme of the day was immature or recently fledged birds foraging. Lots of little ones were scurrying around, flapping their wings, constantly calling out to their parents for food. Some young birds simply perched in place, such as this Mourning Dove.

Other birds were still being fed by their parents, such as this Oak Titmouse and White-breasted Nuthatch.

The Dark-eyed Juncos I watched were still young but able to forage on their own with parents nearby. They were hopping around, trying little bits of this and that to learn what’s edible or not.

It was a fun afternoon with so much dense birding that we stayed by the parking lot for nearly two hours. Despite it being Memorial Weekend, this normally-busy park was empty of visitors, allowing for a peaceful birding experience.