Hello everyone,

It was a chilly morning…a taste of winter to come. Our species count was pretty low, but that’s typical for this time of year.

The Northern Cardinals were having a convention in the Japanese Garden. They were flying about everywhere we looked. A Pied-billed Grebe was paddling around in the west lagoon, keeping company with some of our local Mallards. A huge flock of European Starlings was feeding on the ground near the soccer field.

The interesting moment of the day came when we spotted an American Kestrel harassing and divebombing a Red-tailed Hawk. The kestrel kept up the chase for a bit until the hawk landed in a tree, then the Kestrel flew away and the chase was taken over by four American Crows. The poor hawk was having a tough morning.

BIRDERS: Marian, Mike, Jennie, Mark W., Luther, Mark C., Suzanne, Leslie, Sarah, Amir, Caterina, Madhu, Jeff, Val, Katie, Traci, Daniela, Roger, Jane, Howard, Nolan, Haitong, Larry, Dan, Paul W., Pam and welcome to Emily, Mary, Rhodi and Honglan.

TIME: 8:00am to 11:00am

WEATHER: 33 degrees, sunny

Compiler: Mike

1.      Canada Goose  Number observed: 118

2.      Mallard  Number observed: 4

3.      Ring-billed Gull  Number observed: 4

4.      Pied-billed Grebe  Number observed: 1

5.      Great Blue Heron  Number observed: 2

6.      Red-tailed Hawk  Number observed: 2

7.      Red-bellied Woodpecker  Number observed: 3

8.      Downy Woodpecker  Number observed: 7

9.      Hairy Woodpecker  Number observed: 1

10.   Northern Flicker  Number observed: 3

11.   American Kestrel  Number observed: 2

12.   American Crow  Number observed: 6

13.   Black-capped Chickadee  Number observed: 11

14.   Brown Creeper  Number observed: 1

15.   European Starling  Number observed: 460

16.   American Robin  Number observed: 23

17.   House Sparrow  Number observed: 1

18.   House Finch  Number observed: 1

19.   American Goldfinch  Number observed: 6

20.   American Tree Sparrow Number observed: 5

21.   Dark-eyed Junco  Number observed: 10

22.   White-throated Sparrow  Number observed: 4

23.   Yellow-rumped Warbler  Number observed: 2

24.  Northern Cardinal Number observed: 15

If you’d like more information about a bird, check out the All About Birds ID guide:

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/

Corrections, additions, and comments are welcome.

Good birding everyone,

Jennie

Photo: American goldfinch by Will Stuart