Peer down into the leaf-litter and you’ll see this largish, 9”, dusty-brown, long-tailed bird eagerly shuffling through the ground cover looking for grubs, or briefly perched in nearby bushes. Its drab gray/brown appearance is nicely offset by a rusty/orange patch under-tail and surrounding a thick darkish bill. This successful breeder in our local tree-filled parks [...]
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Bottom left is the light-eyed female, and bottom right is the dark-eyed male. At top right, notice the unusual hanging nest that these inconspicuous yet common birds weave. Bushtits are tiny, long-tailed gray birds that travel in large busy flocks, relentlessly rocketing from one leafy bush or tree to the next, all while keeping up [...]
It was a beautiful sunny, clear, and calm morning, rising to 72 or so degrees. Surveyors were only four – Lena Hayashi, Betty Kanne (eBirder), Sharon, and Dave Telford. Summer months are typically slow and quiet as breeding season winds down and fledglings depend less on their parents to feed them. One Spotted Towhee continued [...]
The Western Bluebird was selected because it’s a perfect representative for the Urban Forest. Both entities manifest hope, resilience and renewal in the face of myriad challenges to our natural environment. The Western Bluebird came close to entirely disappearing in Orange County in the last century due to destruction of its needed forested environment that [...]
