This fierce, locally common raptor is known by many different names throughout North America, including the chicken hawk, striker, and flying cross. It is a crow-sized hawk. It is often identified by its proportionally large flat head, long and banded tail feathers, and fierce hunting habits under the canopy of wooded forests where they use [...]
Team Lena’s Legion kicked off the first Urban Forest Bird-A-Thon this morning. It was a beautiful day. Sunny, clear, and calm with temperatures in the mid 70’s and NOT HUMID! Lena’s army of wonderfully talented, fun-loving, and talkative birders included Betty Kanne, Ellen Tipping, Jim Kendall, Jim Currie, Brenda Sabin, Debra Gala, Claire Grozinger, Pema [...]
Fall birding means the welcome return of the secretive Hermit Thrush that revels in its own company diligently rummaging through the leaf litter and forest under-story in search of spiders, ants, earthworms, and insects of all varieties. A favorite winter food includes the red berries fallen from our abundant native Toyon bushes and other fruit [...]
On a sunny, humid morning with temperatures in the 70s, Lena Hayashi, Betty Kanne (eBirder), Claire Grozinger, Jim Kendall, Dave and Sharon Telford, and Josh Joun counted all the birds we could hear and see for two hours. Early on and throughout the morning, we watched flocks of Red-necked Phalaropes fly across the Urban Forest [...]
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 [...]
