Lame Byrds pun aside . . . Tern Nation in Alameda Their gravelly call precedes them, these terns with their fuzzy black berets and orange feet. They sound like aerial barflys with too much whiskey and smoke on the voice box. When it’s a row of more than 50 terns — alternately calling to each other…
The Waxwings Are Back
I don’t know exactly how long they’ve been back, the Cedar Waxwings. Serious birders** know from the hour. I only know by the near-silent whistles that suddenly populate our trees. And I know because we got our first injured Cedar Waxwings at the hospital in the past two weeks — immobilized by window strikes. Today,…
A Quiet Nation of Shorebirds – San Francisco Bay Area
I try to stop by Arrowhead Marsh when I’m in the vicinity of Oakland Airport . . . which is quite a lot, considering I’m with a guy who, essentially, commutes to work by plane. It’s my consolation in solitude to stroll through the marshes with my camera after I bid farewell to Southwest or…