We have four doves and pigeons here: two much-loved native species and two impressively successful invaders. Do you know all four?
Birds
The Winter Sparrows
The most notable seasonal event in backyard birding is the fall arrival of the winter sparrows. Read this article to learn about the backyard stalwarts, the white-crowned and golden-crowned sparrows, as well as their less ubiquitous comrades.
Shorebirds II: The Sandpipers
In the first part of this pair of posts introducing our local shorebirds, I covered the three smaller families of shorebirds in Northeast Marin, together comprising seven species among the stilts and avocets, plovers, and oystercatchers. Today, I follow up with the extensive and varied array of birds belonging to our most diverse shorebird family, the sandpipers.
Shorebirds I: The Smaller Families
Our local selection of shorebirds includes representatives from four taxonomic families: the stilts and avocets, the plovers, one oystercatcher , and a host of widely varying birds in the sandpiper family. Today, I’ll share the general skinny on shorebirds in our area and present a brief tour of the seven birds of the first three families; a follow-up article will discuss the remaining 16 species of the diverse sandpiper family.
Big Year #5: July Update
I last updated the world on my Thoreauvian Big Year – an attempt to see as many bird species as possible within a 10-mile, foot- or bike-powered journey – in mid-April. Since then, I’ve clawed my way up to 183 species, adding 15 more birds to the year list. There are some interesting ones!
Seeing Baby Birds
Birds follow a more or less regular schedule: May and June are when baby birds are everywhere you look. Yet except for a few ubiquitous water birds, namely mallards and Canada geese, most birds pass their brief adolescence in near invisibility as far as the human majority is concerned. This article will tell you how to lift that veil – what to look for in order to see more baby birds.
Field Guides to Bay Area Birds
The ideal field guide is one that is perfectly focused on your needs, with species selected exactly for the area where you spend your time and a helpful text that accurately describes those birds’ local range, seasonality, and habitat preferences. If you are in Novato, Marin, or really anywhere in the Bay Area, these are the best available bird guides, ranked from simplest to most comprehensive.
Backyard Birds II: The Rest of the Top 20
In the first part of this two-part tour of 20 of our most common and notable backyard birds, I covered the finches and sparrows, two groups of birds that often dominate feeding stations and our consequent attention. Today, I present another ten birds, sorted into three batches: woodland birds, nectar-feeders, and a smattering of ubiquitous but non-feeder visiting yard birds.
Backyard Birds I: Finches and Sparrows
There is no better place to start learning the birds than in your own yard. It is much easier and more natural to get acquainted with the limited set of birds that you see regularly, rather than diving immediately into the thick of the full 1000+ species of North American birds. Today, I’ll introduce two of the most obvious and important groups of backyard birds: the finches and the sparrows.