Give them a roof tile and they'll make you smile - One industrious Kestrel couple managed to raise a family in a roof tile on a house in the middle of S.F.

First two, then a third began cheering on the explorer who was gaining the nerve to make a re-entry Repeat after me: "I will not anthropomorphise, I will not anthropomorphise" With a wiggle then a hop it flew and then it flopped

Two boys, two girls all together again - a couple of the siblings look to gain from the explorers experience in the strange new world while he just looks out and wonders what happened

Above right: A juvenile Cormorant already in the water early May Same day at Ft. Funston: Bank Swallows were excavating cavities in the sand and gathering vegetation to line their nests

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Nests and Chicks of 2006 - San Francisco

This photo collection of nests, chicks and juvenile birds are some of the many hopeful signs we have seen in the wild and sometimes not so wild on  Nature Trips this spring and summer in California Thanks to all those generous folks who took the time to post sightings, contact us or offer access so we could capture some of these images

On the day we visited our attention was first drawn to an adventurous fledgling awkwardly hopping and flopping around on the neighbors roof across the street. Perhaps it was the inaugural flight of this new bird into the world outside and it didn't seem too pleased to miss out on a chance at lunch

Every few minutes one sibling would fly up quickly on another, usually from behind, in what appeared to be a sort of tag game. That would set off a chase. Makes me wonder if this behavior might give them an edge up on juveniles with no siblings

Another urban wildlife tale: these three fledged Red-tailed Hawks, for better or worse, became quite comfortable with human companions in Sutro Heights Park.

Above: Developing motor skills - swooping down from a tree to pounce on an unsuspecting pine cone - it initially missed but recovered quickly Right: Mantling behavior - this pine cone will not get away

A triumphant strut was in order after the successful cone capture

Even at this young age Red-tails have a powerfully fierce look and it was hard to not flinch each time one flew within a few feet of us

Also at Sutro Heights, a Hooded Oriole pair were in and out of their pendulum style nest several times keeping a wary eye on their Red-tail neighbors

Meanwhile, over one the Southwest side: Cormorants and Herons were enjoying a very good season at Lake Merced

Gathering suitable material for building relatively large nests is a time consuming, labor intensive job for Double-crested Cormorants. Their cousins, the Brandt's, (Bird Rock colony below), construct a more modest nest built by the female with marine vegetation gathered by the male

Nearby, at Pine Lake, fledged Juncos, Mallards and Tree Swallows were very active on a field trip in July

By a return visit in late June, the colony was in full swing with hundreds of adults shuttling insects to the hungry nestlings

Below: In the Southeastern side of San Francisco near Mission Rock, a dilapidated dock makes a perfect colony site for Caspian and Forster's Terns who don't seem to mind sharing territory. The Forster's are on the back side

Below: The proverbial ugly duckling. Somewhere in between cute chick and gorgeous adult they have to look like this for a while

The restored Heron's Head Park continues to be a bright spot for birds in the Southeastern district of San Francisco On field trips in May we counted at least four breeding pairs of American Avocet, several Killdeer nests, saw a small number of White-crowned Sparrow fledges and suspect that the local Black Oystercatcher pair nested this year