| Even at this young age Red-tails have a powerfully fierce look and it was hard to not flinch each time flew within a few feet of us |
Hope you enjoyed this photo journal. Comments are welcome. Please email us from the "Contact Us" page If you would like to see more photo journals or Nature Trip photography they can be accessed from the "Home Base" page Copyright Notice: Naturally, all photography (except those copyrighted for Alex Godbe) and text is property of Nature Trip and is not to be used, copied or reproduced without permission. |
| Nests and Chicks of 2006 - San Francisco Bay Area |
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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 |
| Right: This young Marsh Wren clambering on Tule Reed was chatting up a storm on another "Birding Basics" class field trip in May |
| Above: Rusty wing bars of this Black Phoebe at MLK Shoreline in Oakland identify it as a juvenile |
| A visit to the Hayward Regional Shoreline in late June was simply amazing! |
| The next group of photos were generously provided by Alex Godbe Director of the Hungry Owl Project in Marin County - this orphaned Turkey Vulture was brought into the Terwilliger WildCare Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in San Rafael - it's been in Alex and staff's expert care & seems to be doing very well |
| A face only a Turkey Vulture mother (or a wildlife rehabilitation expert) could love! |
| Between April showers we managed to get a few trips in to Hayward Regional Shoreline The Canada Geese get on with the business of baby making early and prodigiously - hatching 4 -6 chicks is common & up to 10 when times are good - we counted 8 in this brood and found one egg unhatched in a nearby nest |
| Cliff Swallows had returned to build their colonial adobe style condos at the footbridge near Johnson's Landing using their bills as shovel & trowel |
| A couple of week later on a "Birding Basics" Class Field Trip we saw our first owlet of the season right over the main trail at Sibley Volcanic Preserve |
| In the grasslands habitat of Sibley Volcanic Preserve a Lark Sparrow was busy gathering some plant fiber to line a nest |
| Don Edwards NWR hosts another family of Canada Goose. A Gray Fox we saw earlier in the neighborhood was probably keeping this group in a tight formation |
| Below: A meticulously constructed nest in the reeds offers camouflage and protection for Marsh Wren nestlings |
| The hugely successful Barn Owl box program of the Hungry Owl Project continues to reduce the need for rodenticides in Marin County |
| Above left: Barn Swallow chicks eagerly await their parents return. Or maybe they can actually lift that ceiling if they concentrate hard enough |
| An exciting find and a bit of a head scratcher at first was a Lesser Scaup family - a very uncommon nester in Alameda County |
| The usually easy to spot Black-necked Stilt becomes a little more difficult to detect when nesting in pickleweed |
| The ever beautiful adult Snowy Egret is even more so when in full breeding plumage This species was decimated and almost lost to the millinery trade practice of using feathers for hats in the late 19th/early 20th century |
| These four young Snowies in their branching stage are in nest just a few feet away from the nest in the photo at right |
| Still hanging out with the parental units at the Rodeo Lagoon, this young Bluebird was foraging well on it's own |