Birds of Bayarea

Bosque Del Apache Trip Report, Dec 2008; Part 2

2009-01-12T17:29:00.000-08:00

Go here for part 1.

- part 2 -

On christmas day, we started from our hotel early in the morning before dawn broke and reached the refuge by 5:30 am. It was a cold morning with winds exceeding 20 mph. The winds were so overpowering it didn't matter what the measured temperature were.

Face frozen and fingers aching to the bone, me and my friend waited on the flight deck patiently after we setup our tripod and camera while thinking back in our minds how great california must be that morning compared to this. But soon that temporary nostalgia was broken when we saw the light break through the thick clouds.

What a moment!. The sunrise we saw was fantastic, infact it was the best sunrise we saw in our whole trip or for that matter best ever I've seen. I was glad that I carried a wide angle lens with me, otherwise shots such as this wouldn't have been possible.
You can see here hundreds of snow geese against a sky lit by sunrise. The colors in these images are not photoshopped. This is what we really saw. Shot with my 100-400 mm lens.
Minutes later, the snow geese took off in an instant, much before than I had anticipated. Right before they took off, I was just fiddling with some settings on my camera and the blast off happened. Felt so unlucky that moment but I'm still happy with what I got.
Once the geese took off, the only remaining birds to be found are few sandhill cranes that usually hang around a bit longer than the geese. They make up for great silhouette shots.
During this time, I would experiment with different exposure compensation settings and shutter speed settings to capture the scenery as best as I could. I wish I could have gotten a lower angle but standing on the flight deck I can't go much lower.
Pretty soon, the sun rises above the horizon and the flight deck gets very quiet with no activity. Its time to move to another location.

There are three main loops that you can cover by car while you're inside the refuge. One is the tour loop where the flight deck is. The other two loops are the marsh loop and the farm loop. Each loop has several points of interest where there is a special lookout area. Often times we would pullover our car by the side of the loop to watch the wildlife as we spot them. Depending on the day and time, the level of activity may vary in each spot. It isn't easy to say there is one particular popular spot, all of them were equally interesting.

On several days, we often found a roadrunner on the tour loop which worked along the sideways of the road. This guy/gal was very easily approachable and gave us some good shots. We also spotted Ruby-crowned Kinglets, American Kestrels, several Red-tails, Northern Harriers and Bald Eagles. Other birds found were Say's Phoebe, several Northern Pintails, Northern Shovelers, Pheasant (not sure what kind), one Ferruginous Hawk, White-crowned Sparrows, Golden-crowned Sparrows and Song Sparrow. Of all three loops we took, tour loop always turned out to be more productive one, if you're counting the number of species.

By 11 a.m the activity goes down quite a bit, so we would return back to our hotel to rest, have our lunch and be back for the sunset.

- to be continued -

Bosque Del Apache Trip Report, Dec 2008; Part 1

2009-01-09T14:40:00.000-08:00

Dec 24th, 2008

- part 1 -

Ever since I first saw the famous 'Fire in the Mist' photograph from Arthur Morris, I knew I wanted to visit Bosque Del Apache wildlife refuge someday. Alas, that wish came true during this christmas holiday. Me and a good friend of mine flew to Albuquerque on 24th morning to spend the next few days photographing the migratory birds that call Bosque Del Apache as their wintering home.

After we reached Albuquerque, we picked our rental car and drove straight to the refuge. We didn't stop at our hotel in Socorro which was on our way, because neither of us wanted to miss an opportunity to photograph the "fly-in". I had called earlier and informed our hotel not to expect us until late in the evening. It takes about an hour and 20 minutes drive from the airport to the refuge. Socorro is a very small town about 20 minutes before the refuge and is the nearest town to the refuge where you will find a place to stay and eat.

We reached the wildlife refuge by 4 p.m and pulled into the visitor center to pickup the map and some local information on what spots to visit the next morning. However the visitor center was closed much earlier, the day being the christmas eve. We engaged in a conversation with few locals who stood outside. We knew beforehand that there were a couple of auto-loops around the refuge that we could take, but we were trying to figure out which spots would give us the best opportunity to stop and photograph. We didn't have a lot of time to explore ourselves as the sunset was fast approaching. We decided it would be best to ask the locals who knew better, and they offered us to take us to the flight deck. The flight deck is a wooden platform that extends well into the lake giving some great views for photographers to shoot from.

I thanked the friendly folks who took us there, then grabbed my camera and as I walked into the flight deck, I am invited suddenly by tens of thousands of snow geese some just standing a few feet away to some as far as the eyes could see.
A few minutes later, the sun begins to set behind the hills and the cloud scattered sky starts to paint the canvas with its wide palette of colors that no camera sensor is capable of capturing it accurately, except for your own eyes.
Hard to take my eyes off the scene, I stood there taking mind photographs. It was just beautiful. I had to remind myself I do have a camera in hand, so off I went clicking. On the opposite side of the hills, the geese had gathered much closer to each other and more sandhill cranes were flying in. The cranes and snow geese "fly-in" in large numbers at sunset to this spot to spend the rest of the night. By the time we got there, the fly-in was almost over with only the last of remaining birds flying in. By this time, the flight deck that we were standing on, was as crowded as the lake itself with all other nature enthusiasts, birders and photographers standing next to each other, the only difference being we were not as accommodating as the birds itself when it came to sharing the space, and often rubbing elbows into each other. We left the place after it got dark. We want to be back early the next morning to watch the spectacular "fly-out" or sometimes appropriately referred as "blast-off". Every morning, at sunrise, tens and thousands of birds take off in succession one row after another. They would make a sound that could even rival a Boeing 747 flying close to you. I was joking to my friend after I returned from the trip that every time I close my eyes I could ear the blast off sound. This place really left a lasting impression.

- to be continued -

Shoreline Blast Off!

2008-11-30T01:10:00.000-08:00

Even after a year, going out in the field looking for birds is never quite the same experience for me as the previous day. And once in a while, you hit upon a sight that blows your mind away. This thanksgiving weekend, a Northern harrier did his early morning rounds over the Charleston slough area, in Mountain View looking for his special thanksgiving breakfast. Its the usual routine every morning for the Harrier, but sure enough, today wasn't an easy task by any means as he had to single out a single meal among thousands of possible choices and be successful at the hunt. Usually he gets just one attempt at it and if he fails, he would scare the heck out of all birds and they all would escape quickly.

Miles away thousands of Willets, Avocets, Sandpipers & Dowitchers who had been very busy until then foraging for food to feed their little tummy, all of a sudden spots the approaching predator. Panic spreads across each individual at the speed of thought. Now only thing that matters is saving their life.

I'm watching this scene a mile away from the other side of the slough. A suspenseful music runs through my mind and in anticipation I point my camera at the flock of birds. In an instant, as I expected every single bird takes off from the field at the same time. There is a huge commotion and the noises they made could be heard miles away. Passers by on their regular morning walk, stopped at the breathtaking sight of these birds taking off. People are stunned. It looks like a wonderful sight, but i'm thinking what sort of panic must be going over the poor minds.

I'm still mesmerized just at the thought of what kind of power must a single Norther Harrier or a Red-tailed Hawk or any other Raptors posses among the animal kingdom.

Although this was purely a reaction to a panic situation, this mass takeoff does actually help those poor little birds that are in the bottom of the food chain. As different species of birds fly as a group, they create a mixed pattern of colors made from their wings in motion. This serve as an useful tactic, to confuse any predator who is watching them from above. It makes it harder for them to single out any one bird as the patterns change. Often times this strategy works very well, as it did this time I watched. As far as I could see the Harrier was not successful in catching any bird.

On the other side of the Shoreline lake, the situation was much more peaceful. A young White-crowned sparrow perches on to a nice bush as she begins to bathe herself under the beautiful sun. A relaxing long weekend for her.. I hope yours was too :)

Does this seem familiar ?

2008-09-05T03:13:00.000-07:00

Yeah. The things that a bird photographer has to go through...!

BABP meeting

2008-09-02T16:45:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is Bay area bird photographer's meeting day (first of the season this yr) at the Lucy Evans nature interpretive center in Embarcadero rd, Palo Alto @ 7:30pm. You can find more details here.

http://www.scvas.org/index.php?page=text&id=babp

Hope to see you there.

An af-tern-noon at Radio Rd

2008-08-12T23:37:00.000-07:00

Nesting birds are interesting to watch and they are one of my favorite subjects to photograph. To see, how much a parent cares for their young, how hard they had to work to keep their young ones fed constantly, how wonderful they are in sharing their love and braver in protecting their young ones from other predators, how intelligent they are in luring their young ones to make their first flight out of their nest by tempting them with food, how skillful they are in teaching the young ones to catch a prey on their own and survive in the wild and above everything how to cope up with humans and the destruction of their habitat caused by them, its just mind blowing to me that an animal of such small size could manage all of this succesfully year after an year on every breeding season.The nesting birds shows that even within an animal kingdom, there can be lots of surprises.

May be that's the secret of all species alive today that have stood the test of time and have survived and evolved, its also how our own species must have survived, but its disheartening to see that sometimes many humans with bigger brains than these birds, are often much worse at doing the same.

This year at radio road in redwood city, the terns feeding their fledglings is a sight not to be missed. I would visit this place on my drive back from work and spend a couple of hours until the sun goes down. During the few hours I spent here, I only witnessed one or two young terns calling (that were close enough to photograph), the parents were not seen anywhere in the vicinity. I continued to go there again hoping this day would be the day, but relentlessly I was proven wrong and the same thing happened for five days in a row. As a bird photographer I knew if there is one thing that I learned from this, its patience. On the sixth day I was able to watch and capture this wonderful moment. As they say, perseverance pays off.

Here is the rest of the story..

A forster's tern fledgling begs for food as one of its parent flies over. The young ones can be very demanding. This little one would stand on the bark waiting patiently for hours for its parent to return. When he sees the parent, he would start calling to them, which is a signal that he is hungry..

Hearing the child cry for food, the parent responds by bringing in a fish caught at a nearby lagoon and heads home.

A home delivery arrives for the fledgling. What a relief!

As the fledgling tries to keep a hold on to that fish that its parent just fed, it lost its balance and fell into the water. But it never lost grip of that fish. It knows, how valuable that food is and how hard it is to get one.

The fledgling swallows the fish, head first. Another good day for the tern! This feeding sequence got passed in less than 4-5 seconds. My fingers had to work as fast as these terns, behind the camera to capture these moments!.

Here comes the 40D!

2008-08-11T11:57:00.000-07:00

Finally, upgraded to Canon 40D now.. and happy as a puppy!!!

Some test shots of Marbled Godwit in flight..

And this image of willet vs whimbrel pretty much sums it about how I feel comparing a canon rebel xt with a canon 40D. Both might look similar, but they each belong to very different specie!

Oh the faithful rebel!

2008-07-19T14:01:00.001-07:00

Wilson's Warbler
Originally uploaded by metaphors

It sucks to be stuck without a camera!! until now my faithful rebel XT has served me very well for past two years... and honestly i have been very happy with it.. its considered an entry level slr camera, but with patience and good technique you can do quite well (atleast until its limitations become more apparent).. Image quality is great, my only gripe was its high ISO performance beyond 400 suffers badly, has only 3 fps, and focusing speed could have been better. What is considered as the entry level workhorse,I even managed to get few decent bird in flight shots with it, which are usually in the domain of ID Mk III's that costs 10 times more.

Unfortunately my XT died last week and wouldn't even power on, its now out of warranty period too.. i've sent it to canon repair center in Virginia but looks like its going to take another couple of weeks with no camera for me!! :( me thinks, now that its limitations are quite visible to me, may be its time to upgrade!

El Polin Spring

2008-07-06T20:31:00.001-07:00

Let say if you could talk to the hummingbirds and you asked them what was their favorite hangout spot in the bay area, I'm sure many would unanimously say that its El Polin Spring.

Thanks to my Flickr friend Kitundu through whom I came to know about this place. This place is like magic! You will find several bird species from tiny shaped hummingbirds to medium sized Robins that come here every day to take bath and drink from the natural spring water that arise from a rock wall at the head of the riparian valley in Presidio, San Francisco.

What was so special for me about this place was that, this was the only place where I have seen the hummingbirds take a bath. When I was there a few days ago, the Allen's were seen more often than the Anna's hummingbird. The latter is actually a permanent resident in the bay area. In the pic above, you can see that the Anna's hummingbird is trying to chase away the Allen's that had just landed to take a bath. Both hummingbirds are very territorial and they often chase each other and other birds that uses its water.

Among other regular visitors like Goldfinches, Chestnut-backed Chickadees, Pine Siskin, few surprise visits were made by Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Wilson's warbler (see right), Pygmy nuthatch and there was one recent report of Clark's nutcracker as well.

The bathing sequence of hummingbirds are so beautiful to watch, I thought photographs just don't do enough justice. Fortunately, I also had my video camera with me. So I captured some hi-definition footage of these beautiful birds. As you watch it, you'll notice the music is synchronized to birds action. I also kept the original sounds in the background. There is no editing magic here, as I continued to edit the video, everything started to fit together nicely. I think that was just a bit of luck and nothing else :). And thanks to WhiteEyes for making the wonderful music available under creative commons license.

Video:

Brandt's Cormorant Nesting Colony

2008-07-06T19:52:00.000-07:00

Brandt's Cormorant are endemic to North America and they breed along the west coast of North America ranging from Alaska in the north to Mexico in the south. The pictures below are from a nesting colony where I saw them in large numbers at the Monterey's Breakwater cove.

The young cormorant feeding behavior is quite dramatic and interesting to watch.

Here a young Brandt's Cormorant requests his parent to feed him.

Mom opens her mouth to let the young one in..

Young one dives deep into mom's throat to get nourished.

A Brandt's Cormorant takes flight.

Nesting Colony

Genetic study of birds reveals new findings.

2008-06-30T14:38:00.000-07:00

A recent five year research and DNA studies have shown many things we thought we knew about the evolution of birds were indeed flat out wrong. A friend of mine forwarded me this article from Discovery News.

To quote,

The results of the largest ever study of bird genetics are so widespread that the names of dozens of birds will now have to be changed, says the study to be published in Science magazine.

Among new discoveries the team found that birds repeatedly adapted to new environments. For example, flamingos and grebes did not evolve from other water birds, while birds that now live on land such as cuckoos did not evolve from other land birds.

Other findings were that, contrary to current thought, daytime hummingbirds evolved from nocturnal nightjars, falcons are not related to hawks and eagles and fast flying ocean birds are not related to pelicans and other water birds.

Birds of Prey

2008-06-27T13:49:00.000-07:00

A remarkable thing happens when you put music and video together. They help you connect with the visuals at a more deeper level. Even without words, you can tell a story, connect with the audience and bring them to react and respond to what you're saying without saying it. Its an art and a science. Like photography, good editing, choosing the right angles to shoot, capturing the right moments at the best light, and the whole post-production part is both a science and an art.

It took me several days to shoot this footage, sometimes going back to the spot again another day to get the shot you want, then hours of patiently sorting through them and editing the best ones you like. I knew even after this, I didn't have or get all the shots I wanted, but that's ok you make the best of what you have and keep trying for the best next time. I know I can do better, but this will have to do for now. Here in this video, I have even attempted to say something, hopefully it helps you to connect with the nature & wildlife.

Featured in this video are the Burrowing Owl from Shoreline park in Mountain View, Great-Horned Owlets from Claremont Canyon Reserve and Red-tail hawk from Half-moon bay. I was mostly zoomed all the way in to get the closeup shots. Thankfully the birds were not bothered by my presense. Watch it on HD here.

The Birder's Paradox

2008-06-20T22:14:00.000-07:00

What is a birder's paradox ?

"If a birder shared the location of a bird with other local birders for everyone else to see it, this itself in turn causes nobody else to see it".

This is easy to understand. For instance, when a not-so-common bird is spotted by a birder, he/she would post that information to a local birding mailing list so it can go on the official records and also give a chance for other local birders to go and see the bird.

Usually this results in lots of avid birdwatchers visiting the bird on the same day or on same week that posting was made. Many ornithologists agree that the presence of many humans closer to nesting birds, could cause the bird to get very stressed and eventually fly away, sometimes never to return back to the nest. This could also happen to a rare bird that fledges from a local area because of humans.

When this happens to a nesting bird or a rare bird, nobody else would get to see the bird. If the birder had never posted his finding in the first place, again nobody else would see it and the presence of the bird would be unknown to everyone else.

I call this the birder's paradox.

So, Why do I bring this up now ?

A local birder posted the location of a Barn owl family with 3 owlets nesting on a palm tree in Menlo park neighourhood to a local birding community mailing lists. Soon after, many people have been visiting the owls, both birders and bird photographers alike. The neigbhours whose houses are adjacent to the nesting palm trees complained that the presense of bird photographers at night near the owl's nest (which is on top of a palm tree), are causing a lot of stress to the owlets and they fear this might have a deterring effect on them.

There has been a flood of emails in the past week discussing this topic. Some complain that such nest details should've never been posted, and some chimed in saying they would not report any rare bird for that matter, there is also a mixed bag of arguments about whose fault this is.

Arguments aside, certain questions remain as puzzles in this case. How did we conclude that the birds are stressed by us when they are sleeping in our presence ? In my experience, and with talking to other experts, if the birds get stressed you would clearly see it in their actions. They would engage in fright displays, their behaviour would seem restless, they would make alarm calls or turn away from us.

The best way to understand birds is to take clues from their behaviour. Its the only way we can really understand them. When I was there to photograph the owlets, the owlets got a little curious to see me first, they took a quick peek at me for 30 seconds and then went on straight to sleep for hours. So this is an assurance to me that they feel comfortable enough to sleep around my presence. I've noticed the exact same behaviour with the Claremont ave Great-horned owlets as well, inspite of the commotion raised by few casual onlookers that our presence is causing stress to the owlets.

The last thing a photographer wants to do is to scare the bird away and lose an opportunity to take a picture. While a newbie photographer may make a mistake of approaching the birds too close and cause them to fly away, just like any newbie birder or a loud motorcyclist driving by on the street might, an expert photographer would always take caution, he/she would look for the signs when the bird takes the slightest note of the photographer and when it makes the slightest of behavior changes. When this is observed, the expert photographer would always certainly back off to ease the bird and give some space.

Talking to the neighbours of menlo park owls, I came to know that these owls have been nesting on these palm trees for over 30 years in a row. And from what I understand, in the previous years, birders have posted the presence of these Owls to south-bay-birders mailing list.If the birds were getting too stressed in this area, then why would they continue to choose the same palm tree to nest every year? Again, their behavior shows they get curious, but are not bothered by us.

Yet are we being unfair to the welfare of birds in anyway by revealing their location publicly ? Or If we don't report it, are we being too selfish ? What really should a birder or bird photographer do in this case ? The answers to these questions are not a simple yes or no, it depends on the situation. The truth of the matter is, every individual has to take few responsibilities in understanding what is correct and follow a simple set of rules. Always back off when you see the first signs of birds getting stressed. Birds welfare should come first before everything else.

If no one had reported the bird sightings several decades ago, today bird watching would have never been a well known outdoor activity that it is today. A part of the reason why many bird conservation projects have got successful was because of many volunteers who post the presence of rare species in the neighborhood when they see one and create an awareness within the birding community.

When individuals don't exercise caution and behave inappropriately the matter should be dealt with that person individually as it should be. There is no reason for the whole birding community to keep their findings a secret.

What good would it be to report only the mallards and blackbirds and lose out on exotic species? To lose that opportunity and go backwards towards all the progress that has been made would be a big shame.

One of the things I loved when I got into birding was that, the birders in the bay area were extremely helpful and forthcoming in sharing their findings, which encouraged me a lot to continue this hobby. So I would love to see the reports of rare bird sightings to continue so we all can enjoy birding and keep it fun for everyone, just like it is today!.

Good Birding.

India Trip Report

2008-06-13T01:20:00.000-07:00

Now that I got back from my yearly migration to India (read vacation), I thought I would post a rant on my trip here.. :)

Originally, I had planned to set aside a little time to myself and use this trip as an opportunity to visit Thattekad wildlife sanctuary in Kerala, India. I was told that this was the best place to see many of the rare species found in South India. However due to time constraints, I had to cancel that trip and limit myself to take photographs around the little town of Nagercoil, where I spent most of my time. However it wasn't such a bad idea. Actually, it turned out to be more fun than I had expected, as I got to witness the beautiful and colorful birds of Nagercoil, which I might have missed otherwise.

Nagercoil is located in the southern tip of Indian peninsula, only less than an hour away from Kanyakumari. Once you get away from the hustle and bustle of the center of the town, you'll see what this little jewel offers when it comes to natural beauty. With pristine lakes and beautiful rice fields that stretches into hundreds of acres, the place is a heaven for birds and humans.

The air here especially feels so fresh and clean, it is just the change you would expect and want, especially when you come from any of the crowded and polluted cities. Even the birds here seemed to be so brisk with activity and full of energy, it makes you wonder if they were taking a sip of Rockstar every morning :) Within the town boundaries, the White-throated kingfisher, Rose-ringed Parakeet and other birds constantly compete with each other to see who paints the narrow streets of old brick houses with more vibrant colors!.

As for the photographers go, there is no time to waste in this precious land. I arrived at Nagercoil on an early morning via the Kanyakumari Express passenger train from Chennai. The minute I arrived at my grand parents home, I spotted a hawk or eagle (not sure of the Id) perched on top of a coconut tree quite close to where I was staying. I was thrilled to see it. I grabbed my camera and rushed straight to the terrace.

Minutes later, I saw a WT Kingfisher perched on an electric wire waiting for its breakfast. Watching all this, I couldn't waste any minute to have my own breakfast, so I photographed and waited for the birds to return when they flew over. I never saw the kingfisher catch anything but every morning it would return back here and repeat its morning ritual. The parrots fight each other out constantly, and there are lots of them around. I was lucky to have one pose for me too.

Occasionaly I would log my 100-400mm on the streets looking for a rarity. I once chased the sound of a high pitch call, while i was expecting to see something bigger, it turned out to be from a smaller sized bird called Common Tailorbird. Rarely, I would also see a woodpecker fly by and check out the trees in our backyard. There were other water birds such as cormorants that flew by our house every now and then, at first it was all a bit too much to take that I could see all of this without leaving far from home!

Even though in the past I've been to Nagercoil too many times to keep a count, I've never seen it with the birder's eye. I felt this place was all the more beautiful than I once thought it was and I'm very happy to have acquired my new found hobby.

Reflecting back, I am in a way thrilled that India has a very rich variety of birds, some so colorful and incredible. Almost 1200 species is known to be found in this country alone. That number is much higher than the U.S species count (~900).

When I went back to the city, it was all a very different story. The case is quite saddening, actually. Pollution through air,water,and land are exceedingly growing so fast, its becoming a huge huge huge problem. Very little thought is being put to protect the environment and the natural habitat surrounding the cities. This affects both the human and the avian species.

For instance, the fresh water marsh lands that are just on the outskirts of the big metropolitan city Chennai are being used as garbage disposal dump yards. Tons and tons of garbage are being dumped into the pallikaranai marsh land everyday by the city.

Pallikaranai marsh land has been a home for naturally occurring plants (61 species), fish (46 species), birds (106 species), butterflies (7 species), reptiles (21 species) and some exotic floating vegetation such as water hyacinth and water lettuce, which are less extensive now and highly localized. (via)

Even after the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board had banned the dumping of waste into the marsh land and even after the marsh land area was declared as a national heritage land and wetlands reserve, the Corporation of Chennai is happily continuing to dump garbage into acres of these marsh land habitat and then set fire to them on a daily basis. I saw this first hand myself this time. This releases tons of toxic pollutants into the air and water below. Quickly and sadly many of the habitats where birds migrate to during the cold winter season in the north, are disappearing. It is estimated by some that if the current rate of dumping continues, in eight years, there won't be a Pallikarani marsh land anymore.

But really birds or wildlife are the least of the problems here as they have got much bigger problems to solve. Many ecological conservation groups and scientific research groups have together conducted a study on the effects of losing a marsh land. The reports from this study have indicated that the area is very vulnerable to devastating floods in the future. Other similar studies have also indicated that burning of the waste continues to release several toxic chemicals into the environment that are extremely harmful to human health. But the irony among all of this is that, the area around the dump yard is the fastest growing real estate property in Chennai today!. The real estate prices have appreciated over 300% in the last couple of years. Unimaginable inflation rate!. The rise in real estate prices in this area are fueled by hundreds of software companies setting up shop in the outskirts of the city, by increased income realized by the IT workers in the recent years, and also by the growing demand of the city population to move towards the city outskirts to make space.

The residents of perungudi, pallikaranai and thoraipakkam have protested to stop this whole mess, after many woke up to the burning smell carried by the wind miles away from their homes and many residents especially children's suffered from several respiratory problems and diseases.

Even the press has written many reports criticizing the illegal dumping and their harmful effects, but still there is no hope yet for Pallikaranai. May be the power to change all of this still lies within the people that live here and perhaps the software companies too, to force a change in the mindset among the government officials who allow the dumping to continue. More importantly, laws need to be strictly enforced so incidents such as these don't happen again here or in another town or another city.

Canada Geese and Goslings

2008-04-26T19:07:00.000-07:00

From Shoreline Lake, Mountain View.

(click on image for larger view)

Claremont Canyon Owls

2008-04-23T01:45:00.001-07:00

April this year has been a fantastic month for birding. Among all other increased bird activities during this month, what was more special was that residents of the bay area were able to observe the Great Horned Owl's nesting right beside a trail on the Claremont Canyon Regional Preserve in Berkeley. Thanks to a fellow bird blogger through whom I came to know about this and with his help I was able to find the nesting tree. If you would like to have the directions to the place, please see his blog posthere.

It's such a rare opportunity to see the Owl's nesting so close to the trail where you could observe them from less than just 15 feet away. A word of caution though is try not to be too intrusive, especially when they are sleeping and avoid using flash photography.

I drove up there twice in last two weekends, and wow what a remarkable change a single week can make in their growth! Among the three owlets, each one seems to have a unique personality, the little one is the cutest and has a very graceful look (but wait until they all grow up and show us how fierce they can be), the eldest one seems to be the quiet and shy one, and the middle one is the funniest character, much fun to watch them and are so adorable when they wobble their head in a circular motion. I've tried my best to capture each of their unique personalities in my photographs.

What is also interesting is how fast the news has spread in a week, the first time I was up there very few people knew about it and people who walked up the trail would notice others standing in groups and watching something, then they would ask what it is they are looking at and would be surprised to see the owls! The second week almost everyone who walked by knew where the owls were and I could tell many have been watching them regularly. One of the residents of the area mentioned that she has been hearing these owls for many years regularly in the area but this was the first time she saw them nesting. It is indeed quite a treat for all of us.

This below image was taken a week later..

Peregrine Falcon Nest Cam

2008-04-23T01:25:00.000-07:00

A couple of years ago, employees from the San Jose City Hall building found that there were a pair of Peregrine Falcons on the roof of their building, and they observed their presence quite regularly. This information was passed on to the right authorities and later a research group from UCSC setup a nest box in the same building hoping that they will take it. During mid Februrary last year the pair started to inhabit the nest, laid three eggs and the three hatched in June of last year. The research team had also set up a nest cam to watch them live anytime.

This year again, the female from last year and a new male has taken up the nest and have new young ones. You can watch them live using this link.

American Dipper

2008-04-14T02:32:00.000-07:00

On Sunday (4/13), I went back to Stevens Creek County Park in the morning around 8:30 am to check out the Sapsucker (which I saw the day before) but didn't see it on Sunday, so I went to checkout the Dippers. I found the Dipper pair again today at the same spot that Vivek found them on Saturday, with the helpful tip from Pati. I accompanied Vivek earlier, so I knew where it was.

If you would like to see them, as you pull out from the Cooley Picnic area turn right and proceed further south on Stevens Canyon Rd, stop at the turnover next to the third bridge (third if you include the bridge exiting the cooley picnic area). Walk backwards for few yards and cross the road and you will see the stream to your right, the dipper pair is right below the road.

The pair is actively involved in building a nest, I have photographs of them carrying nesting material and coming in and out of their nest. Its a bit dark for photography with trees covering for most part. During the time I was there, they were pretty friendly and it didn't seem to mind my presence even when I was close to them shooting at eye level!.

With nesting material,

At its nest,

Missed and Found

2008-04-09T23:05:00.000-07:00

Many birders in the area are currently flocking to the Stevens creek county park to get a peek at the Red-Naped Sapsucker (RNSA) which has been repeatedly found at the base of a V-Shaped Sycamore in the Cooley Picnic area. I went there to take a look yesterday but unfortunately I missed it. It is said that the best time to observe is in the morning 9 am or when the activity around the area is minimum. To avoid scaring the bird away it is best to position yourself atleast 25 yards away.

On the way back, I decided to stop at the Mc Clellan Ranch. And what a surprise! The place was filled with activity! There were plenty of birds at their feeder constantly keeping them busy and often fighting for a spot on the feeder. I saw Nuttal's woodpecker, Acorn woodpecker picking up the acorn from the roof top and stashing them inside a secret spot, they were flying back and forth between the trees and the roof, Hooded Oriole (male), White-breasted Nuthatch, Anna's Hummingbird, Lesser Goldfinch, Spotted Towhee, Dark-eyed Junco, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, House Finch, White-crowned Sparrow, Golden-crowned Sparrow etc.

Some pictures from the trip..

Nuttal's Woodpecker

Acorn Woodpecker

You can see more images from here.

Down at the watering hole!

2008-03-30T22:27:00.000-07:00

In a small depression created by a flag pole right next to the ranger station near the Palo Alto Duck pond, the rain water collects. Most of us wouldn't even notice such a small thing as this, but it serves as a great resource for the birds that wishes to take a bath or quench their thirst many times a day.

The birds come here as the water is very shallow and can be used without the fear of ever falling into it or drowning. While I was there waiting, I noticed there usually is a long period of no activity, then there is a sudden spurge of activity for a minute or two when many birds come down to take turns in using their watering hole, followed by no activity and the cycle repeats.

I was hoping to catch Bullock's Oriole which I heard many times calling from a tree quite close to this place, to come down here. Atleast when I was there this weekend, it didn't. But I caught other birds use it a lot.

Mourning Doves drinking water..

Red-winged Blackbird

White-crowned Sparrow taking a bath..

Nest building activity at Palo Alto Baylands

2008-03-27T21:46:00.000-07:00

Its quite evident that the Egrets aren't the only ones who have started with their nest building activities. Infact, the Black-crowned Night Heron's are in large numbers at the Palo Alto Baylands preserve, I had counted atleast 20 nests on the trees behind the ranger station and there are about 15-20 in nearby surrounding trees adjacent to the Duck Pond.

I got lucky when I pulled my car into the Duck pond parking lot, I noticed one of the BCNH was perched on top of a tree with its nest building material.

You can also notice his legs have turned pink indicating they are in their breeding season.

The sparrows are highly active everywhere at this time, I caught one song sparrow with some twigs in his mouth. He was shuttling to and fro from his nest that was hidden inside a shrub.

Song sparrow's got their name from their ability to learn upto 20 different songs and then continuously improvise them to create lots and lots of variations, sometimes even upto a 1000. The females choose their mate by his ability to show as many variations. Here is one showing off his talent.

Snowy Egrets Mating !!

2008-03-25T22:53:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, I reported that the snowies have started with their nest building activity. Well today, I was very excited when I caught in camera, a pair of snowy egrets mating at the Palo Alto rookery. Unlike the Avocets, there was no pre-copulation display or ritual, they just get it done quickly and it was over in 10 seconds. My camera went click, click, click.. as fast as it could :)

Here are the pictures.

and the happy couple :)

Its spring time!

2008-03-23T20:32:00.000-07:00

Its spring time and the activities from our feathered friends have started in full swing! Palo alto baylands preserve is where all the action is now. While I was there to checkout the snowy egrets, I also got a chance to see the Avocets mating.

What I found very interesting was I distinctly noticed that before they got into the mating action the female would stand down in a crouched position, lowering its bill close to the water but not touching it. She does that for about 30-60 seconds. To me, this was a clear heads-up that something exciting is going to happen, especially when a male was very close around her.

Soon enough, the male walks in a circle around the female. By using his bill he preens himself with water which causes a lot of splashing.

And then they get down to action..

After mating, the male and female intertwines their neck like shown below. It sort of looks like they are kissing :)

I later found out that this seems to be their ritual every time they mate. And I watched the same sequence again the next day as well.

Over at the rookery, the nest building activity is slowly beginning. I watched one Snowy Egret pick out the sticks for building a nest. He offered the stick shown in the picture below to his female, but she rejected it and so he dropped this stick to start over again.

And for the Killdeer, its incubution time! I got to watch the broken-wing act for the first time, but before I grabbed my camera to take a picture, it was over. You can see the egg in the picture below.

Watch the rest of the pictures in my gallery here.

The reason birds sing in spring

2008-03-23T01:47:00.000-07:00

THE secret of how birds know to sing in springtime has been discovered by researchers in Scotland and Japan.

A key part of the brain in birds is affected by seasonal change. The team found that, when birds are exposed to more light, cells near the pituitary gland release a hormone that sparks a series of reactions, making them ready for the mating season, when they sing more to attract a partner.

The findings, reported in the journal Nature, could have implications for treating infertility in humans, because they share the same type of cell.

Cedar Waxwings and Western Grebes

2008-02-18T15:55:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, I visited Shoreline lake in Mountain View to photograph some Cedar Waxwings that were reported earlier.

Steve Zamek, another excellent bay area photographer gave some tips on where to find them exactly. He was right, the waxwings were in plenty numbers right behind the Intuit building where they were feeding continuously.

I find these birds very beautiful and mighty interesting to watch, especially when they are gulping the berries down their throat one after another. I wish I had captured their courting behavior when the pair sits together and pass flower petals back and forth, share food and rub their bills against each other.

These shots were taken around noon time. I parked my car in a parking lot next to a pepper tree with lots of berries. Using my car as a blind I took some photographs of these fine birds.

After that, I walked towards the terminal end of shoreline lake and found plenty of waterfowl including all five species of Grebes. I then noticed one Western Grebe on the water being very playful and making gestures that would make anyone smile!. I waited patiently to let the bird get closer to me and in the end was happy to come home with some unusual behavior shots of the Western Grebe.

Just about to when I was getting ready to leave, I saw an American coot diving in a clear shallow water right next to where I was standing. In the bright sunlight, it was clearly visible to see under water.