Pescadero State Park

Today was a beautiful day in Pescadero.  It was a bit cold, but not compared to the rest of the country.  The beaches were mostly empty, though, so I guess the everyone believes that winter is approaching.

The seals were lounging about.

They looks exhausted!

They would look up at me with sleepy faces, and then their heads would flop back down.

I like this thoughtful expression.  His face reminds me of a cat with those big whiskers and almond-shaped eyes.

I made my way to the marshes, which were full of birds.  I saw a little sparrow on a log and approached.

This is a Song Sparrow.  They're extremely common.  Many birders are unimpressed by their appearance, but I really like them.  They let you get close and they have lovely songs.

The easiest way to distinguish between different types of sparrows is to look at the pattern on their chest and head.  The Song Sparrow has dark-brown spots on his chest, with a prominent spot in the middle, and white markings on his head below and above the eyes.

Other sparrows will have yellow markings above the eyes or on the wings, or a colored patch in the center of his head directly above the nose.

Black Phoebes were everywhere today.  I saw the first one on a sign post.

The second one was catching bugs.  You can still see it in his mouth!

It was almost as if the phoebes were posing for me.  The next one was in branches backed by a blue sky.

Then he flew into the brush.

Then on a bush.

Then, I swear he asked me if he should pose on a man-made object to serve as social commentary about our interference with nature.

Then he went back into the brush, but positioned himself carefully so that I could see the white tips of his feathers.

Then some more bushes.

In case I wanted a brighter background, he flew over to some driftwood.

And back on a post.

I actually left out several other places where he sat.  Such an obliging little bird.

Black Phoebe

It's rare when a bird is as appropriately positioned as this picture.

Before last August I had never seen a black phoebe. Now I see them everywhere: Pescadero, Moss Beach, Hayward, and San Francisco. I can't decide if I'm better at spotting them or we're in phoebe season. My field guide is rather unhelpful as it states that they're locally uncommon to very common year round. Um, yeah, thanks.

They're very hard to photograph because they move around so frequently and they don't like you to get too close. This post is the culmination of months of photographs.

Black phoebes eat all types of insects. Julie Zickefoose has a touching series of posts about raising baby phoebes and teaching them to eat that starts here. I recommend Zickefoose's blog, if you're not familiar with her work. She writes about birding, travel, and her dog and she's in the process of writing a new book!

The phoebes live near water, including the ocean and marshes. In these pictures the phoebe is sitting in some branches built into the bluffs.

They're so adorable!

why do you keep looking at me?

They're typically seen on top of poles.

This picture was taken today in Golden Gate Park. The phoebe was very conflicted. Every 30 seconds he would take flight, chirp, and land back in the same position. I watched the cycle for several minutes before moving on to find some more birds.

The best was when I saw the phoebe catch a moth and eat it. He looked very satisfied.