It’s Spring!

Recently, we took a leisurely stroll along the Laguna de Santa Rosa Trail. Spring was blooming and buzzing at every turn, and the birds were busying themselves too.
 
Singing Red-winged Blackbirds surrounded the parking lot, claiming any available elevated perch — like this one.

Listen to a few bars of this individual’s song below.

Violet-green Swallows are cavity-nesters, and it’s fun watching them zip around the oaks searching for suitable holes. This male returned numerous times to investigate this crevice in a massive oak tree.

Meanwhile, his presumed mate perched on a nearby branch.

We recorded the pair’s vocalizations as they investigated the oak tree — take a listen here.

When sunlight struck the male’s back, we marveled at the spectrum of colors revealed — forest green, teal, deep navy blue, and violet — beautiful!

Who else was bopping around this particular oak? A flash of movement near the base of the tree caught our eye — a Lincoln’s Sparrow!

The little sparrow explored the tall grass around the oak, occasionally popping up to perch on a low-hanging branch. We relished its presence for awhile, knowing it would soon be leaving our area to head for breeding grounds.
 
If you’re curious how to distinguish the Lincoln’s Sparrow from the other streaky sparrows in our area, check out this previous post: Streaky Sparrows of Northern California: Song, Savannah, Lincoln’s, and Fox Sparrow

A nest box affixed to the very same oak was actively in use by a female Western Bluebird.

Just past the oak perched this vibrant Western Bluebird male — could it be her other half?

An Anna’s Hummingbird female perched directly overhead at one point, giving us a nice look at her small patch of iridescent throat feathers.

As we walked toward the riparian area, we heard the rhythmic song of a Common Yellowthroat. We followed our ears and discovered it vocalizing as it moved through some tall bushes.

Listen below to the burry sound of the Common Yellowthroat’s chip note, as well as one song snippet at 0:15 seconds.

Now it’s time to play a game called: “Can You Spot The Nest???”

Here it is! This marvelously constructed Bushtit nest blends in perfectly with the lace lichen streaming down from this oak.

Here’s the sound of the pair moving through a tree adjacent to the nest. Mnemonics can help with learning bird sounds — our mnemonic for this particular Bushtit vocalization is the “tiny tambourine” sound.

The illuminated white of this Great Egret stood out against the backdrop of brown oak branches and blue sky. Look closely at the crazy kink of its neck tucked in – wow!

Recently, Miles declared the playful and heartfelt song of the Song Sparrow to be one of his favorites. Lucky for him, Song Sparrows sang along every stretch of trail!

Singing Spotted Towhees were also abundant on this gorgeous spring day. Take a listen to one individual — singing rhythmically about every 5 seconds.

During nesting season, occasionally while you’re watching a bird bop or fly around, they lead you directly to their nest. That’s exactly what happened as we observed this female Anna’s Hummingbird buzzing around until she suddenly dropped into her thimble-sized nest cup!

Near the seasonal bridge spot along the Laguna (which isn’t in place just yet), our ears pricked up at a long-awaited rapid chatter call — our first Bullock’s Oriole encounter this spring season, hooray!
 
In this chatter call recording, listen also at 0:08 seconds for a snippet of Bullock’s Oriole song.

A male and female moved around together in the trees. The pair vocalized often and spent some time inspecting a clump of mistletoe.

At one point, the pair appeared to become agitated and they vocalized loudly as they chased off a California Scrub-Jay and a Fox Squirrel.

After the loud confrontation with the jay and squirrel, the more relaxed male began foraging alone in a nearby oak.

The male seemed particularly attracted to the new growth of the oak, and periodically gave these slower-paced whistle and chirp calls.

The Laguna de Santa Rosa Trail offers fabulous bird habitat throughout the entire year, but it’s particularly fun to visit during spring and observe the palpable energy of breeding season activity! We hope you all are getting outside to enjoy the buzz!