author and lifelong birder
Western Bluebirds Male & Female Photo Credit – National Geographic The number of Western Bluebirds fluttering and dropping to the ground in search of insects appears to have dramatically increased this fall around the golf course I use here in northern California. What is …
Black-Headed Grosbeak Photo Credit – Author The fall migration is underway. There are birds appearing in my Northern California backyard which I have not identified before. First there was the Black-Headed Grosbeak, a member of the Cardinal family, inspecting my bird feeder, probably looking …
Bald Eagle in Marin County
A friend of mine recently sighted a Bald Eagle near Fairfax, CA. an event that was inconceivable a few years ago. The Bald Eagle returned to Marin County, CA. in 2008 after 100 years absence, and its numbers have increased ever since. The trend is consistent with nationwide numbers that show there were only an estimated 450 breeding pairs of Bald Eagles in the continental United States during the 1960s, whereas today the number has increased to over 10,000.
So what is going on? Global warming theoretically should push birds further north, beyond the lower 48 states. Clearly, this is not happening. The end of persecution and the banning of certain pesticides appear to explain the contrary trend.
Bald Eagle in flight
In the past, Bald Eagles were hunted for sport, slain because they were believed to be a menace to livestock and fisheries, and destroyed for money by bounty hunters. During the period 1917-52, bounty hunters in Alaska killed more than 100,000 Bald Eagles. The United States Bald Eagle Protection Act, enacted in 1940, made the killing of Bald Eagles illegal, but Alaska was exempt until it accepted statehood in 1959.
The population decline continued after this legal intervention because of the arrival of the pesticide DDT that made the shells of the eagles’ eggs thin and easily broken. It was banned by the United States in 1972, but still the population declined. In 1978 the species was declared endangered by the US government, and as a result of interventions, by the mid1990s, the population in the lower 48 states had increased to 4,500 pairs, and to 6,300 pairs by 2000. Today, lead poising still poses a threat to Bald Eagles. Hunters and anglers leave tons of lead behind each year, and an amount the size of a grain of rice can kill a Bald Eagle within 72 hours. Habitat loss also remains an issue, as do lethal collisions with powerlines and wind turbines.
Bald Eagle Range Map
Bald Eagles mostly eat fish, up to 90 percent of their diet. They will also take the occasional waterfowl, seabirds, live animals, such as rabbits and squirrels, and eat carrion. Consequently, their preference is to live close to bodies of water containing fish, and also to have access to stands of tall, old-growth trees for perching, roosting, and nesting. Primary locations are coastal regions and inland where there are large lakes, rivers, or reservoirs. The species is native to North America, and ranges from Alaska through Canada, and as far south as northern Mexico. Southern and west coast birds often remain in their breeding territory all year, whereas northern birds migrate for winter. The best time to see Bald Eagles in California is during winter, mainly from December to March, when hundreds of migrating birds arrive from the north.
I have been fortunate enough to observe Bald Eagles in Alaska and Wyoming, but never during my childhood days in England, as evidenced in my novel She Wore a Yellow Dress. The species fails to appear in Europe except for very rare reports of vagrants in Ireland.
Bald Eagle chasing an Osprey
The arrival of the Bald Eagle brings with it its own risks and consequences. Rather than carrying out their own fishing, Bald Eagles will choose to chase after birds that have already caught fish, and especially Ospreys. They harass the Osprey until it drops its prey in mid-air, and the eagle swoops down to collect it. Bald Eagles have excellent eyesight and can hunt from as high as 10,000 feet (3km). They see three times as far as humans, and have a 340 degree field of vision. Marin County has already experienced declines in its Osprey population. In the area of Kent Lake (reservoir created in 1958), there once were 50 or so Osprey nests; that number is now down to about 10.
Great Seal of America
In spite of these behaviors, the Bald Eagle was chosen as the national bird of the United States around 1789, attracting disparagement from the then President Benjamin Franklin who wrote that “the Bald Eagle is a bird of bad moral Character. He does not get his Living honestly…. (he) is too lazy to fish for himself. Besides, he is a rank Coward”.
In 1782, when the design of the Great Seal was approved, the Bald Eagle was adopted because of its fierce beauty, proud independence, and powerful strength.
Adult Bald Eagles are readily recognizable. They are the largest birds of prey in the United States. Their white head and tail with an evenly brown body are distinctive, they soar high in the sky on their long, broad, slightly-rounded wings, their tail is wedge-shaped, and their bill is a bright yellow. The name “Bald” has nothing to do with the absence of feathers on their head. The name derives from the Old English word “piebald”, meaning “white patch”, and is reference to their bright white heads. Males and females look the same, although the female may be up to 25 percent larger than the male.
Bald Eagle Juvenile
Recognizing juvenile Bald Eagles is not so easy. They do not exhibit the characteristic white head and tail until they are about five years old, and instead display dark heads and tails, with brown wings and bodies mottled white. For the first four years of their life they live a nomadic exploration existence.
Bald Eagle Nest
Once Bald Eagles mate, it is for a lifetime relationship, and the typical life span is around 25 years. Their nest is a large platform of sticks, typically built high in a tree, and used repeatedly over many years. The clutch size is one to three eggs, and they are laid relatively early during February.
The question for the future is whether communities will continue to welcome the return of the Bald Eagle, without reservations, or will decide to impose limitations because of the species’ behavior, or to safeguard human interests. For example, 30 year kill permits are now being issued to wind turbine energy developers to allow them to take or incidentally kill Bald Eagles, even though camera systems can be used to spot eagles and trigger shutdown of nearby turbines.
The species is no longer classified as endangered but the requirements of the Bald Eagle and Golden Eagle Protection Act still apply. The 1940 original Act was amended in 1962 to include the Golden Eagle. Criminal penalties may be imposed on any person who “takes, possesses, sells, barters, or offers to sell a Bald Eagle, alive or dead”, and penalties for violations were increased in 1972.
Global warming also threatens the birds’ future by impacting bodies of water and river systems that the Bald Eagle uses as its source of food.
Barn Owls Photo Credit – Birds and Blooms Someone from San Anselmo recently asked me about Owls in Marin, and expressed interest in installing an Owl Box. I believe Owl Boxes are available as part of the Hungry Owls Project sponsored by the WildCare …
I was first introduced during the late 1950s to the small songbird, a member of the finch family, called the Linnet or Common Linnet, when I was associated with the Bootham School Natural History Club in York, England. Founded in 1834, the society was one …
Male Black-throated Gray Warbler
During May this year, the Black-throated Gray Warbler made its way onto my birding “life list” as a result of a visit to Yosemite Valley. Not that these birds are rare in California ,but I had never seen one since resuming birding to escape the lock-ups imposed by the COVID pandemic. The species usually occupies coniferous and mixed forests, especially stands of pinyon pine, juniper, and oak. These warblers are short to medium-distance migrants. They breed west of the Rockies, from British Columbia to New Mexico, and winter in lowland dry forests, dense scrubland, and pine oak woods in Mexico, and the southwestern United States. Nesting occurs from late May to July, and the fall migration begins in mid-August. A few sightings of Black-throated Gray Warblers have been recorded in eastern North America but these are very rare. Migrants follow the western mountain ranges and the Pacific coastline, and a few occasionally pass through the Bay Area, close to my home. The ones in Yosemite seemed to be foraging for insects, and were seen close to Mirror Lake.
A “not-so-good” image from Yosemite
Black-throated Gray Warblers have a bold and distinctive pattern of black-and-white on their crowns, around their eyes and on their throat, and a gray back that gives them their name. Also, there is a splash of yellow between the eyes and the bill. The female has a more dingy facial plumage, and adults are about five inches (13 cm) in length. The species is not considered threatened by human activities, and seems to have extended its breeding range due to a warming climate. It is classed as “Least Concern” from a conservation perspective.
Orange: breeding; yellow: migration; Blue: nonbreeding
Black-throated Gray Warbler Range Map
It was satisfying for me to be able to distinguish these birds from the more ubiquitous avian species that occupy Yosemite Valley, such as Steller’s Jays, American Robins, and Dark-eyed Juncos.
Steller’s Jay
American Robin
Dark-eyed Junco
I should mention that the family of warblers is one of the more difficult groups from which to distinguish individual species. There are so many varieties, they are small birds, they often are obscured by trees and scrub, you usually need to look upwards to spot them, their coloring can act as camouflage in their surroundings, they forage silently, and many display similarly colored plumage. 53 species of warbler are found in North America, and a total of 111 species are identified in the New World. Some do not look “warbler-like” such as the Water Thrush and Yellow-breasted Chat. Virtually all are in the family of Parulidae, and are found only in the New World. Curiously, warbler species in the eastern half of the United States were generally named after places, whereas in the West, they are named in recognition of their plumage or using the name of a person, typically an ornithologist. Identification methods include considering plumage, voice, habitat preference, and behavior when foraging.
Birds known as warblers elsewhere in the world are unrelated to New World warblers, and have been given the “warbler” name because of their “warbling” sound. Thus, birds such as the Willow Warbler, Garden Warbler, Whitethroat, Wood Warbler, and Reed Warbler that I recorded during my youth in England, have no relationship to the Black-throated Gray Warblers that I saw in the Yosemite Valley. Even the Olivaceous Warbler that I recently encountered in Israel has no relationship with the Yellow-rumped, Townsend’s, and Wilson’s Warblers that occasionally visit my California backyard.
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Orange-crowned Warbler
Wilson’s Warbler
Eurasian Hoopoe (Photo Credit eBird) I have just returned from a trip to Israel, a country that adopted the Hoopoe as its national bird in May 2008. I was fortunate enough to see one hunting for food on the lawns of HaPisga Gardens in …
Ridgway’s Rail (Photo Credit eBird) Some people hold the opinion that the saying “As Thin as a Rail” derives from a comparison with the skinny and slender shape of birds known as Rails, including the Ridgway’s Rail. Many of these species have laterally compressed …
Mute Swan
Photo Credit: Wikipedia
I was surprised recently to see two pairs of Mute Swans feeding on grass and submerged vegetation at Schollenberger Park, Petaluma, CA. They appeared to be partners and presumably were preparing to breed in March or April. As we passed them with two small dogs one of them, I assume the male, hissed loudly, straightened its neck, and moved in the direction of our pets. The next step, if we had not moved our dogs to one side, was that the bird would flap its wings and physically attack. These birds maybe graceful and beautiful, but their aggressive behavior is out of line with their appearance. As well as chasing pets and children, they physically injure and will sometimes kill other birds, such as waterfowl, and when nesting they are known to attack canoeists, kayakers, and boaters on jet skis.
Swans are a non-native species to the United States and were introduced in the mid-1800s and early 1900s to adorn ornamental lakes, ponds, and city parks. Some went native and escaped to the wild, such as the ancestors of the four we discovered in Petaluma. Their preferred habitat is shallow coastal and fresh water such as estuaries, bays, waterways, streams, ponds, and lakes. Mute Swans are now distributed across North America, and their most significant populations are on the North Atlantic coast, across the Midwestern states, and into parts of the Northwest. There are smaller, localized populations in Canada and throughout the United States. These birds will migrate small distances, but generally do not wander far.
Mute Swan Range Map
Red – breeding habitat/resident; Blue – migration/winter area
Photo Credit: Wildfowl Photography
They are large birds, weighing up to 30 pounds (14 km), and are around five feet (150 cm) in length. The body of the adult is solid white. The distinguishing feature from other swan species is their orange bill, with its fleshy, black knob at the base of the upper bill. As described in my novel She Wore a Yellow Dress, my first experience with these birds was in England in the 1950s, when a pair would breed annually in a pond near my farm, and I would frequently visit their nest. I would dare myself to get as close as possible to the birds before the flapping and hissing of the male swan frightened me away. Today there are an estimated 7,000 to 16,000 breeding pairs in the UK. The species is native to much of Euro-Siberia where there are an approximate 500,000 birds, of which 350,000 are in Russia. They winter as far south as North Africa, the Near East, and northwest India and Korea. Mute Swans are not endangered and efforts to control their numbers are underway in some parts of their non-native territories.
They are not the only swan species I can see here in California.
The most common species in North America is the Tundra Swan that usually makes its appearance in California from November to mid-March. They are North America’s most numerous swans, with a global population of around 280,000. They breed in the Canadian Arctic and coastal Alaska, on lakes, ponds, and pools that are near river deltas, and migrate to the Pacific Northwest, inland across to the Great Lakes, and as far as the coastal mid-Atlantic. The species is identified by its yellow patch at the base of its black bill. Sometimes it is referred to as the “Whistling Swan” because of the sound it makes with its wings in flight.
Tundra Swan
Photo Credit: Wikipedia
Tundra swans are also found in the UK and across northern Siberia to Japan. The British call it the Bewick’s Swan, the name that it was given in 1830 to recognize the work of the engraver Thomas Bewick, who specialized in illustrations of birds and animals. My sightings of this species have all been in California.
Tundra Swan Range Map
Orange – breeding; Yellow – migration; Blue – nonbreeding
Photo Credit: Wikipedia
Next there is the Trumpeter Swan, the one species that is native to North America, but rarely seen in California. Trumpeter Swans breed in northwestern Canada and Alaska and migrate to the Pacific Northwest. They can also be seen around the Great Lakes, and some migrate to the central interior of the United States. They are the only swans you are likely to see foraging in open fields. The bird is entirely white except for its black bill, legs, and feet. It has been spotted a couple of times in the UK, but I am still waiting to see my first one on either continent.
Trumpeter Swan
Photo Credit: All about Birds, The Cornell Lab
Trumpeter Swan Range Map
Purple- all seasons; pink – breeding; blue – winter (all regarded as uncommon)
Photo Credit: National Audubon Society
Finally there is the Whooper Swan, a species that is native to Eurasia, and a very rare vagrant to North America. A few birds from Siberia winter in small numbers in the Aleutian Islands, Alaska, but otherwise it is extremely rare. It can be identified by its fairly long, straight neck, black bill with a large triangular yellow patch, and a short tail. It is a species I have seen in the past. Back in the 1960s I saw the occasional Whooper Swan pass through Spurn Point in Yorkshire. It remains a winter migrant from Iceland to Britain, and about 16,000 birds appear annually.
Whooper Swan
Photo Credit: e-Bird
Whooper Swan Range Map
Orange – breeding; Blue – non-breeding
Photo Credit: Birds of the World
And as a postscript, who could prepare an article on swans and overlook the Australian Black Swan? This species is native to the south-east and south-west regions of Australia and is the official emblem of Western Australia. For Europeans, it is a bird that in history could never exist. It fell into the same category as “flying pigs”. Now, most fortunately, Black Swans have become a highly popular ornamental water bird in countries such as Japan, China, the UK, the United States, and New Zealand. The last time I saw this species was on an ornamental pond outside a hotel on the island of Kauai. Enjoy your swan watching.
Photo Credit: e-Bird
Dark-eyed Junco in my BackyardPhoto Credit: The Author The species of bird known as the Dark-eyed Junco appears to be the only bird willing to forage among my Bay Area backyard bird feeders during this winter’s torrential downpours. While other birds hide in the trees …
It is the start of winter here in Northern California, and a time when tiny Buffleheads, the smallest ducks in North America, arrive to spend their non-breeding season in the state. They are one of 29 duck species in North America and tend to …
European Robin
American Robin
At this time of year, European Robins, a species commonly called robin or robin redbreast in the UK, are a familiar sight on Christmas cards in England. The practice began during Queen Victoria times in the mid-18th century when the bird replaced the illustrations of postmen who, back then, often wore bright red coats and were nicknamed “redbreasts”. The original red uniform was used as early as 1784, and some of the current designs were adopted as late as 2019.
The American Robin acquired its name from early American settlers who mistook it to be a relative of the European Robin because of its reddish-orange breast. In fact it is a member of the thrush family, whereas the European Robin fits into the Old World flycatcher family. A fuller description of the behaviors of robins is included in Chapter 13 of my novel She Wore a Yellow Dress.
English Postman during Victorian times
Royal Mail – more recent uniforms
This article was written because my sister, who lives in Lilleshall, Shropshire, asked me to select the robin as the focus for my December Blog. Also, as a birder, I am acquainted with both species. The American Robin appears in my Northern California backyard each winter, as small flocks congregate to hunt for berries, and during a recent trip to England, I observed single European Robins searching for food in many of the gardens I visited. Both varieties are known to sing early at dawn and late into the evening, enjoy the same diet, occupy similar habitats such as gardens, hedgerows, parks, and forested areas, are comfortable around people, and start breeding early in spring. Otherwise, there are differences:
European Robin Range Map: Orange – Breeding; Purple – Year-round; Blue – Winter.
American Robin Range Map
Both species are the subject of extensive folklore. In Europe, Christian tradition believes that a robin arrived at the stable shortly after Jesus was born. While Joseph was gathering wood, the bird fanned the dying embers with its wings to keep the fire alight and Jesus warm. The Virgin Mary rewarded it with a fiery-colored breast; a variation of this story is that the bird burnt itself while keeping the fire alight.
Another English tale says that when Jesus was on the cross a robin flew to him and sang in his ear to comfort him, and that the blood from Jesus’ wounds stained the robin’s breast. An alternative version is that the robin plucked a thorn from the crown of thorns on Jesus’ head, and was injured and its breast stained with blood.
In America, many Native Americans have regarded the American Robin as a symbol of peace, safety, and nurturing, and also a predictor of human relationships. Some have regarded the bird as a guardian of fire, and others as a thief of flames. One legend is that the raven created the robin to sing to people. Michigan, Wisconsin, and Connecticut have adopted the species as their State Bird.
Robins are supposed to be one of the most abundant bird species in their respective territories. In North America, there are an estimated 370 million American Robins, and in the UK, estimates suggest about seven million breeding pairs. Elsewhere in Europe, robins are not subject to the same reverence as in England, and are shot for food and sport. Consequently they are much more timid on the Continent.
Both species are regarded as “least critical” from a conservation perspective, and hopefully, for many years to come, they will symbolize the arrival of spring, greetings at Christmas, and represent hope, renewal, and rebirth for all who witness them.
Seasonal Greetings
Sandhill Cranes During early October this year, I visited the Cosumnes River Preserve, south of Sacramento, to glimpse flocks of Sandhill Cranes flying high in the sky, having just arrived to winter in their thousands among the fields, marshes, and wetlands of the Central Valley …
Many years ago, I was required to persuade my fellow birdwatchers that I had spotted a pair of Shore Larks on a beach just north of the Warren at Spurn Point, Yorkshire, England, to have the sighting recorded in the Bird Observatory’s daily log. What …
I was first introduced to Northern Wheatears at the end of March 1961 during a school geology fieldtrip to Stainforth in Ribblesdale, Yorkshire, England. A small group of us were studying the area’s Carboniferous Limestone and Millstone Grit and searching for fossils in the older Ordovician and Silurian outliers. It rained most of the time and the river flooded our camp site forcing us to return home early. However, on the last day before leaving, during a hike along a country trail in Crummack Dale, I encountered my first Northern Wheatear as it hopped along the ground in front of me flashing its prominent black and white tail pattern. I would later record large numbers of Northern Wheatears migrating through Spurn Point, Yorkshire.
Northern Wheatear in Crummack Dale
The Northern Wheatear is a small bird, slightly larger than an English Robin, and breeds in stony, upland areas of the North Pennines as well as on similar terrain elsewhere in western and northern Britain. Once procreation is complete, it migrates south to Africa for winter. The plumage of the male during the breeding season is grey on the upperparts, buff throat, and black wings and face mask. In the fall, it resembles the female except that it keeps its black wings. The female is plain brown above and buff below, with dark brown wings. Both sexes have a white rump and tail, with a black inverted T-pattern at the end of the tail.
Large numbers of Northern Wheatears travel way beyond Britain, across the North Atlantic, to Greenland and eastern Canada. I was thrilled by my first sighting. The species had only occasionally been seen by other birdwatchers around my home town of York, and mostly spotted close to the River Ouse, suggesting that these birds used the river to navigate their way northwards. As described in my novel Unplanned, the river is one of the routes used by the German Luftwaffe to bomb British inland cities during World War 2.
York and the Ouse
Do not be fooled by the Wheatear’s name, it has nothing to do with grain; the species eats insects not seeds. The name is derived from the Old English phrase “hwit aers”, meaning “white arse”, which refers to the bird’s white rump. In England during the 18th and 19th centuries the bird was considered a delicacy, and shepherds would supplement their income by selling the Northern Wheatears they trapped.
Northern Wheatear Range Map: orange – breeding; blue non-breeding (wintering)
The Northern Wheatear spends its winter in Sub-Sahara Africa and breeds throughout Europe and across the Palearctic regions of Asia, with footholds in northeastern Canada as well as in northwestern Canada and Alaska. During the fall migration, birds from Alaska and northwestern Canada cross the Bering Strait to Siberia and then navigate southwestward across ice, water, mountains and deserts, to the Caspian Sea, Iran, and Iraq, from where they cross the Red Sea to Africa, passing by Egypt, the Sudan, and Ethiopia, to arrive in such countries as Uganda, Kenya, and Northern Tanzania. Individual birds begin this annual round trip of up to 18,500 miles (30,000 km) in August, and travel for close to three months to complete the journey. They fly at night and cover, on average, about 180 miles (290 km) a day. They are believed to accomplish the longest journey of any songbird, and their chicks are born with the ability to independently navigate these thousands of miles.
Birds from eastern Canada migrate via Greenland and Europe to winter in West Africa, from Senegal and Sierra Leone east to Mali. Some pass through Britain but many appear to head directly across the ocean to Portugal and Spain from where they cross to Africa. Why these North America breeding birds fly to Africa, and not to Central America, like other birds that nest in Alaska and Northern Canada, is unknown. If an egg is removed from an Alaskan nest and taken to Eastern Canada, the chick will still fly westwards across Canada to Asia.
Northern Wheatear Migration Flight-ways
Today, Britain has approximately 240,000 breeding pair of Northern Wheatears, and the worldwide population is estimated at as many as 125 million. About 40 million breed in Europe, where the population is showing a moderate decline due to agricultural changes and urbanization. Of greater concern are the worsening floods, drought, and extreme temperature changes taking place in Sub-Sahara Africa that are likely to pose a more serious threat to the future well-being of this species.
Sub-Saharan Africa – Kenya
Northern Wheatears start to breed when they are one year old, and the female is responsible for building the nest and incubating the eggs. The nest is usually located in a cavity such as a rabbit burrow or a crevice among rocks, and the clutch size is typically three to eight pale blue eggs, sometimes with red-brown flecks. Often the male chooses to perch nearby and sing. The chicks are fed by both parents but become independent after about a month. They are left to find their own way to Africa as the fall migration gets underway.
Northern Wheatear Nest
My childhood memories prompted me to write this article to acknowledge that I have failed to observe even a single Northern Wheatear during the past three decades while living here in California. It is not that they never appear, but that they are so very rare. Most cross the Pacific or Atlantic to the Old World for winter, and only the occasional straggler appears in the United States, other than Alaska, including accidental vagrants along the western coastline of California. These exceptions attract a great deal of attention and hordes of birdwatchers descend on the site if it is published. Only a dozen or so sightings have been recorded all-time in California, and mainly take place during the August to November migration period. It is only now that I realize how fortunate I was to encounter this bossy little bird during my teenage years.
Northern Wheatear North America Range Map
