Down at the watering hole!

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

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 !!

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!

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

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.

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