March 14

We have a few more new birds to add to our list from Duck Days. We saw Yellow-Billed Magpies. These are abundant, noisy birds foraging in fields and roadside vegetation. They have a lively blue and black coloring, an unusually long tail, and a bright yellow beak. They are gregarious, and seem to like acorns, along with insects and other animal and plant food. Yellow-billed Magpies are found only in California; their Black-billed cousins are found all over the rest of North America, Europe and Asia. It is interesting to speculate what happiness of evolution brought that yellow bill to our magpies.

We also saw American Crows. Its rounded tail and relatively smaller size distinguish this all-black bird from the Raven. Crows are as sociable as Magpies and seem to flourish in fields and roadsides (and also suburban neighborhoods). They are damaging to crops when their flocks converge, leading, of course, to scarecrows. These are clever and adaptive birds.

We saw a Western Bluebird. These blue and russet birds are the perfect image of a child’s bird, plump and colorful. They nest in cavities, either natural holes or woodpecker holes. We saw a noisy little group of Cedar Waxwings, with their yellow bellies and bandit’s black mask on a brown head. It may be the pointy little cowlick at the back of their head, but mask and cowlick combine to make an antic looking fellow. They are berry eaters, when available.

We saw White-crowned Sparrows, hopping about in low brush next to the river. Their natty black-and-white-striped crowns are striking. Most of these birds migrate to the far north to breed. The literature on the birds suggest that White-crowned Sparrows develop distinctive dialects in their songs, learned in the next from listening to the males sing. We saw Red-winged Blackbirds. Like so many of the birds we describe here, they are social birds, foraging in little flocks. They are glossy black birds, with bright red soldier patches.

Finally, we saw, and heard, Western Meadowlarks. These birds forage, nest and sing on the ground. They have a black, V-shaped band on their yellow breasts, and tip up their beaks to throw their songs to the sky. They eat both insects and seeds.

That concludes our Duck Days sightings. We will continue to post as we move toward 100 different birds!

Total to 3-14: 59