Of Peculiar Behavior, Odd Doings & Other Curious Observations of Unusual Avian Activity

Great Egret on the prowl

In the wide, wonderful, whimsical world of birds,

you never know when, where or who you might see – 

if you’re paying attention!

Northern Mockingbird balancing on spindly branch

And even if you are (tuned in to wide, wonderful, whimsical world of birds!), it’s easy to miss catching some twist of abnormality in a bird’s actions. An occasional eyebrow raising activity. An eccentric (rarely observed) display of mercurial personality.

European Starlings ground feeding

Something, anything resembling a behavioral aberration, a departure from the norm. But what does it even mean? Do such hopelessly anthropocentric comparisons afford an understanding of multifarious avian behavior and protean characteristics?

Sheltering Ducks

Or it all merely a tidy attempt on the part of a rational seeking human to account for unexplainable – and inexplicable – aspects of quirky bird behavior?

White-tailed Kite surveying domain

There is another explanation, though. Perhaps nothing at all unusual is happening. Perhaps it’s all totally normal. Perhaps I’ve just not been paying attention.

Regular ol' Pigeon

I’m shambling along in Live Oak Park hoping to spot the usual suspects in the taller oak trees. Codornices Creek enchants with a lazy shimmery flow, a perennially small miracle considering how dry things are.

Codornices Creek, humble but beautiful urban creek

Near where an old oak recently fell (opening up a big swathe of blue sky), I suddenly become aware of some positively crazy antics of (what turns out to be) an Adult Pink-Sided Junco engaged in decidedly bizarre behavior.

Junco figuring out his next move

Or so I think.

Jay feathers

I check him out a bit more closely. He's excitably perched on a tiny ledge of space on a car door, facing the rearview mirror, dancing, hopping, and jumping in a neurotic (?) display of . . . I’m not quite sure of what.

Junco perched on car mirror waiting for "the other"

The frantic, flighty fellow is so thoroughly absorbed in a desperate and utterly futile attempt to penetrate the everlasting mystery of his reflection that he’s risking physical injury from repeatedly colliding with the glass mirror.

Junco drying off in brush after dip in creek

Whether preening vaingloriously in vain, or attempting to ward off a threatening competitor in a mano-a-mano (leg-a-leg?) confrontation, or just hoodwinked by a sudden burst of self-awareness of his bird identity, the blockage engenders extreme frustration and anxiety in the Junco.

Junco gathering nesting material

I observe this frenetic activity for a good five minutes, thinking never again will I see THAT!

Not all Juncos look alike

The very next day, around the same hour, my expectations are not dashed but heightened, for there he is again: presumably the self-same Junco engaged in his mirror-inducing histrionics.

Adult "Gray Headed" Juncos

Somehow, this bird retained a memory of the event, the car, the time and place of his confounding attempt to establish contact with his unrecognized image. Or – now here's a thought! – perhaps the Junco was engaged in some phantom battle with what he perceived to be a threat.

Whimbrels amassing from a feeding break

I'm not sure I will never know. But Google will! And sure enough, my intuition is rewarded when I read later that it's all about the Junco seeing his image as an intruder, a competitor, a rival, and trying to drive him away!

Gull and Grebe contrast

Many instances crop up where I’m in the right place at the right time, fortunate to witness peculiar behavior, behold odd doings, and observe unusual activity.

Nice-looking Cormorant contemplating a deep dive

I’m watching a small Cooper’s Hawk (gotta be a mini Coop, don’t it?) right from my front porch in full pursuit of two frantic Crows, swooping mere feet from me at low altitude in a blur and screech of black and brown feathers.

Sharp-shinned Hawk frequenting the neighborhood

A flock of two dozen Turkeys are strutting like nobody’s business through a busy crosswalk on car-crazy Buchanan Street near San Pablo Avenue in Albany. I surmise the Toms and Marys are scuttling over to an agricultural plot on the Bay side of the avenue for some fine dining on the Gill tract of land owned by U.C. Berkeley.

Turkeys fearlessly entering traffic

I’m sitting on my porch steps, when a cute as can be, stubby little Ruby-crowned Kinglet (when Ruby-crowned Kinglets were still somewhat of a mystery) suddenly flies down to the sidewalk right at my feet, with his “ruby crown” exposed like an orange-red tam.

Wow! A non-blurry photo of a Ruby-crowned Kinglet

I’m like WOW!

Less common cuz, the Golden-crowned Kinglet

The little guy proceeds to peck and hunt around under the rose bushes. Now, why would a skittish, flighty Ruby-crowned Kinglet decide to land right at my feet, bare his colorful head patch, and not even bat an eyelash?

Ruby-crowned Kinglet showing a little flash of color

Observations of avian aberrations and behavior

from previous posts are worth repeating:

Sanderlings snatching up grub on Bay shore

Yawning Crows espied in the 108-year old Interior Live Oak tree in the side yard. No murder, no mob, just a pair lone bored Crows yawning away.

Crow Duo

A Seagull, witnessed on the Pacific coast near San Simeon, California. A thirty minute ordeal devouring a Starfish, throwing it up and catching it every so often to soften another side of it to make it easier to "Gull"p it down his "Gull"et.

The Seagull and the Starfish

A beat up old Harlan’s Hawk, encountered in Tilden Regional Park, staring me down a few feet away on a low bush. Then, almost drunkenly (perhaps he had been poisoned, or was merely dying), flying off with a haphazard landing in a nearby tree.

Unidentified Hawk in Diablo Foothills (no photo of ol' Harlan)

A Bald Eagle, spotted over Marlette Lake, in full kamikaze combat mode stickin’ it to three hysterical Ospreys.

Marlette Lake beauty, Western Nevada

A Great Blue Heron, watching the "Nature Channel" in a small park in Walpole, Massachusetts with Mom (who had never seen such a thing before), devouring several fish over the course of an hour.

Great Blue Heron in search of some food

Ground-feeding Junco acting like a Flycatcher, acrobatically jumping and snatching insects in mid-air.

Junco gathering nesting material

Speaking of Flycatchers, I am thrilled to spot my first ever Pacific-Slope Flycatcher at Cascade Canyon Open Space District in Marin County. A very nice-looking bird, indeed!

Dramatic action in the skies: Crows vs. Hawk

I know instantly I’ve never seen this bird before. Or maybe I have and always thought it was someone else. This babe’s picking off white moths, one by one, totaling five I count, to feed her hungry hatchlings, ugly things sticking greedy triangular shaped red maws out of a hole in the tree right off the trail.

Willow Flycatcher hatchlings

In plain sight. So easy to miss.

Pacific-slope Flycatcher in repose

A Bewick’s Wren taking a dry bath in the garden, dusting himself up big time, no doubt to foil mites and other parasites. And for the sheer feel good pleasure, I imagine.

Bewick's Wren minding his own business

No dummies, our friends the birds.

Snowy Egret taking stock at Albany Bulb

Gotta give ‘em kudos and props, for they are evolution’s pre-eminent expression of physical dexterity, native intelligence, and soul-satisfying freedom.

Codornices Park in Berkeley
redwoods and creek and birds galore