Madrona Marsh, April

Very nice birding today (with Bob).  Great egret and snowy egret; wigeons, though they will be taking off soon to breed up north; shovelers, mallards, cinnamon teal and a blue-winged teal. And, this little guy:

 It's a Wilson's phalarope, a little swimming sandpiper. It swims in fast circles to stir up invertebrates to eat.  Also saw a lot of red-wing blackbirds, all over the marsh, chasing crows off the nests.

 We saw a barn swallow and cliff swallow, cedar waxwings, Say's phoebe and black phoebe, European starlings and this flicker:

 So many yellow-rump warblers, at least one Myrtle according to Bob, and Audubon's.

 Canada geese all around, including one sitting on a nest.

 Beautiful little lark sparrow, a rare thing.

 Odd plant here, no birds.

 Western bluebird! Wish I had a longer lens. He was pretty in flight, blue all over the place.

 BIG find, a black-headed grosbeak. He posed for us for a long time.

Banning Museum & Catalina Eagles

First, after watching 3 eggs for a month+, tended by mom Wray and dad Superman, we are finally seeing hatching action at West End of Catalina. Live streaming here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYSG3eAKXik

Today walked at Banning House in Wilmington with Bob, lots of goodies.

I DIDN'T KNOW THERE ARE PEACOCKS IN WILMINGTON.

This Cooper's Hawk appeared. We saw a pair of red-tail hawks in their nest at the top of a pine tree.

This is a flicker, too far away.  Best birds of the day were Cedar Waxwings, about 5 of them, and they were passing fruit to each other. Such gorgeous birds!  We also had Brewer's blackbirds, yellow rump warblers, Townsend's warbler, Allen's hummingbirds, Cassin's kingbird, Bullock's oriole and hooded oriole, black phoebe. 
Go Eagles!!!