Deanna and I spent several hours just relaxing in the back yard today. To our delight (but not at all uncommon here) we had repeated visits from a wonderful variety of birds.
From big to small, we watched: 4 red-tailed hawks, a canada goose (at a great distance), several common ravens, a beautiful northern flicker, a few rock doves, two (very noisy) western scrub-jays, a mourning dove, several very colorful spotted towhee, a pair of california towhees, a house finch, several sparrows (unidentified), an oak titmouse or two, a bewicks wren, a chestnut-backed chickadee, an early lesser goldfinch, and finally, an anna's hummingbird.
Also seen in our neighborhood, but not seen today are california quail, robins, mockingbirds, gulls, nuttall's woodpeckers, crows, american goldfinches, junkos, black phoebes, western bluebirds, various sparrows, and I'm sure I'm leaving off a few.
Looking just beyond our neighborhood the variety skyrockets. We live at the western edge of Redwood City, at the base of the Santa Cruz mountains. It's a 45 minute drive over the mountains to the coast and a 15 minute drive east to the marshes and the bay. If you enjoy birds, this area is just great.
