[birding] Neighborhood Watch vs. Neighborhood Naturalist

[Lisa Millbank]

I spent most of the day riding around and working in the garden today, taking some pictures of birds when I could.  (Pictures at http://groups.google.com/group/mid-valley-nature/browse_thread/thread/e5b16af640dcab35)

I was sitting on the curb along Brooklane Drive about to get a picture of a Cedar Waxwing gobbling a cherry.  I had been waiting for about 20 minutes and they were starting to come back when a police car pulled up next to me and the siren went "bwoop bwoop!" very loudly next to my ear.  The waxwings flew away and the cop asked what I was doing and if that was my bike over there on the sidewalk.  When I said I was taking pictures of birds he drove away.  My best guess is that someone called the cops to report me as a suspicious person.  Someone thought I was an intimidating lurker too close to their fancy-pants yard.  Well, I guess I should be flattered, I always thought a tough sixth-grader or an elderly lady wielding a heavy purse could beat me up.

I visited the cemetery on the hill near the country club golf course.  There is an enormous cherry tree there laden with small fruits that are just starting to ripen.  It seems the tree may be well-nourished by the tenants of the cemetery beneath it!  I ate about 2 pounds of cherries while listening to a Western Tanager, Bullock's Oriole, more waxwings, and American Robins as they gulped whole cherries far above me.  An Olive-sided Flycatcher, Lazuli Bunting and all four of our diurnal squirrels (Western Gray, Douglas', and California Ground Squirrels, and Townsend's Chipmunk) were all singing/calling nearby.  It was nice to overindulge in cherries with the birds, although I was forced to conclude later that their digestive systems are probably better suited for a glut of cherries than mine is...

I rode back to the community gardens to do some work there.  A fledgling Tree Swallow didn't mind me approaching very close, in fact, I was able to touch him a little bit.  Song Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrows, Anna's Hummingbird, Western Scrub-Jays, American Crows, Western Bluebirds, Violet-green Swallows, House Finches, American & Lesser Goldfinches and others were all enjoying the garden today.  A Cooper's Hawk made two attempts to get a bird, and an Osprey tried to catch a Common Carp at the duck pond. 

Lisa
www.neighborhood-naturalist.com
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