Sunday, June 01, 2008

Birding @ UCI

Well today was a quiet day on campus. I rode my bike over to bird around a bit. There were the usual suspects, American Robins, Western Bluebirds, vociferous little House Wrens, and Black Phoebes. House Finches, American and Lesser Goldfinches, and Bushtits were all present and calling.


A single Olive-sided Flycatcher was a treat, sitting near the statues on the left side of the park by the bridge. A Cooper's Hawk buzzed overhead circling the park. Crows and Ravens mobbed it, and then sat at the tops of the sycamores cawing and croaking.

Up near the Science Library there were Rufous and Anna's Hummingbirds feeding on the honeysuckle. Behind some portables near the library there is an area of some odd pines, and willows and such - a small riparian area of sorts. In this, there were all three of the previous finches, Nuttall's Woodpeckers, and delightfully, a family of Hooded Orioles.


Near Steinhaus Hall there was an incredibly vocal Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon type). These little guys really please me for some reason, I think it's the cute pink bill that stands out against their dusky heads. Other sightings of interest included a flyby Forster's Tern in Aldrich, a White-throated Swift near Steinhaus, unfortunately, a flock of European Starlings over by Campus Village, and cutest of all, a mother Killdeer with babies in the open field across from my apartment complex, Vista del Campo Norte. It was a nice day out, but suprisingly quiet bird-wise, this really has been a subdued spring/early summer season.

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