Birding at Caswell State Park

It's Easter (or Spring) break now, and typically that means I use the week to catch up on work and projects at home that need to be done.  Today my brother and I took a break from work to spend a few hours at Caswell State Park, located in the central valley of California.  This beautiful forest is lush and green and runs along the Stanislaus River.  It's what is known as a riparian woodland, which just means it's the lush green woods typically found around a body of water, like the Stanislaus River.

Here's a copy of their brochure, for more information:
http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/557/files/CaswellMemorialbrochure.pdf

We saw some amazing birds today. Unfortunately I was unable to get good pictures of the birds with my personal camera.  I will list the birds I saw and suggest that you look up the birds on the Audubon website: www.audubon.org

Here's the list:
Spotted Towhee
White-Crowned Sparrow
Bank Swallow
Wood Duck
Great Blue Heron - white morph
Belted Kingfisher
Swainson's Hawk
Turkey Vulture
Yellow-Rumped Warbler
White Breasted Nuthatch
Black Phoebe
Nuttall's Woodpecker
American Crow
Western Bluebird
Western Scrub Jay
Marsh Wren

I was definitely most excited about the Heron and the Kingfisher.  They were very hard to spot and very shy.  Almost as soon as we found them, they would take off and hide again.  The hawk was amazing, too.  It was quite close and screamed several times.  I hope you look up pictures of these birds, and perhaps next time I will have pictures of my own to show you!

Fun Front Yard Birds!

My family and I were coming home from breakfast one morning when I noticed a handful of birds with unusual profiles (unusual to me).  I could see a slight crest to the feathers on the back of their head, and I got kind of excited, so I ran inside, quietly so as not to scare these birds away, and grabbed my binoculars, camera, and bird book.  I suspected they might be waxwings, though I had no real idea why I thought so.  I'd seen pictures of the waxwings in my bird book while looking for other birds, but I had never studied the pictures or read any of the information about them.  Turns out I was right!  A small flock of Cedar Waxwings called the tree in my front yard home for about two weeks.  They were there everyday.  I sat out on my front porch for almost an hour studying these birds, watching their behavior, practicing taking close-up pictures with my sad little point and shoot camera.  It was a great time.  Scroll down for pictures of these pretty little birds.  Here's a link to their information on the Audubon website:
http://birds.audubon.org/birds/cedar-waxwing
(I have no affiliation with the Audubon Society, other than finding their information most helpful)

Notice the crest behind the head

Yellow tip on tail feathers

There is a small red spot on the wings, this is not always visible

Happy girls

Donna and Rose were thrilled when I let them out this morning.

Sadly River is still not so happy when I take her out of the cage, so while I was cleaning the cage out, she sat on my shoulder in an attempt to socialize her more.

Hide and Seek!

The other day I went up to my room to get ready for bed.  As is my custom, I checked on all my critters before turning off the light to go to sleep.  Rats: all present and accounted for.  Birds: cranky that the light is still on, but all there.  Toads: there's one....uh, one....um..... Frantically I open the lid to the tank and begin searching for the missing toad.  I know they're good jumpers, and though the lid was on and secure, I also know animals can be creative when they decide to escape.  After several minutes of searching the tank, and freaking out the one toad I could find, this is what I discovered.

Trevor the trouble maker has apparently decided that the filter makes a good hiding place.  Hide and seek is his favorite new game.  For the past 3 nights he has been in the filter, sometimes so far down that I cannot see him at all, when I get ready for bed.  I still check on him, tap the filter, just to make sure he doesn't get stuck.  The filter is also off for now until I can get a replacement that does not have an open top.