With the onset of the chillier fall weather, I’ve been less motivated to do daily bird walks around the neighborhood. But when you start skipping the routine birding, you risk missing out on things. For example, today I discovered a whole flock of Horned Larks, which I’d thought weren’t anywhere near here. I see them by the hundreds fifty miles east of here on the Carrizo Plain, but I’ve never before seen one in my neck of the woods.
I also got a decent flight shot of a bird that’s normally hard for me to take pictures of, the Nuttall’s Woodpecker. They love to keep foliage and even entire tree trunks between me and them, but today I got a decent look at one.
And, of course, the resident Red-tailed Hawks, wintering Lark Sparrows and White-crowneds, a few Savannah Sparrows, and more House Finches than I’ve seen in a long time. All in all, a nice walk for a cold and blustery morning.
