Biola Birds

Yesterday I went birding at Biola during lunch. This is the best time to do it because the students are gone. That means that people don't look at me weird when I wander around with binoculars, but, more importantly, it means that there are more birds! The birds come out of the woodwork around the dorms during the break - hopping right up to the doors. Since nobody is around, they are able to access food sources more comfortably.

Anyway, it yielded a good snapshot of what Biola's avifauna is like in winter. I did a little walk from about Thompson, down the creek, and then back over McNally Field to my office. I expected Yell0w-rumped Warblers to be the most common bird, but I was wrong! There was a huge flock of finches and waxwings down by Stewart. Many more than I've seen, anywhere, at one time!

Here's a list, in no particular order:

1. Western Bluebird - 12
2. Hermit Thrush - 1
3. Yell0w-rumped Warbler - 40+ (1 Myrtle's behind Hope!, the rest Audubon's)
4. House Sparrow - 15
5. Allen's Hummingbird - 2
6. Anna's Hummingbird - 10+ Anna's Hummers are currently mostly swarming the blooming Eucalyptus Trees. I heard more than I saw, and mostly around my office.
7. N. Mockingbird - 2 (heard only)
8. Scrub Jay - 1 (heard only)
9. Common Yellowthroat - 2 or 3
10. Nutmeg Mannikin - I saw 1 clearly, but it was part of a flock of three that settled in some willows by a drain. I think there may have been more, but I can't say for sure.
11. House Sparrow - 15 or so.
12. California Towhee - 2
13. Song Sparrow - 1
14. Lincoln's Sparrow - 1 There are quite a lot of little Melospiza sparrows hiding around the creek. I think most of them are wintering Lincoln's Sparrows because they're incredibly reclusive (whereas my experience with Song Sparrows is that they're much less reclusive). I've never gotten a perfect look, though, so I might be wrong.
15. Savannah Sparrow - 10+ I've never seen one of these at Biola before, that I remember, but a group of them were feeding along the edge of McNally field behind Hope.
16. White-crowned Sparrow - 3 or 4. This was weird - much fewer than normal, and I saw two individuals sitting high in trees, not doing anything and without an evident flock. Atypical, to say the least, for a gregarious bird that feeds on the ground. They are pretty nomadic, so it's hit and miss. Lately there's been a flock by Rose Hall, but I haven't been there lately.
17. Black Phoebe - 3
18. Cassin's Kingbird - 5 At dusk, more than 2 dozen come to campus to roost. They must disperse a bit during the day.
19. Red-shouldered Hawk
20. House Finch - 100+
21. Lesser Goldfinch - 50+
22. American Goldfinch - 50+
23. Cedar Waxwing - 50+
24. American Crow - 1
25. Mourning Dove - 25 or so
26. Rock Pigeon - 1 flyover from the flock on Biola Ave
27. Gull - 2 (probably Ring-billed or California, flying overhead at a great distance)
28. European Starling - 2 (there's a big flock that roosts at Biola, but I didn't see them at lunch time).
29. Mallard - 30+
30. American Wigeon - 2 I don't know why they'd hang out with Mallards.

30's a fair number. Earlier this week I saw a N. Flicker and a Say's Pheobe on campus, but they weren't there yesterday on my walk. Downey Woodpeckers are year-round residents, and I missed those. I'm not sure where the Green Herons are, there used to be a resident pair of them on the creek (and they had two babies this last summer), but I didn't see them, either. No Snowy Egrets or Great Egrets, either. Snowy if fairly common along parts of the creek, but not yesterday.