Hello people who secretly wished they had wings,

At Arastradero Preserve, there are plenty of bird boxes installed for Western Bluebirds to start their families. Well, that does not mean any other bird species can't move in, if they spot it first.

Over here, I saw a House Wren nesting in a bird box, but parenting is much more demanding than just taking selfies with its babies.



The babies are constantly being fed every few minutes, which means they have to poop just as fast. Pooping inside the nest can invite bacteria and parasites, it also lowers the value of a house.

So the babies poop in something called fecal sac which is a thick mucus coating around the poop. This allows the parents to carry these disposable diapers and throw them away from the nest.

The white thing in the beak is the fecal sac that the parent carries away.



Hummingbirds are fascinating because of their ability to hover in the air for long periods of time. This is possible by moving their wings front and back instead of flapping the wings up and down like most birds.

In this video, you can see an Anna's Hummingbird showing the unique style of flapping its wings.



Riding past Byrne Preserve, I spot an unusual rider on top of a horse, so I stop to take a closer look. 

It turns out, a pair of Brown-headed Cowbirds are resting on top of the horse. Brown-headed Cowbirds are not native to California but came here by following herds of grazing animals from the Great Plains region which kicked up insects from the vegetation for an easy meal.

They are also exhibit nest parasitism, which means the females do not build nests but lay their eggs in the nest of other birds, who will feed their young.


Karan Gathani

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