Bald eagles soaring above! The drama of a hawk catching a rat. Crows carefully evaluating trash. Feisty hummingbirds vying for territory. A utility pole under a wood pecker attack. Much to my surprise, my suburban “Rex Manor” (Mountain View) neighborhood has been a fantastic place for avian observation.

I’ve lived in the bay area for nearly my whole life but have only recently seen bald eagles here – twice. In 2017 a pair of eagles created a nesting site at a Milpitas school and they returned in 2018. On January 20, 2018 my daughters and I were pleasantly shocked to see two bald eagles soaring effortlessly in the sky above our house (perhaps the Milpitas pair?). The two seemed to be having fun and soon rode the winds towards the bay, not offering a photo opp. In what I am hoping becomes an annual event, I saw a single eagle this past Wednesday (January 23, 2019) high above Theuerkauf Elementary School, again just riding the winds (very few flaps of the wings) and I assume enjoying the ‘view. Habitat conservation and efforts to reintroduce the bald eagle to places where they were once common, appear to be working.

We’ve got dueling hummingbirds at my house – one rules the front yard, the other owns the back yard. The side yards are disputed territory – when one enters a side yard it usually has but a short time before the other one spots it and they zoom off in a tiny, buzzy, twisting high speed chase.

Sometimes, from my living room window, I see a small falcon shoot across the sky in a straight line, subtly and trying not to draw attention. I snapped a photo of this noble-looking Merlin perched in my neighbor’s almond tree. Sadly my neighbor has since cut that tree down, but perhaps the growing maple in our front yard will be big enough host more birds soon.

One day walking home I saw (what I later best-guessed to be) a cooper’s hawk streaking down the middle of the street at a low altitude (probably to keep out of sight from crows). I turned around and walked back to see where it went and found it resting near the top of a pine tree. I was about to say adieu and head home when it quietly sailed down to ground level and disappeared from view. It had snagged a rat and clutched it solidly around the neck with one claw. By this time the crows were wise to the caper. The hawk was in a waiting pattern – the crows couldn’t disturb it in the tree but the number of crows hanging around only increased with each round of caws … I don’t know if the hawk got away with its prize, if the rat got away or the crows outmaneuvered or outsmarted the hawk.

Often times at night I’ve heard soft trills or screeches from unknown flyers in the darkness overhead. One time the moon was bright and kind enough to show me a barn owl mid-screech (sorry, no digital evidence on this one). I always wonder if the screech is signalling to others to stay away, or if it’s a social invitation. I have yet to ID the source of the trills…

Update 07 April 2019: In March I was quite surprised to see a bat flying around at dusk, presumably feasting on the burgeoning local insect population. I only saw it a few times but luckily I got some short footage – bats can do a lot in 4 seconds (see below). Obviously the bat is not a bird, but still deserves “honorable mention” in this post!

In April 2019 I saw a bird darting overhead as it made pulsing screeches. Using the Merlin Bird ID App audio recordings, I recognized it as the cooper’s hawk, still hangin’ about.

Update May 2019: Walking home from school with my oldest kids, we witnessed a crow find and stash food. The corvid discovered a pizza crust from the construction site expanding the multi-use room (MUR). It looked around to see if any other birds were near (they were not) and then flew up to the roof of the MUR. Then the crow quickly stuffed the bread underneath leaves in the rain gutter and continued foraging. Clever crow! We found this to be a comical and charming local bird behavior. I wonder how long it left the crust in the gutter, and if it minded the rotting leaf scent/taste.