[SBB] Signs of Spring at San Jose State

[Jennifer Rycenga <[[email protected]]>]

Ah yes!  Spring is on the way/underway here in downtown San Jose!

This morning I had an unusual but most welcome experience - I heard the song
of the HERMIT THRUSH on campus.  I often go out of my way, first thing in
the morning, to walk through the small study garden in back of Duncan Hall,
largely in hopes of seeing the lone Hermit Thrush who winters there.  Today,
the area was overrun with CEDAR WAXWING, but as I pished, I heard something
fly up from the leaves, then I heard the wonderful short echoed phrases of
the Hermit Thrush.  I didn't see the bird at first, then saw it fly away.  A
few minutes later I discovered it, with a second HERMIT THRUSH, in a nearby
tree.  I'd assume that they will flee to the mountains to breed, but it was
a sweet thrill to hear this most enchanting melody in the lowlands.

Yesterday morning I watched an interesting interaction between two ANNA'S
HUMMINGBIRDS - an adult female and an immature male (could the latter be a
2007 model?  I know Anna's nest early...).  The adult came to a large
fountain on campus, hovering at various points around a central spout, and
sometimes dipping her bill in for a drink.  In the meantime, the immature
bird watched her behavior from the edge of the fountain.  She then came to
where the immature was sitting, and demonstrated how to drink and bathe in
the gentle flow by the edge of the fountain.  She then flew off to a nearby
tree, and the immature bird imitated the bathing and drinking behaviors (but
not the hovering near the fast-flowing water).  While I watched this
remarkable example of hummingbird sociability, two CANADA GEESE flew low
over the campus, honking away.

The two PEREGRINE FALCONS continue to stake out the top of the Business
Tower.  I've seen them carrying twigs, etc., but I cannot yet espy a
definitive nest in progress.  They are there nearly every morning: I can see
one from my office window even as I write (nw corner of Business Tower).

Jennifer Rycenga
Half Moon Bay, CA



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