An American Avocet plunges head first into the shallow waters of the Salt Pond and emerges successful, a tasty morsel in its beak. I believe this to be the male (the female’s beak is more upturned). The female Avocet is nesting in plain sight on the gravel sandbar on the far side of the pond.
The adorable little Bewick’s Wren has returned to my yard. Maybe he never left. He is the little guy who twice entered my home when I opened the front door where he’d decided to spend the night in an abandoned House Finch nest built on the artificial eucalyptus wreath hanging on my front door. A few days ago there was a pair exploring cavities and other possible nesting sites in my yard. My friends Moose and Sharon, who were visiting at the time, noted this activity and had a wren nest box delivered the next day. Thank you, Moose, Sharon, and Amazon. I have put out dryer lint to serve as nesting material and am anxiously waiting to see if they will nest there. I captured this image two days ago. The wren is just a few feet from the nest box, and he posed there with a morsel of something in his mouth for several minutes. He finally flew off but not to the nest box. I’ll keep watching.