Sunday afternoon we headed over to Reifel to see what new and fun birds we might find. While initially it seemed like it was going to be a slow day, we ended up seeing quite a few news species that I had never seen before. And since it is spring, the theme for the day was nests.

As it is sprint, there were lots of babies around. Not as many as we were expecting frankly, but some.

At least as babies, the Canada Geese are cute. Don't stay that way for long...

The first really interesting thing we came across was the nest of a Hutton's Vireo. This was a new one for me, and I'm going to assume the very avid-looking birders that showed us the nest had thier ID correct.

The Hutton's Vireo feeding chicks on the nest.

Close up with a grub in his beak.

Looking after the nest.

A little further up the path the was a lone Cinnamon Teal. This was another new one for me. He was hiding well under the tree branches down by the water, so the photo is pretty awful.

How do you pass up the cute little baby mallard?

The next new one, and another nest sighting was a Bushtit. They make the most interesting hanging nests, which they weave from moss, spider webs, and grasses. There was one little bird going back and forth with insects, feeding young inside the nest. Once again, the avid birders made the sighting and told us what we were looking at.

Bushtit with a grub, about to head into the nest.

Peeking out from the nest.

From there, we went for a walk around the outer dyke. It was a nice day - no raptors - but lots of very chatty little birds. The third nest of the day was a marsh wren. They're so loud for such a little bird!

I think this is a Song Sparrow - doing his namesake.

As always, there were lots of red-winged blackbirds about.

Another look at the Song Sparrow.

The marsh wren, giving me the business.

As we got back towards the entrance and the bigger ponds, it became all about the ducks again.

Baby wood ducks in formation.

A first we thought momma mallard was sitting on eggs…

A couple of little mallards foraging for food.

But it quickly became clear the eggs had already hatched!

Flap those wings!

The last new bird of the day was a Black-headed Grosbeak. This guy teased us by continuing to fly down the path just ahead of us eventually I got some decent pics.

After leaving the bird sanctuary, we headed home. Since I had my camera out, I set it up to see if I could get some pics of the hummingbirds that come to our feeder on the roof deck. These turned out pretty good...