Two fun bird sighting in the last few days.

Sunday, a flock of bushtits blew through. David Sibley describes them as "a disheveled-looking, long-tailed ball of fluff," and I think that's apt. There were eight of them at one point all perched on the stalk and leaf stems of a single sunflower in our front yard, picking off the aphids.

This morning, I pulled up the bike along the flood control channel after hearing the cry - Sibley uses the words "agitated" and "strident" to describe it, which is also apt - of killdeer. I had to look hard to find them, wading ankle-deep in the water on the channel's bottom. I love the way the flood control channel is an accidental bit of nature, in between the rusty busted shopping carts and other urban detritus.