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Tag: Bird

  • Berkeley Trees

    A selection of clips showing types of views of different types of trees taken February 21st, 2026, in Berkeley, CA, silent and stabilized post filming (with the known artefacts).

    The spring is bursting fully. On 22nd, it was tee shirt weather and small birds were very active and singing. Heard a hummingbird, saw and heard many small titmouse and sparrow sized birds, even a very small woodpecker, and a hawk and later a pair of probable hawks. And a seagull, which is sort of normal for a seaside city. I think the small birds have a mating season.

    Crows, too, seem restless, but that might be them ending their winter. Back in Finland, the local crows (gray and black, not all black as in Berkeley) would form larger flocks and many migrated south during winter. The crows here seem to have some winter flocking behavior, even though they do not migrate.

    The bird activity coincides with the swelling of buds and opening of young leaves in many deciduous trees. The earliest fruit trees which began to bloom weeks ago are finishing their season, as are faster magnolias. It is stressing to think of all the seasonal blooming which I am missing instead of photographing it. But there are new trees coming to bloom, though one magnolia that was among the first to start in my neighborhood is still going strong. Weird to think that spring began in February.

    Dappled shadows on tree trunk, blooming fruit tree, redwood with creeping ivy.

    Magnolia, February 21st, 2026 (not the one I have been following in my neighborhood)

    Click the image above to open a free 48-piece jigsaw puzzle made in Jigsaw Explorer

  • February 2026

    World is changing too fast nowadays. Events that used to be the news of the month are supplanted by greater events or outrages daily. But a story from Zerohedge alerted me to a local event reported by New York Post, namely a crime in Oakland.

    Somebody had stolen the SUV of the mayor of Oakland, former Congress Representative Barbara Lee. The vehicle was recovered hours later from Vallejo, which is a smallish city in Solano County, in North Bay. The mayor said in her statement that “no one in Oakland should have to worry about their car being stolen”, a sentiment which I rather agree, but still the people worry and for good reason. While my car is dented and has a stick shift, there are places in Oakland where I would not park because of bippers.

    The presence of bippers is easy to detect by checking the sidewalks and gutters next to parking spots – if they are covered with glass grains from broken side windows, it means a bipper was there since the last street sweeping (which in Oakland happens often enough that the city does not stink like San Francisco used to.) If there are multiple spots with glass gravel indicating multiple cars having been hit, I’d find another street or block to park if possible.

    But back to Oakland mayor’s SUV, which was recovered, improving the property crime solving numbers. It is easy for a regular citizen to complain about preferential treatment, but apparently this SUV had a tracer which made it easier to track.

    What really piqued my interest was the backstory and the circumstances of the theft. The car thief had spent the Presidents Day weekend squatting in the 11th floor of the City Hall, unnoticed by the security firm hired to guard the city government buildings, and had jimmied the lock of the door to mayor’s office, swiping the keys from there. The security firm has connection with the previous mayor Sheng Thao, to whom the aforementioned SUV had been bought. The SUV had been broken into already during her term in a garage near city hall, and other city hall workers have also complained about the lack of safety for their vehicles. But a suspect in at least this car theft has been arrested, this incident being too much for even California.

    And to make this post a bit prettier, I added a GIF of magnolia flowers and a bird, and a video of a couple of clips I took on February 21st of clouds and tree branches in wind, but unlike in most of my videos, I kept the sound because it was mostly birdsong.

    The tree writhes strangely, the video stabilization after imaging sometimes causes weird effects.

    And here is the birdsong. The clouds are also twisting strangely, but this does not indicate a dimensional portal about to open, just another stabilization artefact.

  • Pretty Fly

    I saw this on Sunday.

    A hoverfly on inflorescence December 28th, 2025, Berkeley, CA

    Click the pic to access a 54-piece jigsaw puzzle.

    A little video of the little lifeform.

    I also saw a flight of geese (based on honks and flight pattern) going north-north west, but they had disappeared by the time I had adjusted my device for photography. Weird.

    The night after that, it was really windy. There was a tree branch on the sidewalk, when I was getting to my car. The morning wind came from north, soon after it turned and arrived from east. There were a few more geese, seemed to be going sort of westward (towards the Bay). The direction does not matter, I was surprised to see any, going any direction.

  • Hummingbirds

    Today, while walking with my mobile ready to snap a picture or even a video, I noticed a number of hummingbirds, not as a flock but a hummingbird or two every now and then. More than I could photograph. Aside from being fast, the little birds are well camouflaged when sitting among the green leaves of a tree. Also, they are small, which means my camera’s resolution will not be sufficient for a good picture or a video. Hummingbirds are migratory, moving south for winter and flowers. I don’t know if they stay here in Berkeley for winter, maybe they are just passing through, but some were singing.

    A photo of a hummingbird and a bottle brush plant, October 19th, 2025, Berkeley, CA

    Monday’s rain had apparently inspired little green shoots to peek from the ground. Hopefully this was not a false start. The best part of the winter is the greenery as the rainy season ushers new growth.

    Skipper butterflies were still around, though this time I did not see a swarm. There were also occasional Monarchs and smaller white butterflies.

    I was lucky enough to be aiming for a red bottle brush flower, when a hummingbird flew to feed. Quick switch to video mode captured a few seconds of hummingbird and red flower.

    A short video of a hummingbird and a bottle brush plant, October 19th, 2025, Berkeley, CA