Birds on Arroyo Del Valle Trail (Part 2) - Pleasanton, CA

Hello guys! If you followed me here in the past, you would know I used to walk on Arroyo Del Valle Trail in Pleasanton, CA all the time, but I've neglected to do so for at least a year or two now. I have went back walking on that trail on a new segment I have never been before, so I hope you enjoy the shots! As for new guys, Arroyo Del Valle Trail is a really long walking trail here in Pleasanton, CA that stretches a great distance. Many locals go there to exercise and take daily walks. It is also a trail filled with photographic opportunities as you will see in the coming blog posts. The photos will be split into several blog posts, and will also be split into scenery and bird photos. I have also shot many bird photos while on this walk. I really hope you enjoy.

Full Resolution Photos: If you want to see full resolution photos of any of the photos you see here, use the following links. If you wish to purchase prints of any of the photos, please contact me here. To view my best Pleasanton, CA photos for 2015, use this link. To view my best 2015 bird photos, use this link. To see all of my 2015 Pleasanton, CA photos, use this link.

Arroyo Del Valle Trail Scenery: Part 1 | Part 2 | 
Birds on Arroyo Del Valle Trail: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | 

Remember the overpass you saw in the previous blog posts with the scenery? Under one of those support beams I saw a bunch of wildlife. There were a whole bunch of Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) nests, a House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus) nested with the Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) nests, and Rock Pigeon (Columba livia) nests. In this blog post I will show you the Barn Swallows (Hirundo rustica) and the House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus). Some of the photos below was shot with the help of my Canon Speedlite 600EX-RT Speedlite to help freeze the birds in flight (the flash is very strong, it does flash that far!). You can click on the first photo to start a slideshow.

 Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica)

 Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica)

 Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica)

Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) 

 Remember how I said there was a House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus) nest hiding among the Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) nests? Here it is. You can barely see it, but it is that red bird that looks different from the rest of the birds. 

 Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica)

Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica)

These are all the photos for today. Next time I will continue with more photos from the trail. Please don't forget to share the blog post with your friends and family members! Also, if you want to get notifications when I post up more photos, "Like" us on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Instagram. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.

Arroyo Del Valle Trail Scenery: Part 1 | Part 2 | 
Birds on Arroyo Del Valle Trail: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | 

House Finch (Carpodacus mexicanus) Nest (Part 2)

Please note this story has a sad and tragic ending. If you do not like these kind of stories, feel free to skip this post. Happening at the same time as the destroyed mallard duck nest (blog post here), I had a pair of House Finches (Carpodacus mexicanus) nest in my backyard. Sadly, this story ended even sadder than the story about the ducks... I will be splitting this story into a 2 part post.

Full Resolution Photos and Prints: If you want to see full resolution photos or buy prints of any of the photos you see, they are up on my portfolio for viewing. To view my best backyard photography for 2013 and 2014, use this link. To view my best bird photos for 2014, use this link. To see all of my 2014 backyard photography photos, use this link.

Part 1 | Part 2 |

Part 2 will just be House Finches (Carpodacus mexicanus) chicks hatching, begging for food, and dying.

Photo shot on 4-9-2014. First chick hatched. 

Photo shot on 4-9-2014. Later that evening, another chick has hatched.  

Photo shot on 4-10-2014. Four out of the five chicks has hatched.  

 Photo shot on 4-10-2014. A more in focus shot of a baby house finch chick. 

Photo shot on 4-11-2014. All of the chicks has hatched. 

Photo shot on 4-12-2014. 

Photo shot on 4-13-2014. As they grew bigger, it was harder and harder to focus on them with my Nexus 5 camera due to the limited space above the nest. 

Photo shot on 4-14-2014. I decided it would be easier to focus and photograph the reflection using a mirror. I was going to use this mirror for macro photography of bugs, but I guess it is good in tight places too. 

Photo shot on 4-16-2014. The little chicks aren't fooled by my phone or hand, but somehow them seeing their own reflection seems to confuse them and they open their mouth to beg for food. 

More photos shot on 4-16-2014. By now, they have grown enough, I no longer needed to do a top down view when they have their necks up begging for food. I'd use the mirror to trick them and then stick my phone up for a photo. 

Photo shot on 4-16-2014. 

Photo shot on 4-18-2014. This is the last photo of them alive. That weekend I was busy with other stuff and a photo shoot so I ended up not keeping a close eye on them. 

Photo shot on 4-21-2014. I should have suspected something was wrong when none of them reacted to my mirror when I stuck it up there to try to get them to stick their necks up. I thought they were sleeping that day...

Photo shot on 4-22-2014. This day, I went up for a closer inspection with my mirror. Sure enough, the birds were laying perfectly still in the same positions as the day before. I knew something was wrong. I broke off a tree branch from a bush in my yard and poked them with it. Checked again, no movement. I knew they were dead. Thinking back to the weekend, I didn't see the parent birds come back. Also checking my yard and the surrounding neighbor's bird feeder, the House Finches (Carpodacus mexicanus) community (around 10 to 20 of them) are no where to be found. They aren't hanging out at their normal places either. I concluded a cat or maybe a raccoon (many of them in this neighborhood) must have killed the population in this area. I cut the rope I used to secure the nest in place, took them down for one last photo before I disposed of them. Can't bury them because it will just be dinner for something in this neighborhood... I know if I buried them, they will become something's meal because the corpses have already started stinking. Since this day, I haven't heard a house finch call or seen one in my yard or the surrounding yards... So sad. 

I hope I didn't make you too sad with this story... These are all the photos for today. Please don't forget to share the blog post with your friends and family members! Also, if you want to get notifications when I post up more photos, "Like" us on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Instagram. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.

Part 1 | Part 2 |

House Finch (Carpodacus mexicanus) Nest (Part 1)

Please note this story has a sad and tragic ending. If you do not like these kind of stories, feel free to skip this post. Happening at the same time as the destroyed mallard duck nest (blog post here), I had a pair of House Finches (Carpodacus mexicanus) nest in my backyard. Sadly, this story ended even sadder than the story about the ducks... I will be splitting this story into a 2 part post.

Full Resolution Photos and Prints: If you want to see full resolution photos or buy prints of any of the photos you see, they are up on my portfolio for viewing. To view my best backyard photography for 2013 and 2014, use this link. To view my best bird photos for 2014, use this link. To see all of my 2014 backyard photography photos, use this link.

Part 1 | Part 2 | 

Part 1 will just be the House Finches (Carpodacus mexicanus), the eggs, and the nest. The chicks hatching will come in Part 2. First off, let me give you some background information... So roughly a week or 2 before the first photo, I noticed a pair of house finches building a nest right outside the door into my backyard. The birds seems to be very desperate to build the nest. The nest at the time kept getting blown down from the wind... The pair of house finches went looking for a new place to build a nest and tried out a few abandoned nests, but continued building this one. Feeling poor for the 2 birds, I went ahead and wired a piece of rope through their partially built nest, and moved it over around 1 feet to a place behind the post where it will be harder for the wind to blow it down. The 2 house finches, seemed a bit paranoid that I helped them, but not being able to find a new place for a nest, they decided to finally finish and nest in the nest I fixed for them.

 Photo shot on 3-25-2014. The first egg has been laid. Seeing how the male house finch brings back food for the female, I decided help them out a bit more. I poured a bit of my parakeet food right next to the nest. The male and female house finches seemed to have taken a bite once every few days of it, but they still seemed to prefer what the male one was finding. I really wanted these birds to survive... 

Photo shot on 3-26-2014. The female house finch incubating the egg. I set up my camera behind my window and took this photo. You can see the pink rope I wired through their nest to tie it in place. 

Photo shot on 3-26-2014. 2 eggs in the photo.  

 Photo shot on 3-27-2014. 3 eggs are in this photo. 

 Photo shot on 3-27-2014. There was around a 10 to 20 House Finches (Carpodacus mexicanus) in my yard and the surrounding yards. I decided to get some photos of them for my blog posts. The rest of these bird shots are taken on this day. 

This is a male House Finch (Carpodacus mexicanus).

 On these 2 photos the female is on the left and the male is on the right. 

 On these 3 photos the female is on the left and the male is on the right. 

 Here is the female house finch that laid the eggs. I know because she flew back to the nest after I left. She was sure hard to spot in the trees!

 Photo shot on also 3-27-2014. Here is a photo of the nest. You can see how I positioned the nest, and the piece of rope I tied to the nest to secure it in place. 

 Photo shot on 3-28-2014. 4 eggs in the nest now. 

Photo shot on 3-29-2014. 5 eggs are in the nest now. I was hoping for a 6th egg, but it never came. I guess then this makes the story a bit less sad on the turn out...

I hope I didn't make you too sad with this story... Next time I have photos of the chicks being hatched and (as much as I hate to say it) dead. These are all the photos for today. Please don't forget to share the blog post with your friends and family members! Also, if you want to get notifications when I post up more photos, "Like" us on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Instagram. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.

Part 1 | Part 2 |