After Rich and I re-discovered the fun of Oakland Nature Preserve, I returned with my Beast for a morning of birds. It turned out to be a morning of birds and berries. The American Beautyberry bushes were full of ripe berries, much to the delight of our feathered friends.

I spent the morning listening to the happy songs of the Eastern Bluebirds. They aren’t birds that I get to photograph super-often, so I enjoyed watching them guard their nest boxes. When they weren’t pigging out on berries, that is.

It turned out to be a rainbow of feathers at the berry bush. Next up were yellow, red, and gray.

A pair of Red-shouldered Hawks kept an eye on me from a nearby tree. My favorite shot was the flight shot as the hawk landed on the branch.

A Northern Mockingbird appointed himself the guardian of the beautyberry bushes. He perched nearby and chased off any bird that came near his bushes. Luckily for the other birds, there were plenty of bushes behind his back.

House Wrens fussed at me from all over the place. As I sat quietly watching the bluebirds, a wren hopped out onto a post just a few feet away from me. I enjoyed the opportunity to get a few shots of this skittish bird before he noticed that I was looking at him!