When I visited Sacramento Bar one morning last week, I was hoping to see some beavers the Big Guy had reported seeing several times along the river. Unfortunately, the beavers were nowhere to be found, so instead I went looking for birds. I heard a lot more of them than I actually managed to spot; and I’m still trying to identify a couple of my sightings, like the small bird in my first two photos. Note the patches of yellow and the white ring around the eye.

As for the next one, I’m wondering if it’s a Cedar Waxwing because of the black around the eyes and the crest.

This next bird caught my attention because it seemed to have an extremely large beak; when I saw that profile, I started thinking I’d spotted something really unusual!

And then — I realized it was actually a very familiar bird, with an acorn in its mouth. Oh well.

Lucky scrub jay!