Where to see young birds in Marin

Spring is the nesting season for birds. Last time out, I discussed birdhouses, a valuable preliminary tool for certain cavity-nesting songbirds. But for some birds, the nesting process is already well underway — some babies are already out and about! Today I’d like to talk about how to see and recognize young birds, which is not always as easy as it seems.

In some cases, though, it is. A minority of local birds have what are known as precocial young, meaning that they are able to see and...