Birding and Bird Photography

Haha, yes but that's part of the data! What species are hanging around in the winter while all of the others head south? This backyard bird count is like a christmas bird count except it's right when most birds are starting to turn around and head back north. All the yellow-rumps and white-crowns here are getting their bold breeding colors, which is pretty cool. We're fattening them up to send back up to you!

The exciting one today was a Townsend's Warbler that came to my neighbor's hummingbird feeder. Perfectly timed right in the middle of my 15 minute count! Another wintering bird here that should be heading north soon.

 

Catching up on birds from last year...

Saw some good stuff out at the San Diego River Estuary in November:

Snowy Plover by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Brown Pelican by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Wintering Brants:
Brant by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Black-bellied Plover by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

One Eurasian Wigeon hanging out!
Eurasian Wigeon by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Take-off/Landing photo for ya @ian408
Brown Pelican by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

My first Tricolored Heron
Tricolored Heron by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Greater Yellowlegs by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Marbled Godwit by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Eared Grebe by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Estuary Sunset by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

 

While my sister was in town for the holidays we went out for a day trip and a quick hike in Anza Borrego.

Bell's Sparrow by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Bell's Sparrow by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

TONS of Phainopepla

Phainopepla by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Phainopepla by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Phainopepla by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

One secretive bird...
Black-tailed Gnatcatcher by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Black-tailed Gnatcatcher by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

 

So far this year I've been mostly around the local lagoon and my backyard.

At the lagoon:

Similar to the Black-tailed Gnatcatcher in the desert, this one is on the coast so it's the endangered California Gnatcatcher. The source of many a development project's woes here in southern California.
California Gnatcatcher by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Belted Kingfisher by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

American Wigeon by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

The struggle...

American Wigeon by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

A large group of Lesser Scaup have been hanging out for the past few weeks
Lesser Scaup by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Lesser Scaup by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Some amazing Bufflehead, too
Bufflehead by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

A ton of Dowitchers, though I can never ID them to species... I think most of them sound like Long-billed, but I've heard that some could be Short-billed, too.
Dowitcher sp. by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Dowitcher sp. by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Dowitcher sp. by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

And an elusive, also endangered Ridgway's Rail! Out foraging in the mud churned up in the lagoon restoration project
Light-footed Ridgway's Rail by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Light-footed Ridgway's Rail by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

They're completely re-designing the flow in the lagoon to reduce stagnant water and increase the resiliency against sea-level rise. Hopefully it works! So far they've just blitzed everything so it looks horrible.

Long-billed Curlew by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Anna's Hummingbird by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Belding's Savannah Sparrow by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

 

Went back to the lagoon a few days ago and the Teals have arrived! Seems like everyone's starting to move back north. I saw both Blue-winged and Green-winged Teal mixed in with Gadwall and Northern Pintail, which we didn't have the week before.

Green-winged Teal by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Gadwall by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Still lots of Dowitchers!
Dowitchers by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

This Spotted Sandpiper came right up next to me
Spotted Sandpiper by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Lots of Plovers, Willets, and Whimbrels loving the mud churned up by the restoration project!

Black-bellied Plover by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Willets by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Willets by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Red-breasted Merganser by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

 

And our nesting season has begun!

This pair is incubating now. It's fun to watch their nest exchanges. They usually spend less than a minute off of the eggs during the exchanges!
Red-tailed Hawk by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Red-tailed Hawk by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Red-tailed Hawk by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

And they go and chase the crows off
Red-tailed Hawk by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

I saw this Red-shouldered Hawk break a small branch off the other day so today I went and found the nest right above the local elementary school. Hopefully they don't start dive-bombing anyone walking by!
Red-shouldered Hawk by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

We also have an Allen's Hummingbird nest in our backyard but I haven't been able to spot it, I've only heard the peeps of the chicks whenever the adults show up to feed.

All of our Yellow-rumps are getting their breeding colors, about to head North

 

Nice, that it is! Pretty crazy bird. They're all making their way up there!

Also... Anyone else hear about the legendary Tadoussac Checklist from last week?? https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S46116491

 

Saw six osprey in the local lagoon last weekend, along with this nice red-tail:

 

I’ve actually have a hummingbird that keeps visiting my feeders. I think he’s lost. First time I seen it hunger was clearly dominating his actions. He’s been around for over a week and now has become more normal acting.

 

Getting ready to continue south, maybe? Or I've heard of Anna's hummingbirds heading east during the winter, which is odd but maybe that's it.

 

I shot this family of eagles for 4 or 5 years in St. Augustine till a storm took the nest out.













Random bird pic's.

 

Gyrfalcon.

 

I miss having this bush in my front yard. It always had 3 or 4 of them on it.

 

Took this pic with my phone. This guy was on the ground next to a tree. Thought he had to be hurt but just couldn’t tell. Got pretty close and it just looked at my friend and I as we snapped photos. Didn’t want to disturb further. Not sure what kind of hawk. Several kinds in the area. Hastings Island hunt club. Many pheasant and chucker around.

 

A few random birds

 

There's a birding/photography thread within the tacomaworld forum!? This is amazing. I'm sorta new to the forum here - I ordered a '19 TRD Pro 6MT about a month ago and am waiting on word from the dealer when it's going to get here. My AWD Sportwagen wasn't cutting it anymore for birding adventures. Anyway, seems like sharing photos is what this page is about so here's one from a trip to Texas I just returned home from. It's a long-billed curlew. One of 46 lifers I got on this trip. Website is CalicoFoto.com if anyone is interested.

 

It’s a redtail hawk. Looks like an immature bird, but that’s hard to tell for sure from those photos.