Birdchick Blog
While in a backyard in Los Angeles, we were watching Anna's hummingbirds zipping around. One bird landed and one of my colleagues said, "Oh hey, that's a nest." And looking closely, you could see that had a nest on top of a pine cone. Cute!
Also, this was a western scrub-jay visiting a feeder in the yard. I just liked this photo and wanted to post it.
Watching as much tv and movies as I do, I frequently find myself in places that are practically celebrities from being used so much as sets so much. My recent project was last minute and I didn't realize where all we would be working and one morning as I was being driven to my daily office, I gasped when I saw something familiar:
Any Star Trek (original series) worth their salt knows exactly what this is and perhaps even hears music. For those who do not, here's why it's iconic:
It's the set of Arena or as many know it as: the famous Kirk vs Gorn battle! Lots of other movies have used Vasquez Rocks, check out what's on its Wikipedia Page. But the birds were off the hook on this spot. Also, note the little cave directly above Captain Kirk's head? Check out what's really in there:
It's a raven nest! I know for sure because I saw ravens in there several times, but every time I aimed my scope at them, they took off. Clever birds.
But Vasquez Rocks has some classy looking birds. Up until last year, this was a bit of a nemesis bird for me, but now that I've seen it, it has since been very obliging every time I visit its habitat. As if this silky flycatcher didn't have a cool enough name, you can add some colorful metaphors right in the middle of its name making it cooler. It think that's my new favorite profanity now. I did manage to digiscope it with my iPhone and one of my colleagues asked, "So is that an iPhainopepla?" So much fun wordplay with such a great bird.
But I loves me some brown birds and Vasquez has those in abundance. This California towhee was a treat, lovely dull brown with a few splashes of pumpkin coloring to add a bit of snazziness. These birds were tucked all over around the rocks and they lacked color wise compared to some of the other snazzier towhees, allows them to blend in well with the terrain.
There were some splashes of color like this male Lawrence's goldfinch. I got a female at a bird feeder in Las Vegas a few years ago, but to get great views of a male was a real treat. Another fun thing about visiting different parts of the country is that you get to see different versions of common birds. I'm used to the American goldfinch and though that is an uber colorful bird in breeding plumage, there's something classy about the minimalist use of yellow on this particular goldfinch.
We found a homestead at Vasquez rocks and that allowed me to get views of a lot of backyard birds like the goldfinch abut also Anna's hummingbird.
And here's a western bluebird...hm...do you think this bird likes to perch on this roof a lot? Who knew such a small bird could accumulate so much poop?
All in all a great time full of western species and fun to get to bird around a former Star Trek set.
The beauty of bird watching is that you have something to do, no matter where you go, no matter how urban.
I had a project in Los Angeles to work on and time spent on a beach is never wasted and there always birds...though many of them were gulls (not my favorite). But I thought I would use it as opportunity to focus on the super common gulls I rarely get to see rather than trying to tease out something rare, hybridish or just odd as--gull experts are want to do.
Here's a nice comparison of a western gull (biggest gull) and a California gull (smaller gull in front). But the beach was a great time.
I was excited to pick out this guy, a young Heermann's gull! I've seen the adults before in San Francisco and though this bird wasn't in breeding plumage, I felt it was a triumph of the human spirit that I was able to pick it out. I'll never be a true laruphile, but I'm better than I was.
Even more exciting than the beach was all the fun stuff floating just off the shore. At least exciting to a usually land locked girl like myself. I have a tendency to take my spotting scope out more than the average birder (yes, that will be me at Biggest Week with a scope on the boardwalk) but spotting scopes are perfect for sea watch birding. There were some loons right off the shore, here's a red-throated loon, but even more exciting was a Pacific loon, that's a life bird for me. I wasn't able to digiscope it but fun to add a bird to the list.
The best part of the day was getting up close and personal with a surf scoter. These are crazy looking sea ducks to begin with. This particular bird was living up to name by coming in on the surf and then actually landed on the beach. It tried eating whatever is behind it...sea crap? But the bird is quite awkward out of the water...walking doesn't come naturally to these birds.
I think when the bird noticed we were watching it thought it best to sit so as not to embarrass itself any further. Those feet, so perfect for swimming, so not meant for walking on land. But what fun to get such great looking birds so close to the Los Angeles airport. This was my first trip to LA and I cannot believe how everywhere you turn, somebody is filming something. At one point there was a small two engine plane with a helicopter right next to it racing past. Was it a high speed chase? No, one of my colleagues pointed out, "They're just filming that plane."
But a fun way to spend the day and to get some more birds for my Big Half Year challenge.
Monday morning I took a walk in this:
This morning it's below zero so I'm choosing not to take a walk in this:
We were supposed to have piles of snow this morning, and just south of the Twin Cities they are getting a few inches, however there is a freezing cold front that is pushing the snow to just south of the Cities. Yesterday's forecast said we could have five to seven inches in the Cities, now they are saying maybe one inch by 5pm but the below zero weather is here to stay through the weekend. The same snow is hitting my cohorts in Madison and all of us are flying out early tomorrow morning for the Connecticut Bald Eagle Festival, so it will be interesting to see if we all get out. I'll find out in Detroit.
For all of those who may be missing Cinnamon's disapproval, I did get my fair share in San Diego. This is the California ground squirrel and they are everywhere. I didn't notice them while I was working at the convention center, but when I took a walk before my flight, the ground was squirming with them. They kind of looked like scruffier versions of the gray squirrel that we have in Minnesota, and they weirded me out because they aren't bouncy like our squirrels, they just scurry around. They're not interested in trees but burrow little holes in the ground right along the water.
I'm trying to get packed for this weekend and get things prepared for what I will need to bring to the Arkansas Ivory-bill Celebration next week (my first time running a binocular booth solo) and Cinnamon is being no help whatsoever. I have supply of binoculars with me for use in bird walks and other programs and I will need to take some of them with me to
Brinkley. I was just double checking my supply when Cinnamon decided she needed to get involved and give instructions. I kept trying to shoo her away, but back she came. She was very interested in the yellow Typhoon binocular, especially the strap. She kept trying to rearrange it to lay on it. I don't know what that is all about. I think she must be acting out, since I'm not home as much. I was thinking about taking her with me to the Rivers and Wildlife Celebration in Nebraska, but I'm still undecided if I want to do the drive by myself. I often do most of the driving on the trip, but I have others in the car for conversation. Non Birding Bill really wants me to fly, but it's such a fun drive and great way to watch for all the different color morphs of hawks--I'm torn. It would be fun to take Cinnamon to her first bird festival. I think she'd have a good time.
I decided that when I went to the west coast I would take my National Geographic Field Guide to Birds. It's a little smaller than the Sibley Guide to Birds, and fit perfectly in a pocket of my carry on suitcase. I also chose it because I keep little check marks next to birds that I have seen so I could have an idea for target birds. Oh, lamentable choice, it steered me so wrong! I misidentified another bird in the blog--that's two birds in a week. Uff-dah.
The gull misidentification was not field guide related, that was Kate and I trying to remember a gull with no field guide handy over dirty martinis. Lesson learned: don't id birds in a blog at a bar without a field guide. The hummer id, I blame on the guide, I should have checked Sibley before I posted, yet I was impatient.
Here is the hummer photo that I posted (granted, not a great photo):
Now, having only the National Geographic I narrowed it down to either an Anna's Hummingbird (below)...
...or a black-chinned hummingbird (below).
Thinking the bill was a tad off, I chose to go with the black-chinned, based on how dark the throat looked, the white spot behind the eye and that the throat color didn't appear to go as far back in the photo as it appeared to do in the National Geographic illustration. I took a chance and posted...
...then I got an email from fellow Minnesota birder Terry Brashear:
Your Black-chinned Hummingbird appears to be a Male Anna's. A black-chinned this time of year would be unusual for San Diego since the majority of them are in Mexico. When they are found in San Diego in spring they are usually in the foothills in the east part of San Diego County. I birded there 25 years and saw one Black-chinned in the coastal area of San Diego. I took a look at the CBC data for San Diego and none were reported this year. Thought you'd like to know.
Doh! So, as soon as I got home (well, after a warm greeting from Non Birding Bill) I checked ye olde Sibley to see where I went wrong. Here is an Anna's hummingbird in the Sibley Guide...
...and here is a black-chinned hummingbird in the Sibley Guide:
Looking at the Sibley guide, I see the bill shape is incorrect for a black-chinned the light pattern on the head more closely matches the Anna's. So, from now on I will pack Sibley.
The captain's binoculars, compared to mine. It still makes me chuckle. In hindsight, I wonder if I should have offered to sell him a harness.
Here is a photo of Katie and I having a blast on our whale watching trip.
Katie has already left for the airport this morning, but my flight doesn't head out until afternoon so I'll catch up on some work and maybe sneak out for one final sunny walk before heading to Minnesota. So, as I type this, I'm listening to Ian and Margery over the internet and learned that Barry Manilow's latest album is number one--here's to you Barry! They just said "hello" to me on the air over the internet--love those guys.
We've had a quite a time here, albeit a more subdued time than at other fests. Perhaps word
has spread of my incriminating photos that I have been collecting, so people are on better behavior. The most exciting photo I have of antics, is magnetic Clay Taylor lifting the end of a fork with the end of his butter knife (pictured right)? Perhaps this explains his birding ability, the birds are just attracted to him?
One interesting thing, was a water main broke down the street and on Saturday our hotel had no water. I felt bad for all of the people who had all day trips in the desert only to come back to the hotel to clean up for the festival banquet and discover that there was no shower to be had or toilets to be flushed. The water came back late in the evening, and Katie, Amy and I thought we would take advantage of the hot tub, only to discover lots of towels and bars of soap outside of it. Apparently, some guests decided to chance bathing in the chlorine filled waters. Ew.
Below are some of the great times we have had here:
Okay, you're looking at this photo and thinking, "Birdchick, they're pigeons, you have them at home, what gives?" Look close, there is a male Brewer's blackbird mixed in with the flock at about 11 o'clock in back. Those dudes are much more leary in Minnesota, so I fed some pigeons to coax over the male Brewer's.
Here is a (let's hope I get it right this time) western gull trying to get some cat food put out for all the dock cats. Free roaming cats were all over, which surprised me, but can you blame them, what with the smell of fish every where. None of the cats seemed to be interested in the gulls or pigeons, if anything they were a tad irritated the gulls would come down for their food.
Here are some sea lions we saw on our whale watching trip. I don't know what it is about these guys, but as soon as I hear them barking I have an uncontrollable urge to bark myself. That may just be me.
We heard hummingbirds all over the place, which seems odd in February to this Minnesota gal. I found this black-chinned hummingbird on one of my morning walks singing (or more accurately, hoarsely twittering and sputtering his song from his perch). I took this photo through my DLS binoculars.
Purse puppies are spreading everywhere! This cute little guy nestled in that fabulous purple bag was having a great time at the festival. Watch out Chet Baker.
I end with this beautiful photo of our warm and sunny trip. I just got off the phone with Ben at Eagle Optics. We are traveling to an eagle festival in Connecticut next week and he just informed me that we will have our booth outside. Eeeeep! Yes, on the east coast where all the snow just got dumped. I'm not real sure how heated a tent will be in February in Connecticut, but sounds like I will be wearing my typical Minnesota clothing.
Sigh.
One of the fun things at bird festivals are all the connections that are made.
I think Keens are becoming the official birding shoe. I was wearing mine and Katie started pointing out all of the people walking by with Keen Shoes. We corralled all the Keen wearers we could find for a photo.
The booth next to us is the PullUin Software booth, the company that makes the Handheld Field Guide to birds. The lady running the booth was working by herself, so if she needed to step out to powder her nose or grab some lunch, I knew enough about it to answer questions as people came by in her absence. It's fun to be helpful and goodness knows I love to talk about gadgets.
I was excited when I noticed a participant wearing a Sky Hunters t-shirt. Four or five years ago, I went on a trip to Idaho with Birds of Prey Expeditions and met the owner, Nancy. We had a wonderful time on the Memorial Day Weekend trip, the birds and scenery were fantastic. We met an old woman who was the local bird lady who, bless her heart, was out in the middle of nowhere and had
limited access to bird handling training, but was one of the worst bird handlers I either of us had ever seen. One of the things she did was blow in a bird's face to calm it down. I also learned on that trip that sixty year olds set in their ways are not likely to take advice from frantic twenty somethings. Nancy, on the otherhand knows what she's doing and talking about when it comes to birds, so if you find yourself in the San Diego area, do be sure to check out her facility, and like many raptor rehabbers is run on donations, so if you have spare change, Sky Hunters is a great place to make donations.
Tonight it looks like a group is heading out to dinner: Amy from WildBird, Jim from Brunton, Clay from Swarovski, Steve from Zeiss and maybe a couple of others, I don't know who. There's no Bill from Bird Watcher's Digest or Jeff from Leica so I think karaoki is out. But I so happy enjoying the fresh seafood-mmmmmmmmmmm.