Bulletin #44 –Sierra Mountains, CA #

David McDonald Photography
Friendswood Texas
June 27, 2008

Bulletin #44 –Sierra Mountains, California #2

Hello friends,

I did a birding/photography trip to the Sierras between Reno NV and Sacramento CA recently. Once more I used a guide to find the birds for me so that I could photograph them.

My guide here was, once again, Rick Fournier of Monterey Birding Adventures. This is another area of California where he leads tours. His web site is Monterey Birding Adventures.

www.montereybirdingadventures.com/adventures

I photographed 5 species of Flycatchers. It was wonderful having a great guide as there were 3 species of empids. The empids are small (5-6”) flycatchers that are generally drab gray to green with an eye-ring and wing bars. Their best ID is the song. There are a total of 11 in the ABA area. Once Rick Fournier had IDed them by song, he pointed out some plumage, shape, wing length differences to me that helped me to learn these birds. The first 2 are found at Yuba pass, the third down in Sierra Valley.

The Hammond’s Flycatcher (Empidonax hammondii) is found high up in conifer trees. He has a slight crest on the back of head so he appears flat-headed. He also has long primary wing projections that extend most of the way down the tail.

http://www.pbase.com/image/99325737

The Dusky Flycatcher (Empidonax oberholseri) is found in the same habitat, but he prefers low trees and brush. His head is rounded and he appears long tailed as the wing projections don’t extend down the tail.

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/99325739

The last one, Gray Flaycatcher (Empidonax wrightii) lives in sagebrush and similar arid, brushy habitat. He is the largest empid at 6” and is just a dull gray bird. Here are 2 photos.

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/99325740 click ‘next’ once

The other 2 flycatchers belong to the genus Contopus that includes the pewees.

The first is the Western Wood-Pewee (Contopus sordidulus) He is a little larger than the empids above at 6.25”, but differs in having no eye-ring, just the wing bars.

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/99325743

The other is the Olive-sided Flycatcher (Contopus cooperi). He is a larger (7.5”) bird with a dark ‘gray vest’.

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/99325745 click ‘next’ once

The next 3 birds are all finches.

The Evening Grosbeak (Coccithraustes vespertinus) has been a favorite bird of mine since childhood in Ottawa Canada. Huge flocks in winter would descend on our feeders and literally vacuum up massive quantities of sunflower seeds. They are large at 8”, and somewhat resemble a big American Goldfinch. The male is yellow, black and white with the large bill. The female is gray, black and white. Here are 2 photos of the male and a single photo of the female.

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/99325752 click ‘next’ twice

The Pine Siskin (Carduela pinus) is a small finch related to the goldfinches. It is mostly brown with a streaked breast, but the male has some yellowish wing patches. The female is similar without the yellow patch. Here are 2 photos of a male.

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/99325760 click ‘next’ once

The last bird is the Cassin’s Finch (Carpodacus cassinii). This bird is closely related to House and Purple Finches. It has less color than a Purple Finch and the male has an unstreaked breast, unlike the House Finch. The top of the head is bright red and the rest is pinkish. This was a life bird for me.

Here are 2 photos of the male and the plain brown female. Notice she has a streaked breast unlike the male!

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/99325763 click ‘next’ twice

All comments and suggestions are welcomed and appreciated.

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald
davidkmcd@comcast.net

photos copyright 2006 - 2008 David McDonald

Bulletin #43 –Sierra Mountains, CA #1

David McDonald Photography
Friendswood Texas
June 22, 2008

Bulletin #43 –Sierra Mountains, California #1

Hello friends,

I did a birding/photography trip to the Sierras between Reno NV and Sacramento CA last weekend. Once more I used a guide to find the birds for me so that I could photograph them.

My guide here was, once again, Rick Fournier of Monterey Birding Adventures. This is another area of California where he leads tours. His web site is Monterey Birding Adventures.

www.montereybirdingadventures.com/adventures

There were 2 entirely different habitats we birded. The first was Sierra Valley – a dry valley with sage brush and some marsh at about 4500 feet elevation. This was along Hwy 89/49 at Sierraville, CA. The other was Yuba Pass, a 6700 foot pass on Hwy 49 (between Sierraville and Sierra City) with montane species and huge stands of Lodgepole Pines. The whole area was surrounded by mountains to about 8500 feet, some of which still had snow on the peaks. It was a beautiful place to visit as well as bird.

There were 5 species of woodpeckers.

The first is Lewis’s Woodpecker (Melanerpes lewis). This is the only green-backed woodpecker in ABA area. It also has a red face, pink belly and gray collar. Here are a couple of photos. He tends to prefer burned over areas and perches prominently on a snag to flycatch. This was a life bird for me.

http://www.pbase.com/image/99055957 click ‘next’ once

The next is the White-headed Woodpecker (Picoides albolarvatus). This is also a uniquely colored bird and impossible not to ID correctly. It has a black body, white head and white wing patch. The male has a red occipital patch. It nests in dead tree trunks 10 – 15 feet off the ground as can be seen in the third photo. This was also a lifer for me.

So here are the male, female and a female in nest hole.

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/99056066 click ‘next’ twice

The third woodpecker is the Hairy Woodpecker (Picoides villosus). This is similar to, but larger than, the common Downy Woodpecker. Here is the male.

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/99056103

The next is the Willaimson’s Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus thyroideus). The male is mostly black with white wing patch, rump and 2 stripes on face. His red patch is on the throat.

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/99056113

The Red-breasted Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus ruber) has an entirely red head and breast – unmistakable. The sexes are similar coloration.

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/99056122 click ‘next’ once

There were 2 species of thrush.

The first is the beautiful Mountain Bluebird (Sialia currucoides) The male is all blue and the female is grayish with blue on the wings and tail.

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/99056145 click ‘next’ once

The other is Townsend’s Solitaire (Myadestes townsendi). This is a gray bird with black and buffy wing markings and white eye-ring. The sexes are similar. Here are 2 photos of this bird.

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/99056168 click ‘next’ once

The last bird for this bulletin is the Mountain Chickadee (Poecile gambeli). This is a typical looking chickadee – gray with black cap and throat. But he has a white stripe above the eye through the black cap.

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/99056190


All comments and suggestions are welcomed and appreciated.

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald
davidkmcd@comcast.net

photos copyright 2006 - 2008 David McDonald

Bulletin #42 – Monterey CA birds #3

David McDonald Photography
Friendswood Texas
June 18, 2008

Bulletin #42 – Monterey California area birds #3

Hello friends,

On this trip, I finally got a photo of a male Allen’s Hummingbird (Selasphorus sasin). This bird is distinctive with a rufous cheek, tail and breast, but a green back.

http://www.pbase.com/image/98312725

The Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonata) is very similar to the Cave Swallow, but it has a white forehead. I found this bird flying into a large hole in a sycamore tree. Perhaps they were nesting there.

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/98312740

I also found the Tricolored Blackbird (Agelaius tricolor) again. This time I also heard them. It is much different than the Red-winged Blackbird and Sibley describes a flock calling like ‘cats fighting’. It truly does!

Here is the male on a fence post. The white wing bar is the ID mark for this bird.

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/98312758

Moss Landing is a small fishing village about 10 miles north of Monterey. The harbor is ideal for birding and it is also the best location to see Sea Otters. I usually visit it once or twice each trip.

This trip, the large grebes were close to shore and the sun was perfect to photograph them. I find the Western and Clark Grebes to be regal appearing birds with their black and white heads and necks.

The Western Grebe (Aechmophorus occidentalis) has the black extend below the red eye. The bill is yellow.

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/98312759

The Clark’s Grebe (Aechmophorus clarkii) has white around the red eye with an orange bill.

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/98312760

Some of you may have seen the California Sea Lions at Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. The animals took over a new floating pier in the marina and could not be displaced. It has become a major tourist attraction.

Well Moss Landing had a similar event. They built a walkway and fishing pier along one edge of the harbor. It has an elevated walkway/observation deck about 15 feet above the water, but built a long floating extension at water level for fishing. The Sea Lions have taken over this pier as well. I don’t think I would try and find room to fish in that mass of seals!

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/98312761

And the sign at the top of the ramp down to the floating dock says it all.

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/98312763

I have posted 14 general photos of Big Sur coast etc from our Monterey trips. These pictures were taken by my wife and me.

Here is the link to the first photo and just click ‘next’ to scroll through them.

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/98361558

All comments and suggestions are welcomed and appreciated.

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald
davidkmcd@comcast.net

photos copyright 2006 - 2008 David McDonald

Bulletin #41 – Monterey CA birds #2

David McDonald Photography
Friendswood Texas
June 7, 2008

Bulletin #41 – Monterey California area birds #2

Hello friends,

In the last bulletin, I mentioned that I listened to the Monterey County rare bird alert before my trip and also during the trip to pick up on any unusual birds in the vicinity.

The Cackling Goose (Branta hutchinsii) is a split from Canada Goose. There are numerous races, and the smaller ones became the Cackling Goose. They often feed together and can be seen side by side. The race of Cackling Goose we have in Texas is Richardson’s. In California, the Aleutian race winters and this is a distinctive bird. It was mentioned on the rare bird alert that an Aleutian Cackling Goose was in a field just south of Carmel. I looked for it, but it wasn’t with a group of 6-8 other geese. However, many of the geese spend the night on the lagoon nature preserve at the mouth of the Carmel River by the beach.

The preserve and lagoon is a favorite birding spot for me and one evening I was there and looked for the goose but didn’t see it in a flock of 20 Canada/Cackling Geese. A short time later I saw a small waterfwol swimming towards me and looked at it with the binoculars and realized this was the bird. He swam right over to the edge of the lagoon and started to preen and bath. I was able to approach him with my camera to 20 feet and he was completely unperturbed with my presence. I felt like I could have walked over and picked him up.

So what is distinctive about the Aleutian race? Well, besides being a threatened subspecies, they have a white collar at the base of the neck. Most other Canada and Cackling Geese have a black neck that meets the gray-brown back and breast. I was completely unaware of this information and only learned of it from the description on the rare bird alert.

So here is the Aleutian Cackling Goose swimming and neck detail along with a third photo showing the Richardson’s Cackling Goose for comparison.

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/98261450 click ‘next’ twice

Also on the Carmel River beach, I found this almost pure white gull. I didn’t know what it was, but was sure it was something unusual, as I had never seen a gull that pale before. I took multiple photos of it and sent them to the Monterey guide, Rick Fournier, whom I have used in the past. He readily identified it as a 1st year Glaucous-winged Gull (Larus glaucescens). As you may recall from Bulletin #39, I photographed the second year GWGU on the pelagic trip.

If you look at the Sibley guide, the bird is quite brown, but he adds that it often bleaches to white! So it is no wonder I couldn’t ID it myself.

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/98261476 click ‘next’ once

I visited the Ventana Wilderness Society bird banding location at Andrew Molera State Park in Big Sur, once again. The staff, under Josh Scullen, were very helpful and kind once again to allow me to photograph the birds they had caught for banding.

The first is a Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus). The western birds are the ‘red-shafted’ form, with bright red underwings. This is a large (12.5”) strong bird, so you can see the way the handler grasps the bird to prevent any injury, if it were to struggle. This is a male with the red malar stripe. The second photo shows the beautiful underwing.

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/98261491 click ‘next’ once

The next bird is the Wrentit (Chamaea fasciata). I photographed this bird on a previous visit to the banding location, bit this is so much better. This is a bird that can’t easily be classified. It used to be in the ‘Old World Warbler’ family. The new IOC classification places it in the ‘Babblers and Parrotbills’ family. I still have not photographed this bird in the wild - another item for the ‘to do’ list

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/98261517

The last captured bird I photographed is the Nuttall’s Woodpecker (Picoides nuttallii). There was also a nest hole in the parking lot at the bird banding station and I got some photos there as well.

The first photo is the male. He has the red on the back of his head like most woodpeckers. He has a mouthful of what looks like ants that he was taking to the nest to feed the young. The babies were very loud and could be easily heard. The second photo is the female in the nest hole. The third photo is a female that had been caught and banded.

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/98261524 click ‘next’ twice

I will also photograph other wildlife when the opportunity presents itself.

At the Ventana site, I also had a chance to photograph this common lizard. It is seen everywhere along the CA coast, but usually scurries on the ground under brush and thus can’t easily be photographed. This one climbed the base of a tree into the open and stayed still. This is the Western Fence Lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis).

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/98261540

Also, I found this beautiful orange, black and white butterfly, the Lorquin’s Admiral (Limenitis lorquini).

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/98261542

All comments and suggestions are welcomed and appreciated.

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald
davidkmcd@comcast.net

photos copyright 2006 - 2008 David McDonald