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

Bulletin #40 – Monterey CA birds

David McDonald Photography
Friendswood Texas
May 30, 2008

Bulletin #40 – Monterey California area birds

Hello friends,

There are fewer and fewer birds for me to photograph on vacation in the Monterey area, but still I always manage to find some or improve on photos that I had taken earlier.

The first birds I photographed when I arrived Saturday afternoon were some that I had heard on the Monterey rare bird alert the day before I left.

The Brown Booby (Sula leucogaster) is a member of the Sulidae family of large seabirds. There are 10 species of this family worldwide. This bird breeds in Mexico in the Gulf of Cortez, but some birds wander north up the California coast, but rarely as far as Monterey.

On the rare bird alert, a juvenile Brown Booby had been found on a large offshore rock just off the famous Pebble Beach golf course. It was reported 2 days before I left on vacation, so I headed there immediately upon arrival and he was sitting on the rock, just as reported. He was about 60-70 yards away, so I took the photo with stacked 1.4x and 2x extenders giving me an effective 1400mm lens.

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/97810141

Additionally on the rare bird report were a large number of Red Phalaropes (Phalaropus fulicaria). These birds are members of the sandpiper family, but mostly swim, picking food of the surface of the water. These birds normally migrate far out to sea, but several days of intense storms had blown thousands of the birds onshore all along the California coast. I found several ponds along the Pebble Beach golf course with dozens of the birds and got my photos.

As you recall from previous bulletins, the phalaropes are unusual in that the female is the brighter colored and the male tends the eggs and feeds the babies.

The first photo is the female and the second, the duller male – both in full breeding plumage.

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/97810145 click ‘next’ once

Monterey harbor again produced some great birds for me.

Here is a Pacific Loon (Gavia pacifica) in full breeding plumage with gray head and black throat.

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/97810171

The Common Murre (Uria aalge) is a large alcid that you saw in previous bulletins, in winter plumage. All these birds appear to be black and white in the field guide, but after getting some close-up photos, the bird has a decidedly brownish color. I rechecked the Sibley guide and he does say ‘browner’ on the back in this breeding plumage with an all dark head.

Here are 2 photos of the same bird in early morning light beside a dock. The first was in the shadow of a boat and he looks black and white, but he swam under the dock and out into the sunlight and he is much browner! This is the same bird – just a change of lighting conditions and 4 minutes apart in time.

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/97810173 click ‘next’ once

The Pigeon Guillemot (Cepphus columba) is another alcid that I have photographed before, but as they nest under the pier in Monterey harbor, several were swimming close by. This one was bathing and I caught him with his tail feathers fanned apart and water drops flying everywhere. His white flank patch and red feet are clearly seen.

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/97810183

I was hoping to get several of the grebes in breeding plumage on this trip, as we don’t usually see them in Houston in their fancy dress.

We drove north to Half Moon Bay (just south of San Francisco) along Highway 1 and had lunch beside the harbor. There was a long pier that pedestrians could use for fishing etc and so I went out after lunch to see what was out there as I had not found the grebes in Monterey.

Well both my target birds were there. The first is the breeding plumage Eared Grebe (Podiceps nigricollis). In Europe this bird is known as the Black-necked Grebe. He has a black neck and wispy yellow feathers over his ears. The bill is all black.

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/97810185

The other is the Horned Grebe (Podiceps auritus). He has a red neck, and a solid yellow patch behind ears that extend behind his head (horns). His bill is black with a white tip.

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/97810186

All comments and suggestions are welcomed and appreciated.

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald
davidkmcd@comcast.net

photos copyright 2006 - 2008 David McDonald

Bulletin #39 – Monterey Bay, California pelagic trip

David McDonald Photography
Friendswood Texas
May 23, 2008

Bulletin #39 – Monterey Bay, California pelagic trip

Hello friends,

Have a happy and safe Memorial Day weekend!

The last frontier for birders is the open ocean. There are many seabirds that inhabit the oceans of the world. These birds rarely come ashore except to breed usually on remote islands. Thus, they are relatively inaccessible to birders unless you go out on a boat. Most birders have never seen any of these birds.

This is tough birding, as you are out for 6-8 hours or more. There is no returning early for seasickness.

Photography on a boat rolling up and down on the waves is especially tricky. Thank heaven for the image stabilization lenses available now. The camera has to be hand held – no tripods, and they probably would be useless anyway.

Anyway, I went on a pelagic trip with Shearwater Journeys
(http://www.shearwaterjourneys.com/index.shtml) out of Monterey CA on May 11th. It was very rough with 4-6 foot seas and overcast for the morning. There were 25 birders on the trip and 3 or 4 got seasick very early and were miserable for most of the 8 hour trip. I took my seasick prevention medication as recommended, and was fine. This was my 3rd trip with Shearwater Journeys, but the first to do photography.

The largest seabirds are the albatrosses. These huge birds (6-9 foot wingspan) spend their lives on the open ocean except to nest and breed on remote islands of the world. Most of them nest in the southern hemisphere. The Black-footed Albatross (Phoebastria nigripes) was my first ever member of this family of 13 species. We actually saw about 150 of them which is a huge number. Apparently a dozen or two is more likely on a trip.

They nest on Midway Island in the northwest Hawaiian Islands chain and fly to the California coast to feed and then return home to feed the chick.

So here is an albatross sitting on the water behind the boat. Notice the hump that the wings make along the back. These birds have their nostrils in tubes along the bill as can be clearly seen.

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/97493685

The adults have a white rump and the 1st year juveniles have a brown rump as can be seen in the next 2 photos.

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/97493691 click ‘next’ once

Shearwaters and petrels are another family of seabirds. They are much smaller (12 -19”) than the albatrosses. We saw 2 members of this family. These birds are also ‘tubenoses’ as the albatross above.

The Sooty Shearwater (Puffinus griseus) I had seen previously and many were present on this trip. They are all dark sooty brown in color.

Most of these birds are seen gliding above the ocean, so the wing pattern, both top and underside are important to ID the birds.

Here are 2 photos showing the bird sitting on the water and top side of the wings. You can see the ‘tubenose’ in the first photo.

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/97493727 click ‘next’ once

These birds have to ‘run’ along the surface of the water to get airborne. The next slide shows the bird doing just that and the underside of the wing.

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/97493773

The other shearwater was the Pink-footed Shearwater (Puffinus creatopus). This was a lifer for me. They are brown on top and white underneath. I have a couple of photos of the soaring birds, but none sitting on the water. The second photo actually has some white on the wings. This is a molting plumage. These birds breed on islands off Chile.

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/97493774 click ‘next’ once

The third family of seabirds that we encountered was the storm-petrels. We had a fly by of some Ashy Storm-Petrels (Oceanodroma homochroa). Strom-petrels are small (6 – 9”) swallow-like birds come ashore at night only to breed. The birds were perhaps 50 yards away, but I pointed my camera in the direction and snapped some pictures. This was another lifer for me.

The bird has very long wings and a forked tail.

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/97493781

There were several interesting gulls following the boat as well.
The first is a 2nd year Glaucous-winged Gull. He has gray wings and lighter primary feathers.

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/97493786

There was also a single Sabine’s Gull. This is a gull of the arctic. In winter they are strictly pelagic in the Pacific Ocean. This was another lifer for me.

They have a distinctive wing pattern with black wing tips, white central patch and gray at the base of the wings. In breeding plumage, they also have dark gray heads. The bill is black with a yellow tip.

Here is the upperside of the wings to show the pattern.

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/97493802

The next photo isn’t too clear, but it shows the dark head, bill, and underside wing pattern.

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/97493805

There were several Pacific Loons (Gavia pacifica) in breeding plumage and I obtained my first photo of a loon in flight. I think it is rare to see a loon flying, as they usually just dive and swim away to avoid danger.

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/97493812

There were other birds seen, but I got better photos on shore, so they will appear in the future bulletins.

On the trip, we also saw lots of sea lions, several Sea Otters, and several Humpback Whales. The whales were breaching at times, but I never managed to get a photo of the whale jumping out of the water. By the time I got my camera around to the right direction, I just got photos of some huge splashes!

Here is an interesting photo of an adult Sea Otter with a large pup riding on its stomach. I had not seen this behavior before, despite seeing many otters over the last 25 years.

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/97493819

If this type of birding interests you, check out Shearwater Journeys web site. They have trip all year long, but most of the trips are in the fall and the cost is reasonable (about $150).

http://www.shearwaterjourneys.com/index.shtml

All comments and suggestions are welcomed and appreciated.

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald
davidkmcd@comcast.net

photos copyright 2006 - 2008 David McDonald

Bulletin #38 – Upper Texas Coast – misc. spring birds

David McDonald Photography
Friendswood Texas
May 19, 2008

Bulletin #38 – Upper Texas Coast – misc. spring birds

Hello friends,

The best bird of the spring migration wasn’t a migrant at all. This Pomarine Jaeger (Stercorarius pomarinus) was on the beach at Bolivar flats early on a Saturday morning 2 weeks ago. I saw him a long way down the beach, but I knew it was something special. I wasn’t sure what he was, but I knew to take a lot of photos as other experts would be able to ID the bird later. Jaegers are pelagic birds that chase other birds to steal their food. They usually come onshore only to nest in the arctic. Most observers see them from shore as a far off dark bird. On pelagic trips offshore, they may be seen at closer range, so it was most unusual to see it sitting on a busy beach!

This bird became an instant star as he was featured on the Texas Rare Bird Alert, along with being the Houston Audubon Society ‘bird of the week’ last week on their web site.

Jaegers have long central tail feathers and the Pomarine Jaeger has the feathers twisted at 90 degrees, so the end of the tail looks fatter than the more proximal portion.

Here are 2 photos showing him on the beach and flying away. The long tail feathers can be plainly seen in the second photo.

http://www.pbase.com/image/97355427 click ‘next’ once

The other unusual bird was from the end of March. The Ross’s Goose (Chen rossi) was a very difficult bird for me to find. He is usually found in fields with Snow Geese. I looked for him 3 times west of Houston (50 miles from home) as well as on a trip to Monterey CA in February. On that trip, he had been staked out by my guide there, but when I got there, no bird.

As luck would have it, someone found one associating with domestic geese and ducks in a subdivision 7 miles from my house. The location was posted on the Texbirds web site. I went there and he was as tame as could be, because the homeowners were feeding all the waterfowl.

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/97355522

The Blue Grosbeak (Guiraca caerulea) is a little larger than the other blue migrant, the Indigo Bunting. He is also much less common to find. I finally got some good photos this year. The bird has a much bigger beak than the Indigo Bunting and the male Blue Grosbeak has 2 brown wing bars. Here he is in a mulberry tree.

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/97355541

Another bird I was able to get better photos was the Orchard Oriole (Icterus spurious). The beautiful male is chocolate brown with black head and wings with 2 white wing bars.

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/97355591
The first year male is yellowish with a black bib.

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/97355632

I found this Great Crested Flycatcher (Myiarchus crinitus) eating a mulberry at High Island. Even though his name suggests they eat only insects, they will eat some fruit.

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/97355693

Lastly is the resident Barn Owl (Tyto alba) at Smith Oaks on High Island.

http://www.pbase.com/davidmcd/image/97355715

All comments and suggestions are welcomed and appreciated.

Happy birding and photography,David McDonalddavidkmcd@comcast.net
photos copyright 2006 - 2008 David McDonald