Friday, December 28, 2012

Whitewater Preserve

Mike woke Chris up early to go to Whitewater Preserve near Palm Springs. We thought it would be warm but it was a bit chilly.

Whitewater Preserve

The best bird we encountered and photographed was the California Thrasher, a new one to us.
California Thrasher


There were many ring-necked ducks. Here's a female.
Female Ring-necked Duck

We also saw a road runner and several California Quail, but they were too fast to photograph.

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Hermit Thrush

We went to the UCR Botanic Gardens in hopes of finding the verdin or the green-tailed towhee, but all we saw was this Hermit Thrush.

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Lacy Park: Painted Redstart and Red Whiskered Bulbul

Painted Redstart

Painted Redstart
Painted Redstart

Red-whiskered bulbul

Red-whiskered bulbul
Red-whiskered bulbul

Townsend's Warbler
Townsend's Warbler

We went to Lacy Park on Thanksgiving to see if we could find the painted redstart that has been reported. No luck then, but we returned early Saturday and found it in the exact tree it had been reported visiting. It was quickly chased off by a red whiskered bulbul singing loudly from the same tree. We also spotted a townsend's warbler in the same tree.

Friday, November 23, 2012

More Ducks

Common Goldeneye
Common Goldeneye

Common Merganser
Common Merganser

Female Hooded Mergansers
Female Hooded Mergansers

Hooded Mergansers
Male Hooded Mergansers

Ring-necked Ducks
Ring-necked Ducks

Female Common Merganser and Ring-necked Duck
Female Common Merganser and Ring-necked Duck

Ring-necked Duck and American Widgeon
Ring-necked Duck and American Widgeon


The migrating ducks are starting to arrive nearby. We always enjoy the hooded mergansers, but really appreciated seeing the common merganser female. The common golden eye was a neat find.

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Hooded Mergansers



The Hooded Merganser was the bird that got us most interested in bird watching. They would come by our home on a small lake in New Jersey every fall. We are thrilled that they are nearby in California, too.

Monday, November 5, 2012

San Jacinto Wildlife Area


White-tailed Kite
White-tailed Kite

Canvasback
Canvasback

Northern Pintail
Northern Pintail


We went on the Audobon sponsored birdwalk at San Jacinto Wildlife Area. Here are a few of the better photos.

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Phainopepla: Peck Road Water Conservation Park


Hummingbird
Hummingbird

We went to the Peck Road Water Conservation Park in Arcadia this morning.
The fall migration in California is a bit different than New Jersey. First, it's sunny and warm. Second, we have birds like the Phainopepla. The approaching storm seems fairly bad for New Jersey (which CNN refers to as the area between New York City and Philadelphia).

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Birding at Glen Helen Regional Park

The fall migration is picking up so we are heading out to find some migrants. This wekeend, we made it to Glen Helen Regional Park. Here are some highlights:

Red-shouldered Hawk

Red-shouldered Hawk

Black-throated Grey Warbler

Black-throated Grey Warbler

Black-Crowned Night-Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Bird on a Flower

Another weekend, another bird by an orange flower. Oh, and a mountain chickadee too.

Mountain Chickadee

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Hummingbird

We bought a new home and have begun remodeling it. Right now HGTV has priority over Animal Planet in our lives, but we can do some birding from our new yard.

Here's a hummingbird from our garden.

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Prado Regional Park

Vermilion Flycatcher
Vermillion Flycatcher

vermilion flycatcher (juvenile)
Vermilion Flycatcher (juvenile)

Belted Kingfisher
Belted Kingfisher

Peacock
Peacock
Peacock

We went back to Prado today. We saw a belted kingfisher, our first since moving from a lake in NJ to California. You can tell this is a California bird by the blue sky in the background.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Brown Chinese Goose

While out on our morning walk, we encountered two Brown Chinese Geese along Riverwalk.

We have been encountering quite a few wild birds that are not native to the area: Pin-tailed Whydah from Africa, Parrots from South America, Chinese geese.

Monday, September 3, 2012

Pin-tailed Whydah: Huntington Beach, California.

Last year, We visited South Africa and saw many birds as well as the African mammals. We were impressed with the pin-tailed whydah with its long tail.

At the time, we didn't know it but there are several areas in the US where they breed including Huntington Central Park. Their origin is from escaped cage birds who have survived in the wild. We saw a female (with a short tail) as well as the male with its long flowing tail.

Pin-tailed Whydah (male)



Pin-tailed Whydah (male)

Pin-tailed Whydah (female)

Huntington Central Park

We thought we'd try a new birding spot on Labor Day before heading to the beach. We decided upon Huntington Central Park because a yellow-throated vireo had been spotted there. We found it after a while but ran into the pin-tailed whydah first.



Yellow-throated Vireo



We also added the bullock's oriole and white faced ibis to our life lists (since we are new to birding in California) and saw the western wood peewee and western bluebird too.





Bullock's Oriole
Bullock's Oriole



White-faced Ibis
White-faced Ibis



Flycatcher
Western Wood Peewee


Western Bluebird
Western Bluebird








San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary, Irvine

After Huntington Beach, we stopped for breakfast and then checked out the San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary in Irvine. The highlight was a baby Clark's grebe, but we also were impressed with the size of the American White Pelican.


Clark's Grebe
Clark's Grebe with juvenile

American White Pelican
American White Pelican