Black-chinned Hummingbird

Black-chinned Hummingbird
Patton Center for Hummingbirds, Patagonia, Arizona, USA
July 2019
Member of the Hummingbird Family

§A Tune of Hummingbirds§

~true bird fact~ Ok, let's say we take these bird at face value, and assume they are not robots or fairies, but instead are living non-magical creatures. How do these hummingbirds eat, exactly? Well, they flick out their nightmarish tongue into a source of nectar, and that nectar travels along (in a Black-chinned) two grooves in it. The hummingbird then slurps the tongue back into its mouth and squeezes the nectar out. These licks are so fast that they can happen as often as 17 times each second. And I thought I ate fast!

~An additional hummingbird fact~ A hummingbird egg is about the size of a coffee bean, but the nestlings grow quickly. In fact, they grow so much that young birds become larger than their parents. Since a hummingbird nest is made partly out of spider silk, and the birds involved are so light, the nest can just stretch and expand to accommodate this growth. 

Proud atheist
Loves esoteric and complex board games
Pipe smoker
 

Well, I hinted at it in the last blog, but I guess now that I've posted an actual feeder pic, the jig is up. I prefer to get images of hummingbirds in their natural habitat when possible, but the opportunities provided at Tucson Audubon's Patton Center for Hummingbirds are too great to pass up. It is a really cool, extremely off-the-beaten path birding spot, and unique in its ability to draw hummingbirds. There were also some really lovely and helpful volunteers on the day that I visited. Check it out if you're in the area, or even online, where there are live hummingbird cams. Did I see the legendary Violet-crowned Hummingbird they are so well known for? Maybe! No really, I mean literally maybe, I don't know if the bird I got a picture of is the Violet-crowned. But I guess you'll be able to judge for yourself soon, on this very blog.

Trip Report: Cosumnes River Preserve

Cosumnes River Preserve, Galt, California, USA
January 2017

Duck, var.

Another day in paradise, another trip to a local birding destination. These pictures were taken when your amateurnithologist found himself with some unusual time off and was able to go on some fun day trips to birding locales slightly further afield.

Cinnamon Teal, has a youtube prank video series

Today's pictures come from the Consumnes River Preserve and the adjacent Woodbridge River Preserve in eyebrow-raisingly named Galt, California. The preserves are part of California's heavily farmed central valley and the Consumnes River represents the last free flowing river of the valley. Located between Sacramento and Stockton, there are 46,000 acres of protected land, 40,000 of which are farmed.

Green-winged Teal couple, collect salt and pepper shakers

It's an important spot for birds, and your amateurnithologist was blown away by the variety and sheer quantity of birds present. And that makes a lot of sense, since this spot is part of the Pacific Flyway, one of the 4 major migration routes for American birds. Among its 250 native bird species are the rare Sandhill Cranes (got em') and Tri-colored Blackbirds (WHEN?). Both the Audubon Society and the American Bird Conservancy have declared it an "Important Bird Area."

Sandhill Crane, always stands next to shorter birds to make himself appear taller

The preserve itself is beautiful and well-maintained, and given that we attended in the middle of the day, on a weekday, it was surprisingly well-attended, mostly by like-minded bird people. Some serious scopes were on display.

White-fronted Goose, high tolerance for crowds

It was mostly a waterfowlful affair, and all manner of ducks and geese and assorted others were on display. I had the great experience of getting a much, much better shot of a Northern Pintail immediately after I had posted a blog about him. Such is the life of a bird blogger. We appeared to be right in the middle of White-fronted Goose migration, who got riled up and all took off together and blacked out the sky a few times.

Northern Pintail, always acts weird when you try to take a picture of him

Best spots for me were the rarely observed Sora (still have no idea how I spotted him in the reeds) and the vaunted and endangered Sandhill Crane. It was my first time getting a shot of the California subspecies (all previous cranes I had seen were in Florida). Other birds seen, but not included in this photo essay included Great Egret (in breeding plumage), Northern Shoveler, Belted Kingfisher, Canada Geese, American Kestrel, and Black-necked Stilt.

Sora, loves to do amateur research on topics that interest her

Overall I would give Galt, CA objectively high marks. It's a veritable fountainhead of birds, and you won't find yourself shrugging off enough birds to fill a whole atlas. Take the train. Go Ayn-y time.

Final Rating: Yes

Baby Owls in Golden Gate Park

Great news everyone! And I do mean great, because Great Horned Owls are nesting in Golden Gate Park. Well, probably not anymore, because even at the time I took these shots, a few months ago, they were getting kinda close to fledging I think. Big shout out to local bird-friend Eliya who gave me the hot tip and showed me the owls. These good good baby owls were shot around sunset, so the pictures I took aren't the best. Go see them next spring, why not. They're very good.



Great Horned Owlet aka. Fluffems aka. Sweet Baby Owl aka. Robert "DOWNy" Jr.
Bison Paddock, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, California, USA
April 2017
Member of the True Owl Family
§A Glaring of Owls§
★The Provincial Bird of Alberta, Canada★

~real bird myth~ Pretty much any group of people who came into contact with this bird came to believe it had some kind of supernatural powers. The Pima thought the owls were reincarnated warriors, while the Passamaquoddy thought of them as friendly spirits whose calls could make people fall in love. The Hopi saw them as harbingers of warm weather and good harvests, and the Zuni used their feathers in battle to imbue themselves with some of the owl's powers of stealth. If there's anything everyone seems to be able to agree on, it's that the owls are not what they seem.

This is their mother. She has had it up to here with their shenanigans.

And these are the babies. I think there were three all together, but I never got a good shot with all of them. They:

Are always attached to their phones
Just want things handed to them, must've been all those participation trophies
Use all this slang I don't understand
Why can't they work their way through college?

Just kidding, I love these baby owls, and to prove it, here's an amazing .gif I made of them from some of Eliya's footage. May it see you through some hard times.

Trip Report: Wetland's Edge Park

Well, I promised I'd highlight some local birding destinations, and now I'm doing it. Let's see how this goes. These trip report blogs are probably going to be heavy on the images, light on the bird characterization (mostly because I've already blogged these birds). Basically I want to show you what is there, and why you might want to go. Ok? Ok.




Wetland's Edge Park, American Canyon, California, USA
December 2016

Wetland's Edge Park is located in American Canyon, California, on the east bank of the lower Napa River. It's a delta-y area that drains into the San Pablo Bay, by way of Vallejo. Like many great birding spots, it's the site of a former landfill, and indeed, the trail hiked was the 'landfill loop trail'. Part of the park has access to the San Francisco Bay Trail as well. There are a few significant sloughs and drainage ponds of various sizes. And that means birds!

(var.)

Mostly small shorebirds, egrets, herons, and ducks. Many of my recent exciting ducks have come from this trip, in fact. The park had a ton of Northern Shovelers, Cinnamon Teals, American Wigeons, and Coots.

Marbled Godwit - easily catches a chill

no one knows or cares what these birds are

 It's also where I got my sweet pheasant sighting.

Great Egret - a libertarian

But that's not all the birds you'll find at Wetland's Edge. The low grasslands adjacent to the trail have a bunch of shrubs and trees, and a number of other birds were on hand.

Lesser Goldfinch - incredulous

House Finch - helicopter parent

The most striking find of the trip (aside from aforementioned pheasant), was a very bold or very sleepy Turkey Vulture sitting placidly on a low branch of a tree beside the road, basically 10-15 feet away at eye level. Definitely the closest I've been to one of these extraordinary birds. As if that weren't enough, a noisy Raven flew up and seemed to attempt to harass him away with cawing.

Turkey Vulture - gracious

Common Raven - headstrong

Another great surprise of the park was an unnamed point that offered a great view of the bay and a glass/debris beach.



Overall, I give Wetland's Edge Park a review of 'do bird'. There's a huge variety of habitats, from tall marsh grass to eucalyptus grove, and I'm sure even on what felt like a very productive birding trip, I barely scratched the surface.

Hermosa Beach Bird Pics + Marbled Godwit

Hey there Fanateurnithologists (fanateurnithologists is what fans of this website call themselves). It's been a while since I did a miscellaneous bird picture post, or a trip report, so I thought I'd combine them into one handy blog. Unlike many past birding destinations, today's locale is not a wildlife sanctuary or park or anything like that. Just a place I had the pleasure of spending a few hours at a little while ago. And like any birder on the road, I used that time to take pictures... of birds. Without further ado- Hermosa Beach.

Marbled Godwit (this guy has never had his own profile?? How incredibly disrespectful of me, let's fix that now)
Hermosa Beach, California, USA
February 2016
Member of the Sandpiper Family
§A Prayer of Godwits§


~true bird fact~ Many birds will flee their nest when approached, but these guys are so protective of their eggs that you can often walk right up to them and pick em' up. The amateurnithologist would recommend against you doing this, as it is a real jerk move.

Not afraid to get his hands dirty
Gets his sense of meaning from his work life
Uncomplaining
Believes in the afterlife

Foreground: Royal Tern (originally incorrectly identified as Elegant Tern, but with assistance from @TheBirdist on Twitter, this correct ID was made. Evidently, Elegant's bills are thinner. Very tough birds to ID)
Idealistic

Background: Ring-billed Gull
Dull

Sanderling
Temperamental

Foreground: Heerman's Gull 
World-weary
 
Background: Western Gull
Avaricious

Sora & Martin Luther King Regional Shoreline

Sora aka. Sora Rail, aka. Sora Crake
Arrowhead Marsh, Oakland, California, USA
December 2014
Member of the Rails, Coots, and Gallinules Family
§An Expression of Soras§

~true bird fact~ Soras are the most widely distributed and populous member of the Rail family in North America. They are also the most frequently hunted. Who knows why people do these things, but anyway, their population has remained fairly stable because of their high breeding rate. Good job Soras!

Silent defender of the marsh
Has an air of knowing everything, but really just does a lot of research
Strongly committed to ethical behavior, sometimes to the detriment of his own life
Never really feels like he has done enough

Other denizens of Arrowhead Marsh at MLK Regional Shoreline, In beautiful Oakland, Califonia:

Great Egret
has put a new focus on spending time with the family




American Coots
heard about a really great sale

Black-necked Stilt chronic single-hood is not as fun as it used to be

Burrowing Owl
on sabbatical to write a book

Elsie Roemer Bird Sanctuary

Let's be frank, your amateurnithologist is in over his head here. I never realized how difficult shorebirds could be until I visited the Elsie Roemer Bird Sanctuary in beautiful Alameda, California. They are pretty much innumerable here.

That's a lotta birds. But not only that, dear reader, that's a lotta different types of birds.

When I visited, back in October, I kind of assumed I had see probably 4 or 5 different species of shorebirds. Once I started doing my research, I wasn't so sure. According to very reliable sources at ebird.com, the Else Roemer Bird Sanctuary is home to no less than 147 species of birds. What??? I didn't even know there were that many birds.

Rather than attempt to profile all of them now, I'll share a few that I saw and share my current best guess. Did I egregiously mislabel a bird? Sound off in the comments! I promise I won't get mad at you.

Marbled Godwit
pragmatic

Elegant Tern (center)

OR Caspian Tern OR Royal Tern (distinguished based on size of tern and color of bill. But who knows, life is uncertain)
Jocular

Black-bellied Plover
OR Pacific Golden Plover (could be really anything, apparently distinguishable by his "white rump", but your amateurnithologist is dubious)
Constantly looks annoyed, even when not

Also spotted at the sanctuary were our old friends
Long-billed Curlew (aka. Candlestick Bird)
Willet (ft. above in 2nd picture along with godwits)
Black Phoebe
& Snowy Egret
Among probably many others

We attempt to capture the utter bird chaos with the follow .gif

By the way, this bird sanctuary is named after a local conservationist, best known for her efforts to preserve the San Francisco Bay's natural salt marsh habitat, which was being drained and developed at a breakneck pace in her time. Her park now provides shelter for, the aforementioned 147 birds, including endangered species like Heerman's Gull and the California Clapper Rail, which is kind the ultimate reward for a fighter for birds, I suppose.

Atlantic Puffin

Atlantic Puffin
Bird Island, Nova Scotia, Canada
Member of the Auks, Murres, and Puffins family
★Provincial Bird of Newfoundland and Labrador★
§A Puffinry of Puffins§

~true bird fact~ Puffins have small wings, so they have to beat them over 300 times per minute to stay in flight. Good thing they don't have to fly much. In fact, they are small birds overall, being usually about 10 inches tall and weighing about as much as a can of soda.

~real bird ritual~ On the Icelandic island of Heimaey, fledgling Puffins who leave their nests for the first time sometimes get lost on their way to sea, so local children take turns paroling the town at night and rescuing the Pufflings (really called this). There's a children's book about this event.

Avid readers
Likes to have the same daily schedule every day, almost compulsive about it
Favorite food- soft serve ice cream
Are serious birds, and work really hard, so please don't call them 'Clown of the Sea' or 'Little Brother of the North' or other embarrassing names. Sheesh.

Nest Details
Construction: Burrow. Often beginning as a natural indentation in the sea rock, but dug out by the puffin using his strong beak. Inside there is a narrow shaft, 2 or 3 feet long, leading to a nest lined with foliage and feathers. Puffin homes often include a separate bathroom area (!!) so that the puffin chicks don't get themselves dirty.
Location: Sheer cliff face on islands that lack terrestrial predators. In this case, Bird Island in Nova Scotia's Cape Breton. Often the only way for people to see these birds is on chartered boat tours. I pause here to briefly plug Donelda's Puffin Tours, which was overall very awesome and included lots of birds that will be making the blog in the next few weeks.
Occupants: Puffins pair off monogamously and stay in the same burrow every year. They lay only one egg each year and share parenting duties. Very traditional, puffins are.

Lake Merritt Duckstravaganza!

Ducks! Ducks! Ducks!

Pictured above: A Chaos of Ducks

Blog readers, I promised you I would blog more ducks this year, and have I got ducks for you today! Let's visit the ducks pictured above and get to know them a little better. All pictures taken in beautiful Oakland California by your amateurnithologist.

Canvasback
Largest diving duck in North America
A bit vicious when it comes to getting what he wants

Lesser Scaup aka Little Bluebill (probably)
Named, perhaps, after the noise the female makes
Good at creative pursuits. A natural talent

Greater Scaup aka Bluebill (perhaps)
Named, maybe, after the Scottish word for the food he primarily eats
Smart and athletic. Works hard to get to where he is

Can you tell these two ducks apart? Neither can anyone else, but they are, apparently, different. Here are some of the nonsense things people will assure you will help you tell them apart. The greater one is larger, has a rounder head, and has brighter white sides. Me, I took these pictures while the ducks were in breeding season, so I'm going based on the sheen of their plumage. The Greater Scaup, it is said, has a slightly green tint, as compared with the Lesser's purple. But no one knows, really.

Mallard aka. Wild Duck
The wild ancestors of most modern domestic ducks
Gregarious. Has big get-togethers that go smoothly

Ruddy Duck
A major pest species in Europe, currently being culled in Great Britain. Messing up all sorts of local duck ecology by his, quoth wikipedia, "aggressive courting behavior and willingness to interbreed".
Thinks it's very funny when people get mad. Winks a lot.

Tufted Duck
The real prize of a birding trip to Lake Merritt. A native of Siberia, he really shouldn't be here in California. There's only ever one sighted, but he shows up more years than not. A recent local birding email thread turned up sightings from as early as 1970. So either this is a very old duck, or there are a few of them, or the duck is immortal somehow.
Has a deep love for American culture and a funny sounding accent. No one makes fun of him for it, though, it only makes him more appealing and fun to be around.