Seasonal Birds and a Lincoln's Sparrow

Yesterday an American crow landed in my backyard.  Crows, of course, are common, but they almost never come into my yard.  We were worried that it might find the catfood and bring its flock, but it flew away.  Below is a photo of it sitting on a telephone pole.

American Crow

Looking out the window, I saw a very pretty male Allen's hummingbird visiting the bird of paradise plants and picking the bugs off a dead tree.   Below is a photo of the hummingbird sitting in the dead tree.

Allen's Hummingbird

Right now is the time when both the summer and winter birds are here.  The summer birds just arrived and the winter birds are about to leave, but right now I can see both.  The warblers are passing through, the cliff swallows are flying around, and the orioles are preparing for nesting season.  The cedar waxwings are still singing high up in the trees, and the white-crowned sparrows are singing in the bushes.  Sometime soon the tanagers and grosbeaks should be arriving.  Below are two photos.  The first is of a lovely male hooded oriole and the second is of a white-crowned sparrow.

Hooded Oriole

White-crowned Sparrow

When I was taking the photo of the white-crowned sparrow above, I noticed a different sparrow hopping through a bush by itself.  At first I thought it was a song sparrow because it was brown, but it lacked the dark central spot that song sparrows have.  It was a Lincoln's sparrow.  Lincoln's sparrows are found in Canada, Alaska, and the central United States in the summer, and the Pacific coast, the southern United States, and Mexico in the winter.  They are similar to song sparrows, but are smaller and have smaller beaks.  They lack the large central spot and have thin streaks on a pale tan chest.  Overall, they are a bit paler.  Below is the Lincoln's sparrow in a bush.

Lincoln's Sparrow

Buena Vista Lagoon March

Today was the bird count at the Buena Vista Lagoon.   It was a bit warm, and the lighting wasn't great, but we saw fifty-one species, including a green heron, which we don't often see.

There were quite a few song sparrows around.  Since spring is here, they were all singing very loudly.  Below is one of them.  

Song Sparrow

We don't often see Wilson's warblers, but today I saw four.  One of them, a male, came fairly close to me when I made "pst" noises.  Below is a photo of him.

Wilson's Warbler

There were many ducks around.  They were mostly mallards and ruddy ducks.  There were two gadwall, a male and a female, in the early morning.  Below is a photo of them.

Gadwall

There was one lone bullfrog sitting quietly in the water this morning.  The water was unusually murky, so I was pretty surprised to see the frog.  Below is a photo of it.

Bullfrog

Normally, we see very few woodpeckers at the lagoon, because there aren't many trees there that they like.  However, there were two Nuttall's woodpeckers by the nature center this morning.  I believe they were both females.  Below is one of them.

Nuttall's Woodpecker

There was one killdeer running around in the brush.  Two others flew by, but I don't think they landed.  Below is the killdeer on the ground.

Killdeer

There were a couple snowy egrets around.  One was sitting on a streetlight above the freeway, then flew down into a ditch to fish.  Below are two photos of it on the light and in the ditch.

Snowy Egret

Snowy Egret

There were a lot of California ground squirrels around.  There usually aren't very many, but today they were everywhere.  Below are two photos of them.

California Ground Squirrel

California Ground Squirrel

There were several Allen's hummingbirds around.  Below is a male visiting some flowers.

Allen's Hummingbird

There were quite a few white pelicans.  They sat on the water for a while, then took flight and soared very high up in the air.  I'm not sure why they soar, but they do it very often.  Below are three of them soaring.

White Pelicans

Today we saw two cinnamon teal, a male and a female.  Cinnamon teal are found in the western United States in the summer, and Mexico and parts of western South America in the winter.  They are found all year round in California, central Mexico, and the southern point of South America.  Males are very distinctive.  They are almost entirely a dark, cinnamon color with a black tail and lighter back.  They have pale blue on their wings (only seen in flight), red eyes, and a dark bill.  Females are similar to northern shoveler females, but with shorter, darker beaks and plain, slightly darker heads.  We hardly ever see them at the lagoon, so it was very exciting to see two.  Below is a photo of the male and female swimming away (sorry that the photo isn't very good; they were a bit far away).

Cinnamon Teal

Batiquitos Lagoon

Today my dad and I went to the Batiquitos Lagoon in Carlsbad.

The weather was cloudy and cool.  It wasn't great weather for birdwatching or taking photos, but we still saw plenty of birds, and the views were beautiful.  Below is a view of the lagoon.

There were many red-winged blackbirds flying around.  Below is a beautiful male who came fairly close to us.

Red-winged Blackbird

There were quite a few herons and egrets around.  There was one black-crowned night-heron in a tree and several great blue herons, great egrets, and snowy egrets.  Below are two photos.  The first is of a great blue heron, and the second is of a great egret and a great blue heron.

Great Blue Heron

Great Egret and Great Blue Heron

There were many, many American wigeon on the lagoon.  The American wigeon is found in Alaska, Canada, and the northern United States in the summer, and southern United States, and Mexico, and northern South America in the winter.  Males are reddish-brown above and white below with black tails.  They have white wing patches, dark green eye patches, and white foreheads.  Females have brown tails and unmarked brown heads.  They are very common on ponds, and will also graze in fields.  Below is a photo of a male (right) and a female (left).  The white forehead is probably the most distinctive feature; there are no other common ducks in the United States with white foreheads.

American Wigeon

There were a lot of different sandpipers around.  There were least sandpipers, willet, and marbled godwit.  Marbled godwit are found in the northern central United States and southern Canada in the summer, and along the southern coasts down into Mexico in the winter.  They are large and brown with reddish-brown under their wings and dark eye stripes.  They have long black legs and long, upturned bills.  There were quite a few of them at the lagoon.  Below are two photos of one.

Marbled Godwit

Marbled Godwit

As we were walking along a trail, there were quite a few sparrows and warblers flitting through the trees and bushes.  Below is a rather dull-colored orange-crowned warbler.

Orange-crowned Warbler

Out of all the many ducks we saw, only one was a northern pintail.  It was swimming among the wigeon and coots.  Northern pintails are found in Alaska, Canada, and the northern United States in the summer, the southern United States, Mexico, and northern South America in the winter, and parts of the western United States all year round.  They are also found in parts of Asia, Europe, and Africa.  They have very long, pointed tails and long necks.  Females are brown on their heads and backs and white below.  Males have dark brown heads, white necks, white bellies, gray backs, and black tails.  They can be found in flocks, but I've only ever seen one or two at a time.  Below is the male northern pintail.

Northern Pintail

Most of the sandpipers at the lagoon today were willets.  They were moving around in large flocks.  Below is one of them.

Willet

At one point, a flock of sandpipers (probably willets) joined a flock of pigeons.  They flew together in a mixed flock for a while as if they were all the same species.  Below is a photo of them just as they were joining together.  The sandpipers are in the top right.

Rock Doves and Willets

There was an osprey flying around the lagoon for a little while.  There may have been two.  Below is a photo of one flying.

Osprey

There was a belted kingfisher hunting for fish as well as the osprey.  I think it was a male.  Below is the kingfisher sitting on a dead tree.

Belted Kingfisher

At one point, the kingfisher and the osprey were sitting on the same telephone wire.  It was a very long wire that stretched all the way across the lagoon from one hill to the other.  It was very, very high above the water, so I think the two birds were just sitting; they weren't looking for fish at the moment.  Below is a photo of the two fishing birds.

Belted Kingfisher and Osprey

As the tide went out, groups of birds gathered on the mudflats.  There was a group of gulls of different species, a group of double-crested cormorants, and a group of Caspian terns.  Below are three photos of those groups in that order.  Some terns are mixed in with the gulls, and there is a brown pelican in the middle of the cormorants.

Gulls and Caspian Terns

Double-crested Cormorants and Brown Pelican

Caspian Terns

A Few Birds, Fox Squirrels, and a Video

Yesterday, I created a new page on this blog.  It's the one titled "The Birds."  It's a collection of photos of all the birds that I've written about on this blog.  If you haven't seen it yet, take a look.  There are over 100 species!  (Because there are so many photos, it might take a short while to load.)

The most exciting bird of the week was a horned lark.  Horned larks are found throughout most of the United States and Mexico all year round.  They summer throughout Canada and Alaska and winter in the southeastern United States.  They are found in flocks in open areas such as farmland and beaches.  They are small with long legs, brown backs, and white bellies.  They have a black band on their chests, yellow faces, black masks (similar to the common yellowthroat), and two small, black "horns."  I've been seeing them for over a year now at my high school as they fly to the nearby farmland, but I hadn't been able to take any photos.  Finally, on Monday, a beautiful male was standing in an empty lot just a few feet away from me.  Unfortunately, it was startled by a girl walking by, but I was able to take a photo when it flew up onto the roof of a house.  I don't think I'll be able to take any more photos, though, because houses are being built on the empty lots. Below is the male horned lark on the roof.

Horned Lark

I tried to find more larks throughout the week, but there were construction vehicles everywhere.  I did, however, see a common raven flying around in circles.  There is usually a raven or two around my school.  Below is a photo of the raven (notice its long, wedge-shaped tail, as opposed to the short, rounded tail of a crow).

Common Raven

Last weekend, my family went up to Pasadena to visit relatives.  Though I didn't see very many birds, there were a few tree squirrels.  The ones I saw were eastern fox squirrels.  They were introduced into parts of California and other western states around 100 years ago.  Right now, they're only found in urban areas, but there's concern that they could spread and displace the native western gray squirrels.  Below are two photos of eastern fox squirrels.

Eastern Fox Squirrel

Eastern Fox Squirrel

Today I saw a young Cooper's hawk on a telephone pole.  It didn't stay for very long, but I was able to take a few photos.  Below is the hawk (notice the brown, streaked plumage).

Cooper's Hawk

I took this video last year, but I'd never gotten around to uploading it.  It is a video of a flock of starlings in a tall pine tree in my neighborhood.  Unfortunately, the tree was cut down.  It was old, but a favorite tree for starlings, hawks, kingbirds, doves, and many other birds.  In the video below, watch for a Cassin's kingbird to fly up at around 0:19.

Hooded Mergansers on a Pond

On Thursday, I was finally able to take photos of a male hooded merganser.  For a long while I've been seeing him in a small pond beside the road to school.  They will probably be leaving sometime soon, since mergansers are only here in the winter.  Below are two photos.  The first is of the male, and the second is of the male and a female.

Hooded Merganser

Hooded Mergansers