Hooded Oriole (click to enlarge)
A 1st for me – Hooded Oriole – adult male. A spring migrant, but the very first time one has come into my yard and then landed on our century plant making it an easy shot for me. As I was walking out the back gate to go for a short walk with camera in hand – there he was! I started shaking I was so excited but was lucky enough to get off this shot before he took off!
California Towhee nest building
Willets – Shorebird Photography – click to enlarge and enjoy even further :O)
Willets – I always see them huddled up closely together when they are ready to rest and nap. Too cute.
Western Gull (click to enlarge)
Female House Sparrow
Female House Sparrow
Female House Sparrow
The House Sparrow prefers to nest in manmade structures such as eaves or walls of buildings, street lights, and nest boxes instead of in natural nest sites such as holes in trees. (allaboutbirds.org)
“You Cormorants are so stuck up!”
Baby Dark-eyed Junco (click to enlarge)
Mr. Mom Dark-eyed Junco
Beedie Bird Photo: so the Baby Dark-eyed Juncos left the nest a couple of days ago. Now they are hopping and fluttering around the community garden like chicks out of control trying out their new wings. While Dad, Mr. Mom, catches little bugs and tries as hard as he can to catch up with them to feed’em.
Baby Dark-eyed Juncos
Male Dark-eyed Junco watching over his brood.
Dark-eyed Juncos decided to build their family nest in the community garden under the lettuce leaves. I went to check them out after hearing there was a Towhee nest in the garden. I immediately noticed they weren’t Towhees, but Dark-eyed Juncos. The male junco, as soon as I got close to the nest, jumped on the tallest stick next to it and gave me an ear full. He was doing the feeding and tending to the young. I saw no sign of the mother. In the bird world some males do all of the tending and sometimes it’s just the female and sometimes they work in sync.
With the Snowy Plover, the female lays the eggs and then leaves to find another mate. The male does all of the caring for the young until they are old enough to leave the nest. The mother never returns to her nest. Just an interesting tidbit for ya.
I’m grateful for the 50x zoom lens on the Canon SX50 HS. It allowed me to get close ups of the baby Juncos without disturbing them or pissing off Dad Junco who stayed very close. I Do Not recommend that a photographer disturb young nestlings in order to get a photograph. Getting too close for long periods of time can be traumatizing to the brood. However, a really good zoom lens will do the trick.
Beedie Bird Photo: Bewick’s Wren. AllAboutBirds.org: If you come across a noisy, hyperactive little bird with bold white eyebrows, flicking its long tail as it hops from branch to branch, you may have spotted a Bewick’s Wren. These master vocalists belt out a string of short whistles, warbles, burrs, and trills to attract mates and defend their territory, or scold visitors with raspy calls.
Bewick’s Wren
I love these small grebes. The minute they see you they quickly dive out of site. The pied-billed grebe is a small diving bird with a chicken-like bill. It is rarely seen flying and prefers to sink out of sight when danger threatens. The Pied-billed Grebe is rarely seen in flight. It prefers to escape predators by diving, and it migrates at night. However, it can fly, and stray individuals have reached Hawaii and Europe. (allaboutbirds.org)
Pied-billed Grebe
Pied-billed Grebe
Pied-billed Grebe
A beautiful duck – the cinnamon teal (with a few of his fine feathered friends)
Willets and Cinnamon Teal
Cinnamon Teal
Cinnamon Teal and Northern Pintails
This is a male, breeding American Goldfinch – Goldfinches are among the strictest vegetarians in the bird world, selecting an entirely vegetable diet and only inadvertently swallowing an occasional insect. As usual, click directly on the image to enjoy even further.
American Goldfinch
American Goldfinch
American Goldfinch
This photo of a Red-tailed Hawk and it’s prey was taken at Carrizo Plains National Monument in San Luis Obispo County, California. Click on each image to enlarge and enjoy even further. It looks as if the Hawk got a little prey on it’s nose.
Red-tailed Hawk with prey
Red-tailed Hawk
Male Bushtit (my fav tiny bird of all!) Bushtits are tiny, kinglet-sized songbirds. They are plump and large-headed, with long tails and short, stubby bills. Obviously this Bushtit had his beak buried in a yellow scrumptious plant of some kind. 
) Click to Enlarge the image and enjoy even further!
Bushtit
The California Towhee – Poison oak is one of the hazards of outdoor recreation in California. It lines trails and covers hillsides, seemingly lying in wait to inflict its itchy, weeping rash on the unwary. But it’s also an integral part of the landscape and part of the daily life of California Towhees. Many towhees build their nests in poison oak and feast on the plant’s copious crops of pale white berries.
California Towhee
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