Orange-crowned Warbler

Orange-crowned Warbler

We went on UC Riverside's birdwalk and breakfast and here is the best photo

Hummingbird

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.

Prado Regional Park

Vermillion Flycatcher


Vermilion Flycatcher (juvenile)


Belted Kingfisher



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.

Brown Chinese Goose

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.

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.

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.







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




White-faced Ibis




Western Wood Peewee



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 with juvenile


American White Pelican

Acorn Woodpecker

Acorn Woodpecker