Chasing the painted redstart

The painted redstart is an occasional visitor to Southern California. It's a beautiful bird, but it can be frustrating to watch and photograph. It likes to stay close to the trunk of the tree and moves around a lot. Its eye is a little unusual; we can only see the white on the bottom. This painted redstart was in Glendora at Oakdale memorial park.

The Cedar waxwings are back

The Cedar waxwings have returned to our yard. They love these berries.

Christmas Towhee

Hermit Thrush taking a bath

Christmas Bird Count

We participated in the Christmas Bird Count. Here are the two best photos from the day.



Anna's Hummingbird


Townsend's Warbler

Mountain bluebirds

We couldn't decide whether to go see the mountain bluebirds that had been reported in Riverside by the Gage Canal near Citrus State historic Park. We had seen the mountain bluebird before, but upon reviewing our prior photos we realized it was a female and the males are more colorful.

The weather was nice, the directions were good, and about 25 birds had been reported. We are glad we did go out because the males were particularly colorful. We also saw an acorn woodpecker with an acorn.

Birding Coyote Point Recreational Area near San Francisco Airport

Coyote Point Recreational Area is a few miles south of San Francisco airport and has a wide variety of birds. It's a good place to stop if you want to get some birding in before a flight.


Cedar Waxwing



Common Goldeneye


Belted Kingfisher


Brown Pelican

Surf Scoter

San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary in Irvine

We went to the San Joaquin wildlife sanctuary in Irvine. We always find this a peaceful and enjoyable place to bird. Here are some of the better photos I took. Chris really appreciated the white-faced ibis on this trip.


White-faced Ibis


Green-Winged Teal


Cinnamon Teal


Gadwall

Finally, a yellow-headed blackbird

When we left California in 2002, we weren't birders. We returned in 2012 with a new hobby and have slowly been seeking birds in California to add to our life lists. We knew there were yellow-headed blackbirds in the area and have tried a few times to see them. This weekend they were on the top of our list. Some had been reported near the San Jacinto wildlife area. We found a few mixed in with a few thousand blackbirds at a dairy farm near the wildlife area.