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.

Evening Grosbeaks at Big Bear Lake.

There have been reports of evening grosbeaks at Big Bear Lake for a week or so. The bird met all the criteria for an hour drive to go see a new bird. It's colorful, it's been in the same location for a week, and there were good directions. As soon as we got out of the car at the Civic Center, we heard them and saw them a few seconds later. They were a bit difficult to see well because they hang out high in the trees and blend in. With a bit of uncharacteristic patience, Mike stayed around a while and got some good photos, taking a break to get some coffee and tea. Chris tolerated the long and winding mountain road and as a reward got a cinnamon stick at Sugar Pine Bakery.

The male evening grosbeak is stunning.


Male Evening Grosbeak


Female Evening Grosbeak

Birding Golden Gate Park Botanical Garden

We struck out trying to get good looks and photos of the varied thrushes in Sylmar and Riverside. We spent a weekend in San Francisco and visited the botanical gardens twice in hopes of finding the varied thrush and other birds. It was good to get in some exercise in between eating at some of San Francisco's finest restaurants. Chris found it difficult to look for birds because she was paying too much attention to the gardens. Fortunately, she found the Varied thrush and pointed it out to Mike. We also ran into a coyote and some other birds before heading back home.




Varied Thrush


Lesser Goldfinch


Fox Sparrow



American Robin



Pacific


Coyote

The hoodies are back

The hooded mergansers have returned to Riverside.

Back to Fairmount Park for the Chestnut-sided Warbler

As we were leaving Fairmount Park on Wednesday, some people found a chestnut–sided warbler and we didn't have time to stay as sometimes Mike's job gets in the way of birding. When there was a break in today's rain, we decided to take another look. We had seen Chestnut-sided Warblers while living on the East Coast and they always had the obvious chestnut side. This is apparently a young first winter bird without the distinct marking, so we were a little unsure about what we were seeing. Fortunately, a group of birders were hanging around the "Prothonotary Warbler tree" and they were able to confirm for us it was the Chestnut-sided Warbler. We also got better looks, and photos, of some Townsend's Warblers today.

Prothonotary Warbler at Fairmount Park

We had sort of been ignoring Fairmount Park as a birding spot, but reports of the Prothonotary Warbler there piqued our interest. We took a look on the weekend, but we arrived sort of late and there were too many non birders around and we didn't find the target bird. We had some time this morning, so figuring a weekday would be less crowded, off we went. We probably spent about an hour or so with no luck, but with the help of a handful of other "regulars" who must frequent Fairmount often, we were able to get great looks at this beautiful warbler. What a show it was putting on! It stayed in the same tree for a long time so we saw it from many angles and got to observe its personality. In fact, Chris calls him Mr. Personality in the first picture. Don't you just love the glint in the eye and the "look at me" pose?

Dairy Mart Ponds San Diego

Ruby-crowned Kinglet


Black-crowned night heron (juvenile)


Northern Waterthrush


Great Blue Heron with a fish


Kestrel with a dragon fly

Red-Shouldered Hawk

We came home and he was perched on our wall.

Five warbler day

You can tell the fall migration has started. We had five kinds of warblers come by today. Oh and a thrush too


Wilson's warbler


Nashville warbler


Black-throated gray warbler


Yellow-rumped Warber


Wilson's warbler


Orange-crowned Warbler


Swainson's thrush