Recently At Home

Stellar's Jay with acorn.

Black Phoebe.

Cooper's Hawk on a cloudy morning.

 Female Scott's Oriole.  More elusive than the males.

Male Scott's Oriole.

Male Scott's Oriole.

Goleta Beach

Although cloudy and breezy I headed out to Goleta Beach today as there were a couple uncommon visitors reported to be hanging around, and indeed they were there - a Long-tailed Duck and a Surf Scoter.  Must have been nap time as both were sleeping the whole time I was there (right next to each other actually, how convenient).

Long-Tailed Duck - sleeping.

Surf Scoter - sleeping.

Ruddy Duck - Awake!

Morro Bay

Made a trip to Morro Bay, Ca last week.  It was very foggy and there were not too many birds around where we were.

Pelagic Cormorant.  Really too dark out to get a good look at this bird.

White-crowned Sparrow.

The best bird I saw was a Sea Otter!

Scott's Oriole Video

By the time the video gets shrunk enough to upload and Blogger has its way, the quality is fairly diminished but at least you get to hear a couple verses of song.

Scott's Oriole

We are lucky to have a couple of Scott's Orioles that tend to hang around our neighborhood in the fall and early winter.  I finally managed to get some decent shots of these handsome birds.  They tend to not stay still for long!

 A rather shady shot but gives a good view of the overall coloration.

 A bit fuzzy on this one, it was shot at quite a distance.

Clear but partial view.

Summer In Santa Barbara

Catching up on a few more things from over the summer.

Mourning Dove

 Western Wood-Pewee

Juvenile Sharp-Shinned Hawk

Spotted Towhee

Snowy Egret

Summer In Utah

Catching up on a few things I saw over the summer.

Black-chinned Hummingbird.  Not the crispiest of photos, but I do like the tongue action!

Female Bullock's Oriole. 

It's not always about birds!

Spring In Santa Barbara

A few shots from around the house this past spring.

Male Hooded Oriole in the rain.  Not the clearest shot, but the best one I've got.

Band-tailed Pigeon

Female Hooded Oriole.  Sorry ladies, but in the world of birds the men are usually the hotties.

House Wren

Ash-throated Flycatcher

Spring, Castle Valley Ut

House Finch in flowering bush.  April 2011

Western Meadowlark.  April 2011

Gunnison Sage Grouse, Monticello Ut

On Apr 4 I participated in a visit to Monticello Utah, hosted by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. We visited some Gunnison Sage Grouse on their Lek.  The birds were VERY far away, so we would not disturb them, and the atmospheric distortion was bad, so the photos were not terrific.  But it was great to see these birds strut their stuff.  There are estimated to be less than 100 living in Utah.

Say's Phoebe, Death Valley Ca

I caught this Say's Phoebe building it's nest in a rock face of Johnson Canyon,

a tributary of Death Valley.  March 2011 

More Pics From Home

Been busy lately, and also the weather has been crap, so not too much time out with the scope.  Still have not left home with it.  I am hoping to work out the "sweet spot" of the setup, and also pretty up this blog site a bit when some free time comes my way - yeah right.

Junco on a rainy day.

From a sharpness point of view, I think this is my best image yet.

Female Northern Flicker in the rain.  Not the sharpest image but I still like it.

Male Northern Flicker.  Beautiful birds,

until they start drilling holes into your house.

This Week At Home

This week I sought advice and worked to improve the quality of the images using the usual local suspects.  Still have some things to try, but I believe things are improving. 

Soon I hope to take the rig out to other environs.

 Rufous Hummingbird.

 Rufous Hummingbird.

Anna's Hummingbird getting colorful.

Rufous Hummingbird showing off.

Stellar's Jay.

Western Kingbird.  Not a great photo, but the only time I have ever seen one at our house.

More Practice

Yesterday was not so windy, so I could get some practice in on the usual local suspects.  Getting better at focus, still have a ways to go.  Thank god for digital, you throw away MANY images to get a good one.

Acorn Woodpecker.

Acorn Woodpecker x 2.

Anna's Hummingbird (male).

Anna's Hummingbird (male).

House Finch.  Nice action, focus could be better.

House Finch

Second Day

Although it was very windy here today, the birds were out in force.  Managed a few decent shots and learned a bit too.  Hoping image quality will improve when the birds are not being blown all over the place - many were having bad hair days.

Acorn Woodpecker

Acorn Woodpecker

Anna's Hummingbird - Bad Hair Day

Allen's or Rufous Hummingbird - Can they even tell the difference?

Downy Woodpecker

Hairy Woodpecker

Good Ol' American Robin

Western Scrub Jay

Western Scrub Jay

Stellar's Jay