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