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New Blog

Hey all,

I'm moving the blog to my new website: Avian Explorer.  Blogspot is a great host, but this new website has more functionality.  So, please update your bookmarks.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Bushtits

If you look carefully in the trees in California, you can usually see a tiny blur of feathers in the leaves and needles.

I remember the first time that I came to California, I was staring at a palm tree watching tiny birds dart in between the leaves. I bet you anything that I was looking at bushtits.

Bushtits are 4 1/2 inches long.  But look at that tail!  There's probably only two inches of an actual bird.

They move so quickly, it's hard to get a good shot without blurred feathers.  Although, hey, I like blurred feathers!

Bushtits eat insects and seeds.

It's hard to tell in many of these pictures, the coastal bushtits have brown caps.

This is the most adorable bird expression ever.

The female bushtits have yellow eyes.

They travel in roving packs.  Can you imagine roving packs of bushtits?

Red-Tailed Hawk

Have you ever been close to getting the perfect picture?

I saw this red tailed hawk and I had about five seconds to get a decent shot.

It’s a beautiful image, but without having the bottom part of his wings, I can’t help but cringe every time I see the photo.

Etsy

Have you ever visited Etsy?  It's the best website for crafts.  I did a search of "cockatiels" on Etsy and came across a seller that makes crochet cockatiels.  Sweees sells patterns for normal cockatiels and makes the toys upon request.  I asked Sweees if it would be possible to personalize the pattern for Audrey and Conner.  And yes!  Here's the toy of Conner:

Conner is still terrified of the toy, so I can't show you a picture with them in the same frame.  It took days before I could even keep the toy in the same room as Conner.  But look at the similarity!

Here's a side view.

And a side view of Conner.

Sweees has some skills, huh?

Audrey is not scared of his toy.  On the first night, he even snuggled up next to it, although now he treats it like part of the scenery.

The back is amazing!

This is the toy's permanent position.  They look so similar!

I'm so impressed by someone that can crochet with such precision.  A few years ago, I crocheted a scarf for Jon and I couldn't even make the sides straight.

Black-Bellied Plover

The ocean is filled with food for many kinds of birds.

The most dedicated birders will get up before dawn to see birds feeding at low tide.  I still value sleep more than birding.  But I lucked out yesterday, because the birds were feeding at the more reasonable time of 1 PM.  I got to see a Black-Bellied Plover.

These guys have a very diverse diet.  Although they eat the typical crustaceans and mollusks, they also eat insects and berries.

I saw only one Black-Bellied Plover yesterday, but he let me take many pictures.  He was very cautious, looking up every few seconds.  But he never retreated, and let me get within four feet.

How is this for camouflage?

The Black-Bellied Plovers are different from the American Golden-Plovers, which don't have any golden color in their non-breeding plumage.  Further, the Pacific Golden-Plovers has what looks like flecks of gold.

This was my favorite picture because his posture reminds me of a ballet dancer.

The plover is a medium-sized bird.  Here in the background, you can see a sandpiper, which is a much smaller bird, perhaps about the size of your palm.

It's hard to imagine, but the Black-Bellied Plover's breeding plumage is all black in front.  The pictures below were taken last August.  They're most likely Black-Bellied Plovers in an intermediate stage between breeding and winter plumage, but they could be American Golden-Plovers.  It's incredibly hard to tell the type of plover because the standard markers are obscured.  The picture is close enough to give you an idea of the stark contrast between breeding and non-breeding plumage, though, especially for the plover on the left.