August 17, 2004
More Willowbank birding
The last few days at Willowbank Ditch have seen plenty of migrant and resident birds taking advantage of the elderberry crop, including many House Finches...
... and this smart Black-headed Grosbeak.
Saturday morning brought a good selection of migrants in addition to the usual suspects, including a very early Swainson's Thrush, and my first of fall Cassin's Vireo, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher and Wilson's Warbler. This Western Tanager was a little camera shy!
However, I finally found a Pacific-slope Flycatcher which sat still for long enough to be photographed.
Stars of the show today were the hummingbirds, which seemed to be all over the place. I saw my first Davis Rufous Hummingbirds...
... along with the locally breeding Black-chinned Hummingbirds...
... and this belligerent immature male Anna's, which seemed to spend more time chasing off other hummers than feeding!
Potentially most interesting of all, I had a large female-type Selasphorus hummer, with an all-green back and rump. It looked very similar to Sibley's depiction of female Broad-tailed Hummingbird, an extreme rarity in the Central Valley (only one previous record in Yolo County). However, on talking with knowledgable locals, it seems more likely that this was just a very greenish immature Rufous/Allen's type. Hopefully a nice male Broad-tailed will show up one day and make our lives a whole lot easier!
In addition to the birds, Willowbank is a great spot for entomologists. Today it was teeming with Flame Skimmers.
I also saw these two butterfly spp. I haven't got round to buying a butterfly guide yet, so if anyone knows what they are, feel free to post a comment!
