A Brit abroad

On a roll...

After a quiet start, the good birding continued when we located a singng Grasshopper Sparrow along County Road 12A. Moving on to Road 78A, we quickly ran into 3 male Lawrence's Goldfinch, which stuck around long enough for a photo call. As an added bonus, a MacGillvray's Warbler was briefly on view in the same bush as a Lawrence's!

A brief excursion to Woodland WWTP produced 100+ Black Terns, and some smart-looking Bonaparte's Gulls.

A surprise find was a pair of Pacific Golden Plovers (will I ever get a decent shot of this species? I'm always hampered by heat haze, strong wind, distance...)

A return visit to Woodland the following day yielded yet more good views of Black Terns...

... and my first Red-necked Phalaropes of the Spring.

Yolo Spring birding cleanup

While Empids provided the fun ID challenges of the weekend, migration season in Yolo County surged on (seems a much better year to me than last year). Following the morning's Gray Flycatcher sighting, we visited Bridgeway Island Pond. This site was many Long-billed Dowitchers and smaller numbers of peeps. A lonely-looking Mute Swan will sadly not be making it onto my county list! I realised just how dinky this Cinnamon Teal was when it was joined by this Canada gosling!

After a brief stop at the I St bridge in West Sacramento to tick off Purple Martin for the year, we birded the Yolo Wildlife Area. There were many shorebirds on show, of which Semipalmated Plover (6) and Marbled Godwit (3) were new for the year. This bird was still in winter plumage, but its bright bill indicates it is nearing breeding condition.

The Black-bellied Plovers were also in a variety of states of moult.

This Killdeer was pushing its luck by nesting in the middle of the road...

... but fortunately the eggs have survived so far.

The Western Sandpipers were looking dapper in pristine breeding plumage.

I got wonderful, close-up views of Least Sandpipers,...

Dunlins...

and an interesting size comparison between the two.

A 5 minute stop at Willowbank Ditch was most successful, with my first county Dusky Flycatcher, a Cassin's Vireo and this Black-chinned Hummingbird all on show.

Even a bathroom break at Joan's house yielded a Nashville Warbler bathing in her pond!

One of the day's big surprises was a large flock of over 100 Marbled Godwits flying overhead at Davis WWTP - I think this is the largest number ever recorded in Yolo County! Nearby at the Catfish Ponds, Great-tailed Grackles and Yellow-headed Blackbirds were making a racket while 4 Redheads swam serenely by.

On Sunday morning, Joan, Laura, Roger and I were unsuccessful in relocating the Plumbeous Vireo along Putah Creek, although plenty of other migrants were on show including a probable Gray Flycatcher and Chipping Sparrow. Surreal moment of the morning was hearing two Western Screech-Owls calling in broad daylight, apparently in response to gobbling Turkeys! Cliff Swallows were again making their homes in holes under the Pedrick Road Bridge.

A return visit to the Yolo Wildlife Area revealed a very different selection of birds from the day before, including 3 smart Blue-winged Teal, flyover Whimbrel and White-fronted Geese, 2 Long-billed Curlew and 60+ Semipalmated Plovers. With one or two exceptions I managed to clean up on spring migrants this weekend, which is just as well as I'm off to Australia on Thursday!

Yolo moonrise

Empids galore

Saturday morning looked cold and rainy, and after a late night of bellydancing (don't ask) I decided to have a lie-in. That all changed when Joan called about a Dusky Flycatcher (a new county bird for me) found by Jon King at the Wood Duck Ponds, along with a suite of more common migrants. By the time we arrived, the whole area was very quiet. In the tree where Jon had previously seen Dusky and Pacific-slope Flycatcher, we heard a 'whit' and watched an Empid zip out of sight. The eye-ring was narrow and the bird lacked greenish tones - surely this had to be the Dusky? However, over the next hour, we noted several troubling features. The bill looked relatively long and narrow, and the entire base of the bill was orange except for the sharply demarcated black tip. The bird was waving its tail frequently, including several downward dips. After seeing an unequivocal (and very different looking) Dusky Flycatcher later in the day (see below), and perusing images in the field guides and on the web, we decided this bird was actually a Gray Flycatcher - a California tick for me! Here are some photos of the bird illustrating its bill shape and pattern, and the overall grayish plumage tones (lacking any green or yellow).

This Dusky Flycatcher at Willowbank Ditch (my second Empid county tick of the day!) posed well for the camera. It was also heard to 'whit', but the tail motion was different - it frequently cocked its tail, but never dipped it below its resting position. Compared with the above bird. note the darker grey plumage, yellow-tinged belly and shorter, stouter, all-dark bill.

On Sunday morning this Empid popped into view for a minute or two along Putah Creek, giving me time to take a couple of poor photographs. It gave a single 'whit', but was not seen to flick its tail. The underside of the bill appeared to be primarily orange, and the bill shape relatively long and narrow, leading me to believe that this bird is also a Gray Flycatcher. However, views were too brief for me to be sure - any opinions on these photographs are most welcome!

For comparison, you can see shots of Friday's Hammond's Flycatcher here and here.

North Davis migrant bonanza

I decided to shake off last night's birthday-induced hangover with a birding jaunt in NE Davis. The migration season so far had been frankly uninspiring for me, but all that was about to change...

On arriving I was greeted with a lingering Red-breasted Nuthatch and these Pine Siskins.

The Western Kingbirds were making a lot of noise...

as was (unfortunately) this singing male Brown-headed Cowbird.

At about 8am the migrant activity started to pick up - a few Pacific-slope Flycatchers, a flyover Lazuli Bunting, numerous Wilson's Warblers and a hybrid male Hermit x Townsend's Warbler all put in an appearance. Steve Hampton arrived at the peak of activity and we found the morning's star bird - a Hammond's Flycatcher. The bird was mobile and tricky to photograph, but lingered in the area for at least an hour.

Over the next hour we almost cleaned up on spring migrants: Black-throated Gray, Townsend's, Wilson's, Orange-crowned, Nashville, Yellow-rumped and an early Yellow Warbler were all on show, plus Warbling Vireo, Black-headed Grosbeak, Bullock's Oriole and Chipping Sparrow. Most colourful bird of the morning had to be this male Western Tanager - after months of not seeing one - you forget how stunning they are!

PLUMBEOUS VIREO!

Andy Engilis found this county mega this morning along Putah Creek. Four hours later Joan Humphrey and I relocated the bird a couple of hundred metres west of the original location in a large oak. We had very good views of the bird, noting the overall grey plumage tones, with no hint of green in the mantle or the flanks. Unfortunately, I only managed one very poor photograph, with the rear half of the bird obscured behind a leaf. I doubt this photo shows enough to clinch the ID, but have posted it for posterity anyway. Here's the original, undoctored photo...

... and here I've adjusted the midtones to show a little more of the plumage tones and face pattern.

Also present here were my first of season Black-chinned Hummingbird and Hermit Warbler, along with a few Black-throated Gray Warblers. Several Pacific Clubtails were hanging out along the path...

... and this Western Gray Squirrel stayed put long enough for me to get a photo.

Happy birthday to me

You're how old????

Today Joan, Roger and I went to explore Fremont Weir, a lovely riparian tract on the eastern border of Yolo county. Many of the expected migrants were on show, along with my first of season Blue Grosbeak and Warbling Vireo. Highlight was a dapper summer-plumaged Vesper Sparrow at the roadside. Tonight we're heading to the Plainfield Station, an out of town bar complete with pickled pigs' feet as a bar snack and 'erotic' video games - should be a fun evening!

Myrtle Warbler

The north wind yet again hampered my morning search for migrants, so I decided to spend some time with the Yellow-rumped Warbler flock in the UCD Arboretum. Many of the birds, including this splendid male Myrtle Warbler, had acquired full breeding plumage (for comparison, shots of a male Audubon's Warbler in my yard can be found here).

Hooded Oriole grudge match

And so back to birding... Spring migration is now in full swing, with Wilson's Warbler and Bullock's Oriole both showing up in my yard yesterday. After hearing that Hooded Orioles were showing up in the Central Valley, I decided to do the hour-long bike ride over to Winters to check up on some palms just over the county line where the birds nested last year (in spite of multiple visits to the site last year, the birds stubbornly refused to make it over the border and on to my county list). I stopped at Putah Creek Park en route to pick up my first Nashville Warbler and singing Black-headed Grosbeaks of the year.

Over the course of a very dull three-hour vigil, I saw no sign of the female and encountered the male perhaps five or six times - this bird was seriously camera-shy! The monotony was eased a little by my first of season Pacific-slope Flycatcher and Western Tanager. Finally, in the sweltering mid-day heat, the bird flew over my head and into Yolo county airspace to become my 239th county bird. I wasted no time in heading to the Putah Creek Cafe for a well-earned breakfast.

Earlier in the week I met up with Betty Berteaux to practise digiscoping the assorted feral geese at North Davis Pond. This Mockingbird posed obligingly on top of a lamp-post...

... until he was rudely displaced by this Yellow-billed Magpie.

Trips to the Woodland sewer ponds and City of Davis Wetlands produced my first of season Whimbrel, Clark's Grebe and a lingering (injured?) White-fronted Goose. At Joan's house, a pair of Cooper's Hawks are constructing a (very obscured) nest.

Picnic Day

Each spring the university celebrates its agricultural roots with Picnic Day: the whole campus is over-run with events including goat-milking, sheepdog trials and dachshund racing! Here are some highlights from the parade and canine events.

Home from home

Got milk?

The Rolls Royce of tractors

My money's on the penguin...

Mardi Gras Davis style

Good catching skills....

... but not as good as this!

The nail-biting excitement of Dachshund racing

Too much work...

... has kept me from attempting any serious birding recently, and the rare occasions I have got out have been hampered by strong winds (and an ensuing lack of migrant activity). The amount of time I've spent chained to the desk did at least allow me to add Blue-gray Gnatcatcher to my office list. Here's a more typical view from my office:

Swainson's Hawks are back in, and seemingly everywhere at the moment.

The heron rookery in the Arboretum is also in full swing.

Several birds were gathering nesting material, which seems like a somewhat futile task in today's howling wind!

Colorado

Having recently seen his 700th species in the US, Marcel is rapidly running out of new birds to see! One bird he had yet to catch up with was Gunnison Sage-Grouse, subtly different from Greater Sage-Grouse and only recently recognized as a distinct species. This bird has a very restricted range in western Colorado, and having never visited this state I was only too happy to join him for two days of Rocky Mountain birding.

Things got off to a great start with stunning views of a roosting Eastern Screech-Owl in the Denver suburbs. Top marks for camouflage!

Something's attracted its attention...

Note the distinctive pale green bill and fine horizontal barring on the front, which separate it from Western Screech-Owl (for comparion, see pictures here and here).

We spent the rest of the afternoon searching for an uncooperative Three-toed Woodpecker in Reynolds Park - we heard the damn thing drumming several times, but it never showed! This little beauty was a good consolation prize - answers on a postcard please....

... yep, it's a Williamson's Sapsucker!

Next morning we were up horribly early to arrive at the Gunnison Sage-Grouse lek before dawn. New regulations require that birders remain inside their cars while viewing the lek. This, and the distance to the birds, makes digiscoping very difficult, but at least we stayed relatively warm! This was the best of a bad bunch of shots, which at least illustrates the relatively large head plumes compared with Greater Sage-Grouse. A small herd of Pronghorn wandered into the lek - looks like a couple of them are enjoying the show!

A wrong turn prevented us from trying another Three-toed Woodpecker site, but birds seen driving along included my second ever Gray Jay. Next stop was Guanella Pass, billed in the Colorado birding guide as "probably the easiest place in the world to see winter-plumaged White-tailed Ptarmigan". Easy, that is, if the road isn't closed by snowdrift 4 miles shy of the summit! We decided instead to try our luck at nearby Loveland Pass.

We hiked up along the Continental Divide taking in some classic Rocky Mountain scenery (here's Marcel for scale).

The view from the summit was tremendous (NB, large file size) ...

... but it was bloody windy!

Wot no Ptarmigans?

We returned from our hike without a single Ptarmigan sighting - this is rapidly becoming my nemesis bird! A very pretty drive took us to Allenspark, where hundreds of Rosy-finches of three species have been coming to feeders. Needless to say, we saw not a single Rosy-Finch! Instead we enjoyed great views of Cassin's Finch, Pine Siskin, Mountain and Black-capped Chickadees, and Dark-eyed Juncos of numerous races. Here's a Slate-colored...

... an Oregon...

and a camera-shy Pink-sided.

There was a fine Gray-headed Junco present too, but he successfully eluded my camera. An unexpected visitor to the feeders was this Common Grackle, obviously in territorial mood.

These birds are a veritable kaleidoscope of colour in good light.

In fading light we took a mad dash around Boulder in search of Bohemian Waxwings, and at the eleventh hour found this small flock.

Rocky Mountain sunset.

Pacific Golden Plovers and Painted Ladies

Today we christened Joan's new Kowa with a visit to Woodland Wastewater Ponds, in search of a reported Pacific Golden Plover. There are seriously large numbers of Dunlin here!

We were pleasantly surprised to find three different Pacific Goldies among the Black-bellied Plovers, two just starting to moult into summer plumage and a third much more advanced bird.

Bird one:

Bird two:

Bird three:

It was a hot, still morning, and we saw our first Western Kingbird of the year along with numerous displaying Swainson's Hawks.

It's not often that birds as smart as Pacific Golden Plover get eclipsed by bugs, but today's highlight was a spectacular migration of Painted Lady butterflies over Davis. Around lunchtime I estimated they were flying over my house at a rate of 40 per minute! I took these shots outside my office on campus.

Excuse my ignorance, but I didn't have a butterfly guide to hand - can anyone tell me the identity of this skipper sp?

There's currently much excitement in the UK over the discovery of a mega-rare Belted Kingfisher in the land-locked county of Staffordshire of all places. Seems strange that if I was there, I'd doubtless be rushing off in hot pursuit, when I sometimes see them from my office window here...

Signs of Spring

Not much to report this week - sometimes, work just has to take precedence! On our local playing fields, this flock of American Pipits were coming into breeding plumage - you can see why us Brits call them Buff-bellied Pipits!

Even closer to home, this Yellow-rumped Warbler was singing in my backyard this morning.