November 16, 2005
Parkland birding in SoCal
As soon as we could bear to get up after yesterday's pelagic, we motored down to Banning Park in LA in search of another cluster of oddball sightings. We quickly connected with this smart Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.
Shortly after, Marcel spotted our main target bird here, a Thick-billed Kingbird. The bird vanished, and I spotted a kingbird perched further down on the same wire, but the bill seemed too small for Thick-billed. In a classic case of the '2 bird theory' actually being true, this second bird turned into a Cassin's Kingbird, and was later seen chasing (and being chased by) the Thick-billed! I had only seen Thick-billed Kingbird once prior to this, and this bird gave fantastic views as it perched...
preened....
... and stretched.
Just look at the bill on this thing!
Many Monarch butterflies were around (perhaps they winter here?), including this confiding individual.
Our next stop was Waller Park in Santa Maria, in search of an elusive Wood Thrush (and true to form, it did elude us). Our compensation was great looks at a female Varied Thrush...
... and several foraging Western Gray Squirrels (much more approachable here than around Davis).
The neighbouring duck pond held a lost Ross's Goose and Aleutian Goose.
This young Black-crowned Night-Heron wasn't shy either.
