Coyote Point, Near SFO

Mike had an hour to spare before flying back to NJ, so he stopped at Coyote Point a few exits away the San Francisco airport. Here's a few more waterfowl.


Surf Scooters


Horned Grebe


Female Greater Scaup

Lesser Scaups

Mike was in Palo Alto and San Francisco this past week. It was sunny in NJ and rainy in CA for a change. Mike is still playing with the Lytro camera. The seagull was nice enough to line up with the scaups on the third photo. However, the DSLR with the 500mm lens still gets more detail. It's nice to be able to refocus afterwards though. Click on the sea gull and then the ducks to see it work.

The DSLR just can't focus on all three ducks at the same time.


Below are some photos of a great blue heron. The first is focusable with the lytro. The second is in focus already.

The Last of the California Photos

Osprey carrying a fish

Say's Phoebe

Black Phoebe

California Towhee

Bushtit

White-tailed Kite

White-tailed Kite



Another bird from California. This time from Ballona Creek in Marina del Rey.

Orange Bishop

Orange Bishop


We went out to Los Angeles to visit our daughter and got some birding in as well. Orange Bishops had been reported in the Sepuleveda Dam area and we were lucky enough to find one.

Bushtit

BushtitOne more from San Diego

Audubon's Warbler from San Diego

Audubon's WarblerOne more from San Diego: An Audobon's Warbler. This is a subspecies of the yellow rumped warbler or a distinct species depending upon who you talk to.

Summer Tanager

Summer Tanager
Frequent readers of this blog will be familiar with the story. Mike had a business trip, this time to San Diego, and got up early to go birding before his meeting. With a little advance planning and internet search, he found a location where an interesting bird had been spotted recently. This time, the bird was a summer tanager.

A special thanks to SDBIRDS and Wendy of San Diego for describing the location of this bird.

Male Common Goldeneye trying to get the attention of a female

Mike returned to the area of the Palo Alto Baylands where he saw the female common goldeneye a few days prior. This time, he also saw a male trying to get the females attention.






It worked for a while, but soon another male goldeneye arrived. They got into a dispute over the female. Eventually, a canvasback duck came over and chased the males away and he pursued the female for a while.



At the end, everyone was more interested in food.

Canvasback and Lesser Scaup from Baylands Preserve, Palo Alto

Canvasback


Lesser Scaup

On the way to the airport, Mike stopped one more time at the Baylands in Palo Alto. It was a little rainy, but the sun came out a few times.

Birding on Sand Hill Road In Palo Alto

Western Bluebird



Black Pheobe


Red-tailed Hawk

Mike had a little extra time after his conference and went birding on Sand Hill Road in Palo Alto, CA. While none of these photos are worth a million dollars, he thinks the new camera was a good investment. There are supposed to be vultures on Sand Hill Road, but he only saw a hawk.

Baylands Nature Preserve: Palo Alto, California

Female Common Goldeneye


Long-billed Curlew


Northern Shoveler


American Avocet


Another American Avocet

Mike took a business trip to Silicon Valley and had time to stop at the Baylands Nature Preserve in Palo Alto. The highlight was a Common Goldeneye. We've seen them occasionally in NJ and once on Lake Nelson but never got a good photo before. A better camera helps but there's nothing like sunlight.

Yellow-rumped warbler: Veteran's Park in Sylmar, CA

Williamson’s Sapsucker: Veterans Memorial Park, Sylmar, CA

We like when there are clear directions to see a rare bird. We use BirdsEye on the iPad that collects information from ebird. When we were in LA, there was a report of a Williamson's Sapsucker, so with a bit of searching on the internet we found these directions:

The Williamson's Sapsucker was present late this afternoon at Veteran's Memorial Park in Sylmar. It spent a lot of time on the fourth pine tree south/east of lamppost #20.

Now, to be honest, we saw it on the first and fifth pine tree, but it was nice to have such clear directions. It was a really pretty bird to see and shows a bit more detail and color than our yellow-bellied sapsuckers.

Nuttall's woodpeckers

We also saw a Nuttall's woodpecker at Veteran's Memorial Park in Sylmar, CA. The top two are of a male, the bottom is a female. Although it looks a bit like a downy woodpecker, it's a little larger and there is more red on the head.

Cedar Waxwings: Lacy Park in Pasadena

We are pretty happy with some prior cedar waxwing photos we've taken in NJ, but these with the berries we like just as much if not more. We had never actually observed the waxwings eating berries like we've read they do until we were in CA. It was a very large flock, and they were having what seemed to be a really good time with an abundance of berries.

Townsend's warbler: Lacy Park, Pasadena

While out in Los Angeles, we did have some time for birds. Here's a Townsend's warbler from Lacy Park in Pasadena. In the top photo, it's eating an insect.