Crabs for dinner – Yellow-crowned Night-Heron

Posted on July 25, 2013 by Gary Nunn

[All photographs copyright, Gary Nunn 2013] – The Yellow-crowned Night-Heron Nyctanassa violacea occurs in very small numbers in San Diego County at only a few favored locations near the coast. Breeding does occur but the species remains a rare waterbird in the county. I was lucky enough to bump into this fine looking adult feeding on crabs along the San Diego River flood control channel immediately south of Seaworld. As is usual for this species, this individual was tame and sauntered right by me. In a matter of a few minutes it had captured numerous crabs and deftly swallowed them. I was quite shocked at the size of crabs it could handily gulp down! The bird then flew off directly to the east end of Seaworld where it disappeared behind larger trees. I think there is a good chance it was returning to a nest site in Seaworld to feed offspring. Always a good find and a fun species to watch in action!

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron – San Diego River flood control channel, Mission Bay, San Diego 23 July 2013

Asian vagrant in Imperial Beach – Lesser Sand-Plover

Posted on July 19, 2013 by Gary Nunn

[All photographs copyright, Gary Nunn 2013] – Within the last couple of days here in San Diego County the shorebird numbers shifted significantly higher, five or ten fold I would say – quite dramatic! But bigger news was emerging of a sighting, by bird surveyor Matt Sadowski, of a Lesser Sand-Plover Charadrius mongolus on the private South Bay Salt Works. Luckily it was relocated later in the day by Lea Squires at the north terminus of 7th St., Imperial Beach, a publicly accessible area, where many of us enjoyed close views of this colorful Asian vagrant. This is the first time Lesser Sand-Plover has been recorded in San Diego County.

Lesser Sand-Plover male alternate – 7th St., Imperial Beach, San Diego County 19 July 2013

Lesser Sand-Plover (right) and Semipalmated Plover (left) – 7th St., Imperial Beach, San Diego County 19 July 2013

Lesser Sand-Plover male alternate – 7th St., Imperial Beach, San Diego County 19 July 2013

This male individual in alternate plumage would appear to be the expected northeastern Siberian form C. m. stegmanni, showing off a white forehead patch bisected by a vertical black line, which is a casual visitor to the West Coast. A much sought after rarity in California, Lesser Sand-Plover has been found on only eleven occasions previously here in the state. The closest record to San Diego County came from immediately north of here in Orange County in 2011. Lucky for us the 12th record at last pushed on a little further south!

Yellow-headed Amazons in Imperial Beach

Posted on July 16, 2013 by Gary Nunn

[All photographs copyright, Gary Nunn 2013] – Driving out of (North) 7th Street in Imperial Beach this evening, I quickly pulled the car over to the curb when a magnificent pair of Yellow-headed Amazon Amazona oratrix came flying down the street right at me! Close views of parrots, wild or introduced, are always exciting and these birds were no exception. I hopped out, camera in hand, and ran back down the street. Larger in size than Lilac-crowned and Red-crowned Parrots, and stunning looking in canary yellow head plumage, it was easy to see why the pet trade had decimated their wild populations in Mexico in recent decades. Now massively reduced in numbers a population estimate, somewhat dated now from 1994, puts them at around only 7000 individuals left in the wild found in Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala. BirdLife International considers this species Endangered because of the precipitous population decline.

Yellow-headed Amazon – 7th St., Imperial Beach, California 16 July 2013

The pair of Yellow-headed Amazon sat together on the overhead line for a few minutes before disappearing into the greenery of a medium size and densely crowned pine tree found in a front yard on 7th Street. The resident with the pine tree in her front yard actually came out of her house and told me that the Yellow-headed Amazons had been coming to her pine tree for years. The bed of chewed up small pine cones under the tree evidenced her statement! She also mentioned there were more of them in past years, 4-6 birds sometimes appearing. But only two individuals came now, and almost every day at the same time! As I walked back to my car another resident of 7th St., watering his front yard nearby, smiled and told me more stories about the parrots. Evidently these birds are well regarded by the local residents of Imperial Beach!

Exotic brood parasite alert – Pin-tailed Whydah

Posted on July 6, 2013 by Gary Nunn

[All photographs copyright, Gary Nunn 2013] – I checked out several locations in the Tijuana River Valley Regional Park today including a long look around the Community Gardens at Hollister St and Sunset Ave. There seemed an endless number of Song Sparrow and House Finch but in among the cacophony of calls I heard something distinctly different. After some stalking around the allotments, distracted by some good looking vegetables, I finally located the calling bird. I was surprised to find a female Pin-tailed Whydah Vidua macroura, the first time I have seen this introduced cage-bird exotic in San Diego County. I recall this species being reported in Orange County, to our north, and searching the SDBIRDS archive reveals one or two other reports in recent years here in San Diego County. This well marked individual, showing off a bright pink bill and striped head pattern, seemed to behave wild enough and did not appear to have any feather damage or aviculture leg bands.

Pin-tailed Whydah female, Tijuana River Valley Community Gardens, San Diego 06 July 2013

The real mystery is where did this bird come from? It would be easy to explain it as a recent escape, but reports of this African species are definitely on the increase in Southern California. Surely they cannot all be escaped cage birds? Since the Pin-tailed Whydah is an obligate brood parasite, laying 2-4 eggs at a time in other species nests, if they are breeding around here what host species are they parasitising? In a recent Birding magazine interview, Kimball Garrett suggested the introduced exotic Nutmeg Mannikin Lonchura punctulata could be the host species here in Southern California. Numbers of the Nutmeg Mannikin are increasing quite dramatically at various localities around San Diego and this species is from the same family as the Whydah’s natural estrildine finch hosts back home in Africa.

Alone in the desert – male Bronzed Cowbird

Posted on May 21, 2013 by Gary Nunn

[All photographs copyright, Gary Nunn 2013] – This male Bronzed Cowbird Molothrus aeneus was discovered by Paul Lehman and Barbara Carlson at the RoadRunner Resort in Borrego Springs on 19 May 2013. Found during the heat of the day, it was seen actively displaying on the ground to other nearby species of Icteridae. A female Bronzed Cowbird was not seen at the time of discovery of this fine looking male, and one has not been seen subsequently. This would appear to be a lone extralimital male that has ventured some distance beyond the species localized distribution in the Imperial Valley, California and southern Arizona. This species can be shy and secretive, often slipping away unnoticed in well wooded yards and thick riparian areas. Finding a displaying male is the best opportunity to study this handsome looking icterid! I watched this male puffing itself up and vibrating its wings, as it followed after nearby birds. Perhaps the female Brown-headed Cowbird, the object of his affection, was not quite the match because when really excited males will also jump into the air fluttering down noisily.

Bronzed Cowbird male – Roadrunner Resort, Borrego Springs, California 21 May 2013

Bronzed Cowbird is very rare in San Diego County with few recent records, the last in 2007 and also found in Borrego Springs. Bronzed Cowbird is considered a Category A rarity by San Diego Field Ornithologists.

Unusual coastal visitor – Townsend’s Solitaire

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Gary Nunn

[All photographs copyright, Gary Nunn 2013] – Amid a strong showing of spring migrants this morning at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery I found this fairly cooperative Townsend’s Solitaire Myadestes townsendi happily feeding in a fruiting tree. I was more surprised when it reappeared later hovering under a dripping faucet trying to obtain some water! It did not allow too close an approach and quickly sailed off on its large wings and long tail, almost cuckoo like, into a larger pine tree. I was quite shocked by how surprisingly large this species looked when you get close enough. Usually I see this bird flying by at a distance, or I am peering up at it in the top of a mountain top fir tree. Never the best views! So it was great to study one in detail quietly perched in front of me! Townsend’s Solitaire is a quite rare spring migrant along the coast of San Diego County, with perhaps one or two records each year.

Townsend’s Solitaire – Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, Point Loma, San Diego 10 May 2013

Escaped cagebirds on the increase – Point Loma

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Gary Nunn

[All photographs copyright, Gary Nunn 2013] – I have been seeing a lot of introduced or escaped birds lately around San Diego. Reported earlier this year in Point Loma, both at the residence of Sara and Keith Mayers and in February near Famosa Slough, I just happened upon this European Goldfinch Carduelis carduelis while getting into my car on Silver Gate Ave. I heard a twinkling goldfinch song, not quite right for our native species, and, sure enough, here was an iconic bird from my childhood in England singing from a small maple tree right over my car! The goldfinch eventually moved up to a higher tree perch and continued calling before flying off further away out of sight. This bird is of the nominate carduelis group of forms found throughout the Western Palaearctic, I think the most popular form kept in captivity.

European Goldfinch – Silver Gate Ave neighborhood, Point Loma, San Diego 07 May 2013

Just the other day I again heard the giveaway gurgling fluty call of a bulbul in the southeast corner of Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery. Sure enough it appears to be the same White-eared Bulbul Pycnonotus leucotis that I ran into back here last year in June. Perhaps it does not make its way up to the cemetery very often, but I did also see a report in eBird from this location recently of this species! Easily recognized by its black-and-white head pattern, long tail and yellow undertail coverts, this bird is banded (blue left leg) and the call is loud and sounds typically like members of this genus of bulbul. This species originates from the Middle East and Asia with a widespread range extending from Kuwait through India and Pakistan. This individual is rather shy but I did obtain some photographs at a distance shown below.

White-eared Bulbul – Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, Point Loma, San Diego 01 May 2013

Migrants in flight (part I) – Mount Soledad, La Jolla

Posted on May 3, 2013 by Gary Nunn

[All photographs copyright, Gary Nunn 2013] – I made an early stop at Mount Soledad this morning to check out what migrants might be making their way over this coastal La Jolla peak. The Santa Ana winds were mild but the temperature sure was climbing quickly! There were not too many birds but the diversity of species was good. I have been trying to improve my “birds-in-flight” (BIF) photography techniques and this site is a real training ground. Small passerines mostly appear in flight from the south, often flying on a beeline, and rapidly pass by heading northwards. Using an effective telephoto lens length of 640 mm to find small moving objects is challenging, not to mention hoping that the Canon 7D autofocus locks onto the subject! I managed to catch a reasonable number of species in flight shown below. Needless to say there were a few mystery birds that got away. One of the challenges of this genre of bird photography is that there is no time to look at the birds with binoculars! However the 640 mm telephoto lens gives a magnification of about 12X looking through the camera viewfinder. So if the camera can snap on to focus then you get a great look at the bird!

Lazuli Bunting – Mount Soledad, La Jolla 03 May 2013

Phainopepla – Mount Soledad, La Jolla 03 May 2013

Western Tanager – Mount Soledad, La Jolla 03 May 2013

Western Wood-Pewee – Mount Soledad, La Jolla 03 May 2013

Vaux’s Swift – Mount Soledad, La Jolla 03 May 2013

White-throated Swift – Mount Soledad, La Jolla 03 May 2013

On the move – Broad-winged Hawks in the TRV

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Gary Nunn

[All photographs copyright, Gary Nunn 2013] – I visited the Dairy Mart Ponds at lunch time today and ran into visiting birder Jennifer Larson from Sierra Vista, Arizona. Together we checked out the two viewpoints over the main pond although not finding many birds. While we were walking back to the parking area I spotted two medium sized hawks, beating along against the wind, coming straight towards us and at low height. My first impression, looking at the leading bird, was they might be Broad-winged Hawk Buteo platypterus. As they came by I managed to come to my senses and hoist the camera for some flight shots, just catching the second bird! I have been meaning to program a custom function button on my camera body to a setting where images are shot one-stop over-exposed – how I wish I had done that earlier now! The slightly under-exposed images show a well marked light colored first-cycle Broad-winged Hawk. The bird still retains all its very worn, tattered in places, juvenile flight feathers although perhaps molt has begun with one inner primary missing on the left wing. The first and second images below are identical but the second has brightness and contrast adjusted. The two birds appeared pretty much identical to me although I focused in on the second one as it lagged behind the leader.

Broad-winged Hawk first-cycle – Dairy Mart Ponds, Tijuana River Valley, San Diego 30 Apr 2013

Spring records of Broad-winged Hawk in San Diego County seem to be much rarer than fall records, although even the latter have fallen off in number in recent years based on the San Diego County Bird Atlas (Unitt, 2004). Only three spring records are documented in the bird atlas, all in April and with two late in the month, so this record would seem to fit quite well in this pattern of occurrence. San Diego Field Ornithologists considers this species to be a Category B rarity in the county.

Tail dipping Gray Flycatcher – Point Loma

Posted on April 19, 2013 by Gary Nunn

[All photographs copyright, Gary Nunn 2013] – I heard the “whit” sound as soon as I stepped out of my vehicle at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery this morning. Sure enough one of my favorite flycatchers, a Gray Flycatcher Empidonax wrightii, was actively calling from low perches such as the grave markers and a temporary plastic fence. It slowly moved about the cemetery grounds swooping down and resting on the lawn for a few seconds each time it caught an insect. Apart from the physical characteristics, rounded head, large strong bicolored bill, and voice, a soft but quite loud “whit” call, the behavior of this bird immediately reveals its identity. Unique among the Empidonax species it repeatedly dips its tail in the downward direction only. Since the vast majority of birds that move their tails flick them upwards this behavior is easily noticed, and even appears a bit odd! The tail dipping is quite slow too, almost pendulum like. Like other individuals I have encountered in the past, this bird allowed close approach. I would say it is almost tame compared to its high energy congeners! The close looks allowed some nice opportunities for photographs.

Gray Flycatcher – Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, Point Loma, San Diego 19 Apr 2013

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