Springtime eastern vagrant collection in Point Loma

Posted on May 30, 2015 by Gary Nunn

[All photographs copyright, Gary Nunn 2015] – Things were going pretty slow at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery this morning until I reached the southeast corner. This part of the cemetery has delivered many rare birds and my ears pricked up when I heard a Chestnut-sided Warbler Setophaga pensylvanica singing from the far corner! I quickly located it as it moved around inside a twiggy Myoporum bush. I only managed a few photographs as it peered out and, after returning with my 500 mm lens, could not refind it. I continued working around the large evergreen Ficus type trees when suddenly out hopped a Yellow-throated Vireo Vireo flavifrons right in front of me! There was no missing this colorful vireo which traveled below the canopy through a few trees before being lost northwards. I’ve been searching for this vireo species for a long time here in San Diego and these days nothing beats a self-found new county bird!

While photographing the vireo my attention was drawn to a loud “bip” or “kip” call in the same tree as the Yellow-throated Vireo. It basically sounded like a louder and faster repeated version of a Hammond’s Flycatcher. I was shocked to see the call coming from a “Traill’s” type flycatcher flitting around madly under the canopy of the Ficus tree! Other birders came over and listened to the flycatcher above our heads. The analysis of recordings of the calls will be the subject of a follow up blog post.

I did make a late afternoon return visit but could only add an Indigo Bunting Passerina cyanea to the eastern vagrant mix! Not a bad haul for one day in spring migration at the cemetery!

Yellow-throated Vireo – Point Loma, San Diego County, California 30 May 2015 (© Gary Nunn)

Chestnut-sided Warbler – Point Loma, San Diego County, California 30 May 2015 (© Gary Nunn)

Indigo Bunting – Point Loma, San Diego County, California 30 May 2015 (© Gary Nunn)

Tail flicking Orchard Oriole in Point Loma

Posted on May 19, 2015 by Gary Nunn

[All photographs copyright, Gary Nunn 2015] – Late afternoon on 18 May 2015 I caught sight of this colorful small passerine flying overhead into Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery from the east fence line. By it’s size and color, as it flew overhead, I thought it might be a Western Tanager. But as it went over me the tail looked kind of short and thin, not so lobed like a tanager, and the bill was small and sharply pointed. Luckily it landed on a nearby pine tree snag and showed quite well. A tiny oriole! I managed to keep up with it in the next eucalyptus tree and watched it for a few minutes. It’s diminuitive size, short squared-off tail, vibrant yellow coloration, nice white contrasty wing-bars, and the peculiar tail flicking to the side (!) all point to this being a female Orchard Oriole Icterus spurius. I was not familiar with the tail flicking behavior but it can be seen in the fourth photograph below where it moves its tail to the left! I researched the tail flicking behavior a bit more and found some excellent information in Jon Dunn’s summary of immature oriole identification in FIELD NOTES at the LAAS website. Apparently the tail flicking to the side is a characteristic of Orchard Oriole and the behavior is not found in other species such as the Hooded Oriole.

Orchard Oriole female – Point Loma, San Diego County, California 18 May 2015

Nemesis county seabird – Laysan Albatross in San Diego

Posted on May 16, 2015 by Gary Nunn

[All photographs copyright, Gary Nunn 2015] – It took us nearly a whole day at sea earnestly searching, but suddenly, at 4:22 pm on 16 May 2015, there it was, a Laysan Albatross Phoebastria immutabilis in San Diego County waters! I had almost given up hope, and we were well into the return leg back to San Diego, when a Black-footed Albatross appeared out of nowhere about eight miles from shore. Then a second Black-footed and suddenly in came the Laysan Albatross right under our noses. Cameras whirred and people were yelling. A series of photographs below of this fantastic looking seabird.

Laysan Albatross – San Diego County waters, California 16 May 2015

Rose-breasted Grosbeak in song – Point Loma

Posted on May 13, 2015 by Gary Nunn

[All photographs copyright, Gary Nunn 2015] – Black-headed Grosbeaks travel through San Diego County on migration quite early in the year and I have only seen one here on the coast in recent days. So a grosbeak in full song at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, Point Loma today 13 May 2015 caught my attention as worth investigating. After locating the eucalyptus tree it was singing from, and carefully searching the canopy, I eventually spied this first summer male Rose-breasted Grosbeak Pheucticis ludovicianus singing away heartily. It moved off pretty quickly but I caught up with it a couple more times again by detecting the song or call. To my ear the “spik” call of Rose-breasted Grosbeak sounds slightly more piercing, or squeaky, compared to the call of Black-headed Grosbeak. This individual appears to be a second year (SY) male retaining lots of worn looking very faded brown wing feathers. The contrasting greater secondary coverts and one or two tertials on each wing are freshly replaced looking richly black with tidy white spotted tips.

Rose-breasted Grosbeak – Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, Point Loma, San Diego County, California 13 May 2015

Eastern gem – male Hooded Warbler in Point Loma

Posted on May 12, 2015 by Gary Nunn

[All photographs copyright, Gary Nunn 2015] – As I walked around the fence line of the southeast section of Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery this morning, 12 May 2015, there was no mistaking the song of this colorful eastern warbler. The loud “cheery-cheery-cheer-swip” coming from deep in the bushes could only be a male Hooded Warbler Setophaga citrina. I quickly sat down on the grassy bank and played some song recordings and within a couple of minutes out popped this stunning colorful male hopping around and singing beside me. This Hooded Warbler was more cooperative than the one I found last year here at the cemetery, 01 May 2014, which showed for a few seconds before burying itself in the bushes. Photographed the nemesis bird at last! It moved off quickly back deeper in the bushes but continued loudly singing revealing its presence just outside the fence line.

San Diego Birding

Birding California and beyond with Gary Nunn

Monthly Archives: May 2015

Springtime eastern vagrant collection in Point Loma

Tail flicking Orchard Oriole in Point Loma

Nemesis county seabird – Laysan Albatross in San Diego

Rose-breasted Grosbeak in song – Point Loma

Eastern gem – male Hooded Warbler in Point Loma