I Love Birds-Bird Photography In California

So since I have a new love for birds I bought myself a book on birds from california. I'm going to start with a few and as I find them I will post the picture. It will be search and find. I can't wait to see how many birds I can find in my home town. Join the search and let me know how many you have found.

The previous bird on my page is a bushtit, which I found in a bush outside my kitchen window. I was in a park today, picture taking, and caught this Ring billed Gull. It is the latest addition to my bird watching. It's funny to find a gull at the park rather than the beach.

On my latest search for local birds, I noticed a great deal of hawks in my area. At first I was a little frustrated because I couldn't get a good close up, they would keep flying away. Finally I was able to capture this hawk in flight. I used a Nikkor zoom lens, with my D5000 camera.

The Red-tailed Hawk is commonly found through out California, as one of the birds of prey. They have a brown body and a heavy beak.
Also they have a whitish belly and a rufous tail. It was a little tricky deciding which hawk was in my picture. But after seeing the characteristics of this type of hawk, it matched with my photo.

I was on the search for my next bird driving around my local towns trying to see if there would be a new bird on the list. My husband drove me to a back road where not too many cars were traveling, when we stumbled upon this bird. It started raining and it was really cold outside. My husband told me to get out of the car and try to get as close as I could. The ground was soft and muddy, full of holes, I felt like I was walking on weak ground , hoping I wouldn't fall into any of the ground squirrels homes, I walked on. The Great Egret is a beautiful creature, it was feeding on the bugs in the mud. After capturing the bird in a photo I went back to my car to mark it off my book.

The Egret has a large yellow bill, black legs and feet, white body and long plumes

I went to my local park, called Waller and was on the search for another bird. I came across a few and will be adding more pictures soon, but this Scrub Jay was a great subject. I love how this bird seemed to be posing for the shots. A lot of the animals are tame in this park and are used to human interaction. This makes a great enviornment for photos.

The Interior west scrub jay is duller in blue color than a regular scrub jay, it also has a white supercilium and breast.
Also portions including the undertail are greyish blue. They are normally shy but this one was probably tame due to its habitat.

I was very happy to find this bird. Somedays are harder than others to find new birds. I was at my local park called Waller. I was walking around in the back woods, where other people wouldn't be walking. This little guy popped up. It's the only time I have seen this bird and I wonder how rare he is to our area.

Western Bluebird- Chestnut shoulders, upper back, deep purple blue, upper parts and throat, chestnut breast sides and flanks

Another day out looking for birds, we drove a back round near some oil feilds. Thankfully the road wasn't too busy at that time when we were driving it so that I could capture this house finch. It stood still long enough for me to take the picture before it went on its way.

House Finch Male species - brown crown, curved culmen, distinct red breast, streak belly.

I found this little guy in some brush , it was on a back road that wasn't being bothered as well as near some farms. This was as close as I could go before it flew away. I'm still trying to get a photo of an american goldfinch as soon as I do I will show you the difference in colors.

Lesser Goldfinch- Dark cap, pale wing bars and primary bases, olive back with darker scapulars, the beak is a more yellow to brown color, the american finch has an orange beak.

It was difficult for me to spot this bird, it blended in so well with the brush. I was happy to have gotten this shot since a few minutes later I was bothered by a couple of high school kids on bikes yelling some not so nice words and almost ran me over. Not everyone is a nature lover, but I sure enjoy spotting something I have never before seen.

Dark-Eyed Junco- variable dark upperparts, whitish underparts, black,gray or brown head and breast. White outer tail feathers in flight.

This American Crow I found in a local park, although I spot them often as I drive through my home town. He has a little nut in his mouth that he or she had found. I usually find them in pairs this one at the time was all alone, made for a perfect photo oppurtunity.

American Crow- Black overall, with metallic bluish-violet gloss - most frequent bird call is " Caawww, caww".

These Great-Tailed Grackle's seem to be all over a park that I tend to find a lot of my birds. I love how he sitts on the fence long enough for me to get this great shot. I see their nests in the middle of the pond along the marshy areas. I have taken also a picture of a female great-tailed grackle, i'll post pictures of her next.

Great-Tailed Grackle- Large grackle with very long, keel-shaped tail, golden-yellow eyes male iridescent black purple sheen on head,back and underparts.

Taking a picture of the American Kestrel was not very easy to capture. Every time I got close to it, it would take off and fly away. I tried taking a picture while it was flying and of course it came out blurry, they are very fast fliers. I was in my car once again and was able to get this while it was off gaurd, the next second as we had gotten closer it flew away.

American Kestrel- Russet back and tail, two black stripes on white face.

It was difficult for me to classify which flicker this little guy was. It could either be a Northern Flicker or a Gilded Flicker. They have a lot of similarities. The orange mark around it's eye and the feathering made me a little confused.

Northern Flicker- Brown, barred back, cream underparts with black spotting, black crescent bib, red moustachial stripe on male, females lack that feature.

The White Pelican I spotted in a local park, it's in a man made pond. It was a strange place to find a pelican. I walked down in the slippery mud. I was about ten feet away from these guys, I didn't want to get any closer afraid of being atacked by these magnificent creatures. That and there were several types of sea birds that were just as large as these pelicans floating next to them. I will post pictures of those next time.

American White Pelican- One of the largest and heaviest american birds. Length 62"- wing span 108" White body, orange bill, black and white wings.

I found this Turkey Vulture next to a man made pond, there were more than one of these guys floating around. Ironicly it was eating a dead bird.
They stayed around long enough for me to get this photo, as soon as I got too close they took off. One of them even stared at me. I love how each bird has their own personality, each time I come across a new one they each put on a different show.

Turkey Vulture- two-toned wings, adults have a red head, white bill and brown legs, a juvenile's head and bill are dark and legs paler.

It took me some time to classify this bird. I wrote to a florida photographer who helped me identify it. The bird was with other Cormorants, but stood out from the rest. It was bigger and had characteristics of being a juvenile. It was a treat to see such a rare bird to california.

Great Cormorant- Brown tinge, Large, short tailed, lemon yellow throat pouch, broadly bordered white feathering

As you can see there were a few different breeds of Cormorant that were flying together. This is the Double-Crested Cormorant

Double-crested Cormorant - Large, rounded throat pouch is yellow,orange, tuft curving back on either side of it's head from behind eyes. Tufts are largely white in western birds, black and less conspicuous in eastern birds.

I was at the beach with my kids and saw this bird in a flock gathered around the shore line. They were eating some good sand crabs.

Whimbrel- Boldly striped crown, dark eye line, long down curved bill.

I found this goose at a local park called Waller Park. There of course were many speices of duck and goose at this park so I will be posting them one at a time as soon as I can identify what speices they are. The geese at this park like to hiss at you and have bitten a few people so I tried to get a good photo with out any injuries, lol.

Canada Goose- Black head and neck marked with distinctive white "chin strap" stretching from ear to ear.

I find a goose to be an interesting bird to be at the park with all of the ducks. They intimidate all other species around them and have on several occasions bit there fellow to get to the bread first. To me they are the lions of the park. These Snow geese were with a few different species, like the Canada goose and also African Geese.

Snow Goose- White overall, black primaries, pinkish bill with black "grinning patch"

Bird watching has made me realize that there are many species that I hadn't known about before. The average person wouldn't know that there was such a variety in your own backyard. This Chinese Goose I took a picture of as far away as I could since they are known to bite. The geese and ducks in our park are tame because they are often fed bread crumbs on a daily basis. The squirrels as well can get a little too close for comfort.

Chinese Goose- strongly developed basal knob on the upper side of the bill, brown in color but as come in white. These birds are related to the African Goose.

I was fortunate to find this heron while he or she was searching for food. I was surpirsed that it was so large, when I had spotted this bird a few months ago it had been hiding in a bush and made it difficult to really see. I was finally able to get a better picture, everytime I got close it would fly away but this photo shows its wing span.

Black-Crowned Night Heron- Black back and crown with greenish sheen, long sharply pointed bill.

The Barn Swallow has been one of my difficult subjects. They fly so fast that it makes it very hard to get a close picture. There was a whole swarm of these birds under a bridge on back road near some barns. They were feeding their babies.

Barn Swallow- Long deep forked tail, reddish brown throat, iridescent blue-black underparts and breast band
some non bird photography

I went to a park a few miles from my home town to a place called san luis, there were a lot of robins at this park, it was the first I had seen in the season. I was so happy to find them. This Robin was in a tree and had waited long enough for me to get a great photo. They have amazing coloring.

American Robin- Gray-brown above, darker head and tail, yellow bill, brick-red underparts, paler in a female, white lower belly

I have a bush outside my kitchen window that we get visited by many wonderful birds. Every morning this hummingbird will sit on a small perch that is on that bush and will sometimes come very close to my window. I have seen a few differrent hummingbirds but this one comes back every day in the early morning and right before the sun comes down. It's so exciting to have a pet with out needing to worry about the care.

Ruby-throated hummingbird- ruby red gorget, black chin, rosy or whitish chin in broad-tailed, entirely dark forked tail, outer primaries have much narrower tips than black chinned.

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Great horned owls
Humming bird coloring pages
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