Mokka mit Schlag » Birding

Yesterday at the Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary in Modjeska Canyon, I spent a lot of time looking at this hummingbird:

The classic distinction between a male Anna’s and a male Costa’s is that the Anna’s has a red gorget while the Costa’s has a purple gorget. The problem is that the much more common (around here at least) Anna’s male can also seem purple depending on angle and light. More than once I’ve sat and watched a hummingbird’s gorget switch from purple to red to purple to red to black to purple to red as it moved its head around. At this point I am extremely cautious about calling any Orange County hummingbird a Costa’s without an expert standing next to me to confirm the ID.

However this hummingbird shows purple in all my photographs and in the field. It never really looked red to me at all. Its gorget did, surprisingly, sometimes look copper, which is a color I’ve never seen on an Anna’s. I’m almost ready to stick my gorget out and call it a Costa’s except that according to Sibley, another distinguishing mark is that the wingtips of the Costa’s extend all the way to the tail tip, while on the Anna’s they’re a bit short. Damn. These wingtips clearly don’t extend all the way to the tail tip, though perhaps that’s a function of the angle or how the bird holds its wings at any given moment?

On the other hand, the more I look at this bird the more it looks violet and Costa’s like and the less Anna’s like it looks. I’m stumped. Anyone want to call this one?

I’ve been visiting Santiago Oaks Regional Park about once a month for over a year now. There’ve been some good life birds there including Rock Wren and Lazuli Bunting, but two regulars have persistently eluded me: Black-chinned Sparrow and Black-chinned Hummingbird. Well, last Sunday April 5 on Linette Lina’s monthly walk we finally found a Black-chinned Hummingbird:

This is a tough one because it’s relatively quiet, and looks a lot like the more common Anna’s Hummingbird unless you see it in really good light. Plus it’s much more skittish of people than an Anna’s or an Allen’s. However it does tend to hover a little more than an Anna’s does, and this one was relatively cooperative.
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A couple of weekends ago (March 21-22), Beth was out of town so I decided to drive farther than normal from my usual O.C. stomping grounds. In particular, I decided to take a spin around the Salton Sea. It’s about 300 miles there, around, and back again, and seemed like a good fit for a weekend. I didn’t get as many life birds as I hoped but I did add two, plus one new species for my California list.

The first bird came almost as soon as I arrived Saturday morning. I drove down Lincoln Street to the Whitewater River delta. However all the gates were closed, and marked off with no trespassing signs. Bummer. However on the way back, I watched an Abert’s Towhee scurry off to the side of the road. This wasn’t a great look, and I might not even count it, except that I saw another one at my last stop of the day at the Sonny Bono Salton Sea Visitor Center, and two more the next morning in a vacant lot in Brawley. More often than not, the first bird is a “Is that what I think it was?” and you have to find a few more to be sure. That was the case for #465.

#466 though, left no room for doubt. I’ve looked for Common Ground-doves, without success at San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary in Irvine where they breed; but I found them all over the ground at the Sonny Bono Salton Sea Visitor Center where they were attracted to the feeders. Basically this is a sparrow-sized Mourning Dove. I even got pictures:

Although, just now as I look at the photos I notice this bird was banded. Hmm… That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not countable; and I did see more than one individual, at least one of which flew. Still if this is not really a wild bird, it doesn’t really count. Fortunately, I found another one the next morning at the Riverview Cemetery in Brawley, and that one counts even if this one doesn’t.

Another birder also showed me a Barn Owl roosting right next to the center. Not a lifer but rare and special nonetheless. I also had a maybe on a Yellow-footed Gull after walking the path out to the Sea, but I couldn’t be quite sure.
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I visited Brooklyn this past weekend. Despite jet lag, rain, and wind, I managed to spend a few hours in Prospect Park and picked up 39 species including 15 year birds:

• American Coot
• American Goldfinch
• White-throated Sparrow
• White-breasted Nuthatch
• Song Sparrow
• Ruddy Duck
• Rock Pigeon
• Ring-billed Gull
• Red-winged Blackbird
• Red-tailed Hawk
• Red-bellied Woodpecker
• Red-breasted Nuthatch
• American Robin
• Black-capped Chickadee
• Blue Jay
• Brown-headed Cowbird
• Canada Goose
• Common Grackle
• Double-crested Cormorant
• Downy Woodpecker
• Eastern Phoebe
• European Starling
• Herring Gull
• House Finch
• House Sparrow
• Mallard
• Mourning Dove
• Northern Shoveler
• Tufted Titmouse
• Ring-necked Duck
• Northern Flicker
• Hermit Thrush
• Northern Cardinal
• Wood Duck
• Great Egret
• Fox Sparrow
• Swamp Sparrow
• Eastern Towhee
• Brown Creeper

However, I did not find the Red-necked Grebe or the White-winged Crossbills that were reported earlier in the year.

Details and pictures to follow but here’s the day list:

• Mallard
• Northern Shoveler
• Horned Grebe
• Eared Grebe
• Western Grebe
• American White Pelican
• Double-crested Cormorant
• Great Blue Heron
• Great Egret
• Snowy Egret
• White-faced Ibis
• Common Moorhen
• American Coot
• Black-bellied Plover
• Killdeer
• Black-necked Stilt
• American Avocet
• Willet
• Least Sandpiper
• Bonaparte’s Gull
• Ring-billed Gull
• California Gull
• Herring Gull
• Glaucous-winged Gull
• Caspian Tern
• Forster’s Tern
• White-winged Dove
• Mourning Dove
• Black Phoebe
• Say’s Phoebe
• Loggerhead Shrike
• Violet-green Swallow
• Verdin
• Northern Mockingbird
• European Starling
• Phainopepla
• Common Yellowthroat
• Abert’s Towhee
• White-crowned Sparrow
• Brewer’s Blackbird
• Great-tailed Grackle
• Brown-headed Cowbird
• House Finch
• House Sparrow
• American Wigeon
• Cinnamon Teal
• Green-winged Teal
• Ruddy Duck
• Gambel’s Quail
• Brown Pelican
• Cattle Egret
• Northern Harrier
• American Kestrel
• Peregrine Falcon
• Long-billed Curlew
• Marbled Godwit
• Long-billed Dowitcher
• Rock Pigeon
• Common Ground-Dove
• Barn Owl
• Northern Flicker
• Western Kingbird
• Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
• Yellow-rumped Warbler
• Chipping Sparrow
• Red-winged Blackbird

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Sunday, 3/1/09, Beth and I had coffee on the patio of our hotel, and then played a little tennis before it got too hot. The hotel grounds were surprisingly birdy with numerous great-tailed grackles and White-winged Doves (a California bird) making quite a racket. I also spotted one Verdin and an American Kestrel. After tennis, we headed out to the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Visitor’s Center and enjoyed some more Verdins, Costa’s Hummingbirds, and Black-chinned Sparrows in their garden. We also followed the path to the Palm Canyon campground, where we found some quail, likely California. After brunch at a Mexican restaurant, we drove back down the Yaqui Pass Road and stopped at the Tamarisk Grove Campground one more time. This time there were even more moths, as well as a Bewick’s Wren.

We had come up through the mountains on 78 through Julian, but we decided to take a slightly more roundabout route home along the Great Southern Overland Stage Road to see some different scenery, avoid the winding mountain roads, and check out some of the parks along the way. Our first stop was at the Vallecito County Park at 1:00 P.M. By this point it was quite hot, and most birds had retired for the day. Beth stayed in the air conditioned car while I looked for the few birds that were still active in the heat. White-winged Doves were doing their Barn Owl imitations. Costa’s Hummingbirds were buzzing. Common Ravens were croaking. House Finches and Verdins were cheeping. Phainopeplas were everywhere (relatively speaking).

And after walking around the campground for 20 minutes or so, a small gray and black bird buzzed by. I got my binoculars on it, and for sure it was a gnatcatcher. It looked a lot like a California Gnatcatcher, but California Gnatcatchers are coastal birds of the sage scrub. Out here in the desert, it could only be a Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, #464. I followed tit form bush to bush, and got some good looks but was never able to get a photo. Maybe next time.
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