I found several Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa) caterpillars and chrysalises on a small restroom strcuture in Mason park these last few days. This one is just getting started:
I’m not sure how long it takes one to spin a cocoon. This caterpillar and another were in exactly the same positions 18 hours later.
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I don’t know what it is about me and orioles: I just can’t keep track of which ones I have and haven’t seen. Last May I thought I’d seen Hooded Oriole before, but I hadn’t. What I’d seen at Starr Ranch a couple of years ago was a Scott’s. Then this January I forgot all about that Scott’s , and double counted Scotty in Union Square Park as my life Scott’s.
I eventually cleared that up, but last Sunday I did it again. I was birding with Alberto Marcone, visiting from Italy; and local birder Toni Bryant was showing us around Upper Newport Bay. She found a beautiful Bullock’s Oriole in full breeding plumage which I initially misidentified as a Hooded Oriole. Toni politely corrected me, but I still didn’t realize that this beautiful orange bird with a very distinct face pattern was a new bird for me.
In fact, I didn’t figure that out until I was checking my eBird list a few days later and noticed it showed up there as a life bird. I quickly checked back with my complete list (which includes some species from outside the eBird area, as well as a few I only saw prior to eBird’s launch) and sure enough: Bullock’s Oriole was life bird #404.
A little later in the afternoon Alberto and I found a Golden Plover at Bolsa Chica. This was almost certainly a Pacific Golden Plover from the location and time of year. However in non-breeding plumage it’s virtually indistinguishable from an American Golden Plover. (Both birds are possible but unlikely at this location at this time. However the Pacific Golden Plover is merely unlikely while the American Golden Plover is extremely unlikely.) I don’t think I’ll count this one just yet. More should be coming through in the Fall when the plumage is more distinguishable.
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This is what happens when computer book titles are too sexy:
And here I thought they were recommending this because of all the gay porn I’d been buying. :-)
10. Taco Bell qualifies as ethnic food. Chile’s counts as gourmet dining.
9. Drivers who think the bicycle lane is a right turn lane.
8. Supermarkets that charge you 30% more because you don’t have some silly plastic card.
7. Paranoid residents who lock themselves up in gated communities in case brown people drive by (except for the ones who cut the grass, of course.)
6. No laundromats. If you aren’t rich enough to buy your own washer and dryer, go live somewhere else.
5. No parking signs everywhere, but you have to have a car to go anywhere.
4. Homeowners associations that refuse to tell you what the rules are but will ticket you for violating them.
3. Walk signals that last approximately 0.4 seconds before they start blinking red.
2. Farmers’ markets where frozen Alaskan fish and Mexican vegetables count as local food.
And the number one thing I hate about Irvine:
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After work today I walked over to San Joaquin to see what might have come in the last week. New birds included three Blue-winged Teal and two Least Sandpipers (both in Pond A), new birds for the year and my BGBY list. There were also close to 100 dowitchers feeding. The light was decent and some of them were quite close, so I paid more than the usual amount of attention to them, and some of them definitely looked like they had eaten grapefruits, a classic field mark of a Long-billed Dowitcher, though personally I’m not sure how reliable that is. Two of them looked like they distinctly had not eaten grapefruits. Maybe Short-billed? or Long-billed in a funny posture? Who knows? Certainly not me.
However, shortly after I arrived something spooked most of the dowitchers and they took off in a tittering flight. When I got home I compared the flight calls of the Long-billed Dowitcher to the Short-billed Dowitcher. The Long-billed calls were spot on with what I heard, and the Short-billed calls were noticeably different. At least the ones that flew were Long-billed. Of course now I’m uncertain about the “Short-billed” Dowitchers I’ve reported earlier this year. I may have to go back and revise those. I think I had both species today, but it’s really hard to tell.
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California Sea Lion, Zalophus californianus
Dana Point, 2008-03-26
