Birds

What luck today. Photographed a juvenile Bald Eagle (second year?) at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge. #birds #BaldEagle #Fujifilm

A juvenile Bald Eagle perched up high.  It is mostly brown with a developing, and so mottled,  white neck and headBald eagle soaring off. Its white head and neck are clearer.

My partner only looked at cat, bird, and wildfire posts on Twitter using Tweetbot. Its permanent chronical timeline was key. Now that Tweetbot appears to be banned, that’s it. No more Twitter. Fortunately Mastodon is maturing quickly.

Red Tail Hawk from yesterday’s bird watching at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge. It’s not surprising that they’re not easy to spot. Even rarer is the one that won’t fly off if you get within 100 yards. #fujifilm #birds #RedTailedHawk

Red Tail Hawk perched in branches of a deciduous plant

While bird watching yesterday, a M5.3 earthquake occurred south of Rio Dell. My RaspberryShake felt it but I sure didn’t https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/nc73827571/executive #RaspberryShake #earthquakeSeismograph of the M5.3 earthquake on 1/1/2023 south of Rio Dellclose up of the M5.3 seismograph

Spotted a Belted Kingfisher today! #kingfisher #birdsFemale Kingfisher looking down into a canal for prey. She has a patch of rust color on her belly. Her head is two-thirds dark gray and one-third white. Her back is gray. She has spiky feathers at the crest of her head.

Yesterday: Red-winged Black Birds at the local wildlife refuge. Likely some Starlings in there too.

dozens of black birds in a bare tree top

A ravenous Yellow Rumped Warbler visited our grapes again. Eat up, little bird!

a grey bird with yellow patches investigates a clump of dessicated grapes

This Yellow Rumped Warbler (Audubon’s) is yet another bird feasting on our raisins. Yesterday’s Ruby Crowned Kinglet might actually be an Orange-crowned Warbler. No bars on its wings! 🤷‍♂️

yellow patched neck & chest, this warbler is looking for the perfect raisin on the ground.

Ruby Crowned Kinglet (update on 12/17: more likely a Orange-crowned Warbler, as the Kinglet has bars on its wings, this one — the Warbler — does not). Such a lovely chirpy & frenetic bird.

yellowish bird perched atop a clump of raisinsa yellowish bird with a ruby color patch on its head, perched on a grape vine

I am super excited to now have the XF70-300mm telephoto lens. I’ll no longer feel crazy constrained taking pictures of birds and aircraft (mainly). Bonus that it is rather good at close range for macro.

Western Mockingbird foraging for raisins in our backyard.

grey and white mockingbird under bunches of raisins

Got a Kinglet in one place for a few moments!

a small yellow Kinglet bird with white eyeliner abd white wing bars. it is peering at a cluster of grapes amongst grape leaves.

Some kind of Kinglet, maybe a Ruby Crown Kinglet, in the grapes this time. Was moving fast as birds do.

a yellowish Kinglet bird in a geape vine surrounded by grapes.

Western Mockingbird enjoying a desiccated grape in our backyard.

black, gray and white mockingbird in the shadow of a senescing grape plant with a dessicated grape in its beak.

Backyard House Sparrows - 84mm equivalent & cropped to zoom, using those X-T5 40 Megapixels! I am planning to get a 200 mm lens in a few months & really start birding.

House sparrows foraging for bird seeds in a gravel area below a feeder.

More signs of Fall with flocks of birds migrating overhead.

an arrow formation of birds fluing through a blue sky with wispy clouds

The very first storm of meteorological Fall and White Crown birds have already descended upon our backyard. It’s cool that they prefer our warmer backyard to cooler stormy mountains. We’ll see them consistently until June. Welcome back!

Eurasian Coots in the Pagodenburger See at the Schloss Nymphenburg in Munich.

A nesting coot in the lake and a coot on the shore foraging for food.

A very comfy Eurasian Collared Dove. Glad our backyard can be a refuge from the neighborhood outdoor cats

Eurasian collared dove resting on the edge of a bird bath surrounded by green vegetation

Spotted a Hooded Oriole in the front yard as we we started an after lunch walk. What luck. A first!

Mockingbirds are going to have an amazing late summer of grapes from our cultivated California grapes. These have an amazing assortment of bugs too. Still have ladybugs in them. 🌱

Pineapple guavas have been blooming for a few weeks now. The Mockingbirds love munching on the flower petals.

Area scrub jays have really got the hang of our feeder. Although, recently one jay tried to peck at the seeds through the transparent canister.

blue jay clining to the bird feeder pole looking up at the feederthe blue jay hanging on to the bottom of the feeder, about to jump up onto its platformblue Jay precariously perched trying to get at the seeds

Eurasian Collared Dove drinking party.

After weeks of warmer than normal weather, weather swung the other way and we had freezing temps for a few days. Had to cover up the weaker & less freeze tolerant trees. I don’t see damage to my earlier than normal blooming trees yet: all citrus, all stone fruit, one avocado 🌱🤞

frozen bird bathcovered up meyer lemon tree

California Towhee from this morning. First sighting ever in the backyard but have seen these around the neighborhood. They don’t seem to care much for the white crowns & house sparrows. This is my kind of bird.

California tanager on a patio. has a rusty bib that fades to grey down its chest.

Took a walk around a small lake today and saw: 1) turtles sunning on a log; 2) a western meadow lark; 3) redwing blackbirds; 4) long billed curlews; and 5) a duck with a cool hairdo (hopefully).

many turtles sunning on a log in a small lakewestern meadow lark in flightredwing blackbirds in flight long billed curlews foraging for food near a lakea duck with a toupee

I looked out into the backyard just in time to see a Nuttall’s Woodpecker investigating our cultivated elderberry and Ceanothus bushes. So cool!

woodpecker in ceanothus. the bird has white stripes on a black back.woodpecker climbing around an elderberry.

A few different birds & a landscape from today’s nature walk. One vulture and one 777.

Today I had to remove a trespassing & bird harassing “Happy Birthday To You” balloon from our mandarin tree and then dispose of it. A birthday card can say as much. 🙄

happy birth balloon stick in a mandarin tree that has ripe oranges on itabout to cut into a trespassing happy Birthday balloon a drip tube cutter cutting deeply into a happy balloon