Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Beautiful Weather -- New Birds





















Cassin's Kingbird

Such excitement, because this is a new bird to be found in our back yard. This picture taken from one of my bird books. He has an olive green back and head, different from the Western Kingbird. Haven't been able to get a photo yet, if ever, but there were a pair of them in a tree and flying around for about 10 minutes. Very kingly looking bird, but like the scrub jay his voice doesn't match his looks. All the other birds are busily singing their spring songs since the weather has been so wonderful for a week now, but when the king bird arrived and let out his squawk, there was suddenly silence. They did start up again after a moment or two but I wonder if he is a predator (on eggs). Probably not, because he is categorized with the flycatchers.



















Heerman's Gull
He is really a very sharp looking gull. The red beak sets him apart from other gulls. I took this photo a week or so ago when I was visiting the beach.

Unlike most birds, he raises his chicks in the Gulf of California (south of us,) then meanders northwards. Found mainly along the Southern California coast.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cool birds - do you know what the grey ones with the red heads are here????

ChrisJ said...

They are red-crested cardinals. If I can find my photos I will post one for you. On some islands they have crests and on others they do not.