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It’s that time of year (at least in the northern hemisphere) when birders fortunate enough to visit the coast once again get a chance to see one of the most funky ducks in the world - the marvellous Surf Scoter Melanitta perspicillata. Surf Scoters breed in Alaska and northern Canada (they’re the only species of [...]

Business brought me out to Orange County, CA for a week in mid-October. Despite the length of my stay, I had precious few available moments for birding. My dear pal Amy brought me for some Upper Newport Bay birding not once but twice. The first attempt was undermined by the severity of Santa Ana winds [...]

Upper Newport Bay has a sterling reputation as a locus for some of the best coastal Orange County birding around. This is a big deal, considering both the outstanding avifauna this part of California can deliver as well as the other superlative sites along this stretch of the Pacific. Unfortunately, my first taste of [...]

Business has brought me once again to a shiny section of the Golden State. It is the height, indeed the very definition, of privilege to rise up after breakfast over a variegated expanse of autumn hues to arrive for lunch in a portion of the Pacific coast where one is far more likely to spot [...]

Steller’s Jay Cyanocitta stelleri
California, various dates

The distinctive Steller’s Jay typically lives in flocks of greater than 10 individuals and occurs in coniferous and mixed woodland over virtually the whole of the western side of North America from Alaska in the north to Central America in the far south and east to south-western Texas, completely replacing [...]

At the end of last April I posted a short series of photos taken in India of a Black Kite feeding on the intestines of what I thought was probably a large dog. Judging by the number of page views this series attracted it seems that there are a fair few 10,000 Birds readers who [...]

Finding efficient ways to fit birding into business travel has me on the hunt for ideal locations as close to airports as possible. So far, my two favorites have been Jamaica Bay right down the road from JFK and Arrowhead Marsh practically connected to the car rental lots at the Oakland airport. Now, to add [...]

The magnificent Ferruginous Hawk Buteo regalis is North America’s largest “hawk” - with a wingspan averaging around 56″/142.24cm - and during both summer and winter is found in grasslands, deserts, and other open areas with isolated shrubs or trees where less than 50% of the land is under cultivation (during winter, Ferruginous Hawks are often [...]

An abundant and familiar bird of open country across the western two-thirds of North America, the Western Meadowlark Sturnella neglecta is often seen singing its warbling song from fenceposts along roadsides in native grassland and agricultural areas. It’s such a well-known and well-loved species that it’s the the official State bird for six western States [...]

The Prairie Falcon flying off a power poll. A Belted Kingfisher making my record shot of the Bolsa Chica Reddish Egret much more interesting.  A Surf Scoter. And, of course, the Rock Pigeon, Common Pigeon, Feral Pigeon, whatever the heck you want to call it. How about Pigeon? Anyway, these are, as my sadly unclever [...]

The second part of my “excellent adventure” (Part One, is right here) involved coming down from the San Jacinto mountains to the valley floor some 5000′ below and the very different habitat - and consequently very different birds - of sagebrush and desert. Looking at my edition of Lane’s “A Birder’s Guide to southern California” [...]

Last year Mike wrote a superb and typically lyrical post asking “What is a Waxwing?“. I’m not going to even attempt to better his phrasing by covering the same ground he went over so eloquently - if you haven’t read his post yet click the link you’ve just hurried past immediately - but I do [...]

Ah, the deep thinking that goes into making a successful Big Year when the rostering decisions determining your destinations are made by someone else. Suppose for a moment that your scheduling department had sent you to Los Angeles for the first time in 2008. Would you go flat-out for the common species first (which almost [...]

One of the nice things about taking a long vacation somewhere that involved lots of birding is that even after being back for a week one still has plenty to blog about from the vacation. Not only that, but by blogging about the birding experiences one gets the chance to relive the experiences one [...]

Towards the end of last year I took a series of photos of a confiding American Buff-bellied Pipit Anthus rubescens. Pipits can be a very confusing bunch of birds to separate in non-breeding plumages, and for a long time the northern hemisphere group that includes Rock, Water, and Buff-bellied Pipits were considered almost inseparable in [...]

One of my favorite ducks is the Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata). Something about their namesake, absurdly long, shovel-like bills, elegant plumage, and cool vocalizations make me want to see them on every birding excursion. Or maybe it is their clever methods of eating, whether straining the water with their bills or swimming in [...]

Just down the street from Daisy’s sister’s and brother-in-law’s house in Temecula, CA, is a little tiny place called Meadows Park. It consists of a large grassy area, a couple jungle gyms for the kids, some picnic tables, and a small parking lot. At least, that is all the park is if you look here.  [...]

Of all the birds one can see in southern California there is one that is a bit more special than the rest. The Island Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma insularis) is that bird. Not just because it has a larger bill and brighter, more intense colors than the everyday Western Scrub-Jay, but because it only can [...]

This past Sunday Andrew and I once again went looking for birds while the women did, well, women things I guess.  Because it was raining in most of southern California, well, pouring actually, proving Albert Hammond right (no, not the Hammond for which Hammond’s Flycatcher is named, but the Hammond who wrote the song that goes It never rains in [...]

On Friday the weather forecasters said rain. We (Daisy, some assorted family members, and I) decided to ignore said forecasters and head down to La Jolla, the famous northern coastal suburb of San Diego, for the heck of it. Previous visits there had netted me some pretty good looks at a variety of gulls, Brown Pelicans, shorebirds that like [...]