Tag: birds
Grey Geese
Mourning Dove (on a cable)
Ducks, Geese, and Swans
Gull (drinking from puddle at Rainbow Lagoon)
Stealth Sparrows. I almost deleted the thumbnail because the birds didn’t actually register at that size. Fortunately, I opened the image and looked.
Stealth Sparrows. I almost deleted the thumbnail because the birds didn’t actually register at that size. Fortunately, I opened the image and looked.
Great Herons
Heermann’s Gull (at Laguna Beach)
Red-winged Blackbird, Female
Canada Goose (marsh)
House Sparrow
It looked like there were about a dozen sparrows sitting on this fence. Most of them flew off before I got the camera out. I suspect there might be a nest in the bushes next to the fence.
Western Gull
Willet (hillside plants)
Spotted near the coast, probably along the hillside above the beach, or possibly in the park at the top of the bluffs.
Mallard (Wilderness Park)
The squawking of the feral parakeets
Sometimes I’ll hear the squawking of the feral parakeets that live in town as they fly past. Usually I don’t have a camera with me, but one time I managed to catch four of them flying (not very detailed, as you can see), and once I managed to catch one that had stopped in a palm tree long enough for me to use the zoom lens.
#birds #parakeets #FeralParakeets #parrots #nature #FeralParrots
I heard the squawking and went for my camera, but this is the best I could get. Still, you can at least see the green color and a bit of the red on one of their heads.
After they flew on, I saw a few others diving out of palm trees and wheeling back up in the direction they’d come from.
I’ve seen and heard the feral parakeets before, and managed to get some decent pictures a few weeks ago. I can’t be certain these are the same parakeet species as that one, but it seems likely since they’re introduced.
Previous observation of mitred parakeet: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/26590485
TODO: Combine with this post and others.
Since I’ve been posting observations to iNaturalist I’ve *definitely* noticed more differences among plants…
Since I’ve been posting observations to iNaturalist I’ve *definitely* noticed more differences among plants, whether walking around town or hiking through nature. Even just differences between types of weeds.
Link: BBC on “Plant blindness”
Why ‘plant blindness’ matters — and what you can do about it
Of course, I’ve also started noticing differences among local birds more, too. I used to basically classify them as:
– pigeon
– seagull
– crow
– um, small bird?
Plus occasional ducks and geese near the water.
Now I can at least tell pigeons from doves, sparrows from finches (most of the time), ducks from coots, and pick out mockingbirds and starlings. And most of the cranes I’ve seen turn out to have been egrets.
@cs jokes that you know you’re getting old when you start paying attention to birds, and links to What’s the Difference Between Pigeons and Doves? on Mental Floss.
Heh. Fair enough. Though there are particular species found in Southern California that are named doves (such as the white-and-gray mourning doves that perch alone on telephone wires calling “Oo! Oo! Oo!” for what seems like hours on end) or pigeons (such as the gray-and-blue-green common pigeons that tend to flock in groups, perch on ledges and try to steal dropped french fries).
House Finch
Great Heron (at Polliwog Park)
As I recall, this heron was standing on the off-limits section of the pond shoreline, which the park’s website refers to as a “wildlife refuge” but isn’t particularly big.
