Photo ABCs

La Jolla Cove: Brown Pelican

Brown Pelicans, photographed at La Jolla Cove in December of last year.

 

 

Santee Lakes: Mallard, Cinnamon Teal, Northern Shoveler, Say's Phoebe

More birds from a morning at Santee Lakes in December of last year.

Mallard:

Cinnamon Teal:

Northern Shoveler:

Say's Phoebe:

Santee Lakes: Green Heron, American White Pelican

Shots from a morning at Santee Lakes in December of last year.

Green Heron:

American White Pelican:

Famosa Slough: Snowy Egret, Great Egret

Birds at Famosa Slough in December of last year.

A Snowy Egret stretches. A lot of birds have used that perch!

Great Egret: 

Idyllwild Nature Center: Northern Flicker, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Merriam's Chipmunk

More from the Idyllwild Nature Center in December of last year.

Northern Flicker:

A Ruby-crowned Kinglet, never the easiest bird to photograph:

Merriam's Chipmunk:

Idyllwild Nature Center: Anna's Hummingbird, Red-breasted Sapsucker, Acorn Woodpecker

More birds photographed at the Idyllwild Nature Center in December of last year.

Anna's Hummingbird:

Red-breasted Sapsucker:

Acorn Woodpecker:

Idyllwild Nature Center: Western Bluebird, Steller's Jay, White-breasted Nuthatch

In December of last year I spent a pleasant two days in Idyllwild.

Here are a number of shots taken at the Idyllwild Nature Center, the best place I know of to easily photograph Southern California mountain birds.

Western Bluebird:

Steller's Jay:

White-breasted Nuthatch:

More tomorrow!

P.S.: Disregard my positive comments in my last post about faster uploading to this blog. It must have been a lucky day, today uploading is just as troublesome as before, nearly every photo upload takes two, three, four or five attempts. An exasperating experience.

I will continue posting for the near future, but will be looking for a new webhost.

Ecuador Birding: Quito: Vermilion Flycatcher

The grounds of the hotel I was visiting near Quito had a number of large, colorful paintings of birds on the walls of some of the buildings.

I waited for this Vermilion Flycatcher to land on a perch with its likeness in the background:

Ecuador Birding: Quito: Saffron Finch

The Saffron Finch is one of my favorite South American birds. It has an unusual patchy distribution in various parts of the continent.

Its cheerful appearance and demeanor can brighten anyone's day!

Ecuador Birding: Quito: Streak-throated Bush-Tyrant, Eared Dove

The Streak-throated Bush-Tyrant looks a bit similar to our American Robin, but it's in the flycatcher family. It's in the Andes from Venezuela to Argentina.

Photographed on the grounds of a hotel not far from the Quito airport.

The Eared Dove is found almost everywhere in South America except in the Amazon Basin. It looks and acts like our Mourning Dove:

Photographed in November of last year.