My Favorite Yard Visitor

Male Hooded Oriole

Since I am to be laid up for a few more weeks I thought I'd write about my favorite annual visitor. We have lived in our house in Napa for nearly 30 years and every spring and summer we have been visited by Orioles. Interestingly enough for many years these were Bullock's Orioles with an occasional visit from a Hooded Oriole. In recent years however, that trend has been reversed. These days our spring and summer residents are almost all Hooded Orioles. They are nesting in the larger trees in our neighborhood some of which are palms. This species of Oriole is known to prefer palms for nesting. Hooded Orioles are very much a bird of the southwest. They spend their winters on both coasts of Mexico and the lower half of Baja California. For their nesting season they migrate to southern Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Southern California, and the Central to Northern California Coast. The first ones begin to arrive in our area around the first week of April. Many of these birds are probably passing through and moving to nesting areas to the north of us. However some of them are our regular returnees back for another year to raise their young. They will stay in our area until early September when they and their newly fledged offspring will return south to the coasts of Mexico.

I put up a feeder especially for them which they eventually find and then continue to visit. Orioles are often seen at hummingbird feeders because they are nectar eaters too. However, due to their size it is difficult for them to effectively access the sugar water in the feeders. A special Oriole feeder will help with this. I keep the feeders clean and filled with sugar water mixed at a 4:1 ratio water:sugar. These birds are not uncommon here in California but most people don't even notice them. When you can get a closer look you will be surprised at the vibrant color of the male Hooded Oriole and wonder why you haven't noticed them before.

Over the last few days I have been photographing my resident birds as they have been visiting our backyard. Males, females, and first year birds are coming more and more regularly now. We will be able to enjoy their visits for a few more months before they are off to the warmer climates of coastal Mexico. Their visits cheer me up and make this time of recovery a little more bearable.

Female Hooded Oriole

Male Hooded Oriole

A Promising Spring Interrupted

Over the past year I have tried to do more seabirding as I near species number 600 for North America. Towards the end of May I scheduled three different pelagic trips, two out of Fort Bragg (Noyo Harbor) and one out of Eureka (Humboldt Bay). My first trip was with Rob Fowler, a prominent Humboldt County birder who runs a regular schedule of pelagics out of Eureka. I persuaded my pal Michael Morris to join me for this one and I had one target bird that I needed to get on this trip. Murphy's Petrels are not common but they are somewhat regular off the north coast at this time of year. Also, there is always the remote possibility of a Short-tailed Albatross appearing mixed in with the many Black-footed Albatross we see off the coast of California. The seas were relatively calm for us as we motored through Humboldt Bay and out to sea. Overall bird numbers were lower than I expected but we ended up with a good mix of species. Both Sooty and Pink-footed Shearwaters, a fair number of Northern Fulmars, many Black-footed Albatross, and a surprising 8 Laysan Albatross. The star of the day was my target bird Murphy's Petrel. 8 were counted for the day most at some distance from the boat, however at our last slick of the day a couple came in close enough for decent views. We saw a total of 42 species on the day and as always, it was a joy to spend time birding with Michael.

My second trip was less than a week later on May 30th out of Fort Bragg with Noyo Pelagics. These trips are always fun because of the great group of Mendocino County birders who frequent them. Ocean conditions were predicted to be pretty rough and they did not disappoint. The thing is, the rougher the conditions and the higher the wind the better the conditions for Pterodroma. We saw fewer total species (38) than earlier in the week in Humboldt County but we saw many, many more birds and a couple of real stunners. By far our most counted species of the day was Sooty Shearwaters with over 4,000 of them passing within view. We also had excellent views of Murphy's Petrel with close to 30 individuals counted, many coming close for great views. For me it was a day with 3 new life birds making the challenging rough conditions well worth it. Peter Pyle who organizes these trips and boat captain Richard Thornton took their time in positioning the boat as far out as we needed to go to get us into the best position to see our hoped for birds. The first to appear was a Manx Shearwater that crossed our bow and did not stick around for good looks. This is a smaller shearwater with a dark back and white underparts and I got good enough looks through bins to help with the ID. I was not on the bow myself but halfway up the side and I immediately went to the front to confirm what I saw with those on the bow. My next lifer of the day was Hawaiian Petrel. Again these two birds did not stick around for good views and I only got the briefest of glimpses, however Roger Adamson was on the bow and got some diagnostic photos so we were certain of the id. Strangely enough, I was the first one on our boat to spot the real star of the day. I was on the bow with Tim Bray and Chuck Vaughn, two long-time Mendo birders. I was facing towards the rear of the boat, they towards the front as we chatted. I looked up to see the unmistakable form of a Booby passing over the boat from north to south. I shouted out, "Booby!" Tim spun around, got a look and shouted, "Nazca Booby!" and for a few minutes the boat was treated to the spectacle of this very cool bird. Nazca Boobies are common from Mexico to Peru and they show up occasionally off the California coast, however mostly Southern California coast. I believe this bird represented only the 4th Mendocino County record. What really made this bird special is that it was Chuck Vaughn's 400th Mendocino County bird, a real achievement for a really good guy!

But we weren't quite done yet. A little while after the Booby came by, Logan Kahle came running up from the back of the boat calling out a Least Tern, a bird that was a new county bird for most on board. We had fleeting glimpses of it as it made it's way north going who knows where.

Other good birds on the day were Laysan Albatross, Fork-tailed, Ashy and Black Storm Petrels, Northern Fulmars, Elegant Tern, Sabine's Gull, and a single South Polar Skua.

I was excited for my third and final pelagic trip of the spring with this same crew out of Noyo Harbor!

That was not to be as my birding/adventuring season came to a crashing halt, literally.

While finishing up a regular Sunday bike ride with the boys I had a pretty serious crash that resulted in a concussion and a fractured pelvis. I am now officially on the shelf as I slowly recover from this setback. I now sit at 594 North American species. I had thought that with the Montana trip to fish with my friend Brian Kelly I might get over that 600 mark but that will have to remain a goal. Here are a few images of our off-shore adventures.

Nazca Booby (Tim Bray)

Murphy's Petrel

Hawaiian Petrel (Roger Adamson)

Vagrants in Spring

Yellow-throated Warbler (image from Public Domain)

Springtime is such a joy to a person interested in birds. The weather is warming, the hills are green and full of spring flowers, and the birds are displaying their showiest plumages. It is also one of the two times of year (spring and fall migration) when you can expect a few birds to show up in your local area that are wildly off course from their normal haunts. These birds are called "vagrants". If you are a birder who is into the chase as I am then you will probably be plugged into the various social media channels that report these wanderers (ebird, list serves, etc.). Last week a report popped up of a Yellow-throated Warbler in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. One of these had been showing well in Humboldt County but I couldn't make an escape to go see that one so this was my chance. I was in the truck 15 minutes after seeing the message and pulled up to the hotspot after a 1-hour drive. Another birder was there and as I walked up to her I asked if she had seen it. She said she could hear it high in the Eucalyptus trees and as I got close to her I saw some movement behind her about 1/2 way up the understory and there it was, a beautiful bright male. We followed it's movement for about 30 minutes, helping other birders locate it as they arrived. Conditions were very poor for photography so I will have no photo documentation of this sighting but that's not so important. This eastern warbler has eluded me on it's home territory so it was a special sighting to see it here in California.

Another springtime birding tradition I have maintained is a visit to Butterbredt Spring on the northern edge of the Mojave Desert. I had not made any birding plans for May as we had expected to be traveling but circumstances arose that required us to postpone that trip and now I had some time on my hands. My two regular companions for these trips, Michael and Jeff were busy with other things so I would make this trip on my own (however, I sorely missed their company).

I took a somewhat circuitous route going south driving out Mines Rd. from Livermore and then out to I-5 via Del Puerto Canyon Rd. This took me through some really beautiful country, all the while I was wishing I could be doing it on my bike! Plenty of Oak Titmouse, Black-headed Grosbeak, Yellow-billed Magpie and Acorn Woodpeckers but curiously absent of warbler species (granted I only stopped a few times as I had a long way to go). Then it was on to Kern National Wildlife Refuge where I drove the tour route and saw most of the usual suspects for this time of year. Of note were the large number of Cattle Egrets and a nesting pair of Common Gallinules. Quite a few Yellow and Wilson's Warblers as well.

Heading towards the Mojave I drove around Lake Isabella to Weldon and then south towards Butterbredt. I stopped briefly at Frog Springs to see if any migration wave had come over the ridge that day, my conclusion - no. Not many birds here. As I reached the intersection of Jawbone Canyon Rd. and Butterbredt Canyon Rd. I was greeted by a rather large rattlesnake guarding the entrance. I deftly navigated around him and made my way over the pass and on down to the spring. Not a lot of diversity in the migrants over the pass, mostly Western Tanagers. There was a pretty strong north wind blowing when I got to the spring and there were many warblers and tanagers in the Trees of Heaven seemingly waiting for things to calm down.  That evening and the next morning there was a significant wave of migrants coming up the canyon, stopping at the spring and then passing on. Warblers were Yellow, Yellow-rumped, Wilson's, Townsend's, Orange-crowned and a few Nashville. I was very surprised by a female Northern Parula, a bird I had never seen at Butterbredt before. As I walked down the canyon below the spring, migrating birds continued to pass for the rest of the morning. I photographed what I thought was a funny looking Wilson's Warbler but what turned out to be a female Hooded Warbler, another bird I had never seen at Butterbredt before. Later that day I met a Las Vegas birder named John Mark Simmons who said he had seen both of the rare warblers down in the spring as he sat by the water. He was kind enough to point out the differences between a female Hooded and a Wilson's, namely the white outer tail feathers. I went down into the spring and sat for a bit fighting off the mosquitos and was visited by both again. What a treat!

As is often the case in a migrant trap like Butterbredt Spring the next morning was pretty quiet. I had arrived as a wave was passing through and it was gone the next day. There were still a few good birds around. Loggerheaded Shrike, Cassin's Vireo, both Dusky and Hammond's Flycatchers, Ash-throated Flycatchers and several Costa's Hummingbirds. All in all another great visit to a special place. Returning to Bakersfield,  I took the long way and drove over Breckenridge Road. All the way over from the east side there were singing Lazuli Buntings and as I reached the forest on the top I wished I had more time to explore. It was beautiful up there. I finished up my trip with a stop for lunch and a quick visit with my mother-in-law and then back to Napa to wait for the next adventure.

See my trip list here.  Some photos from my adventure:

Hooded Warbler

Northern Parula

Western Cattle Egret

The Guardian of Butterbredt Canyon

Western Tanager

Lazuli Bunting

Great Horned Owl (hatch year)

Ash-throated Flycatcher

Yellow Warbler

Wilson's Warbler

Costa's Hummingbird

Bullock's Oriole

To Furnace Creek for a new Rarity

All winter long I have monitered the California Rare Bird list on e-bird and I've had my eye on a Ruddy Ground Dove that is overwintering at the Furnace Creek Resort in Death Valley National Park. Every few days it pops back onto the list as sightings are reported. While down visiting family in Bakersfield I had a chance to go off on a birding day and decided that it was worth the effort to make the drive over two mountain ranges and on down below sea level to try for this bird.

The Ruddy Ground Dove is a Central and South American species and a rare visitor to the American Southwest. Every winter you can usually turn one up somewhere in southeast Arizona but they rarely make it to California. With the weather being so mild at the beginning of the year here, it made for a lovely day out. Warm temperatures but still a dusting of snow atop Telescope Peak, the highest point in Death Valley.

I arrived at the resort area shortly before 10 am. and spent about 45 minutes searching before locating the bird roosting in a small tree in the lawn area between the swimming pool and the lodge. It did some flying back and forth before settling down on the grass to feed at one point flying up to perch in a small tree where I was able to get these images.

A beautiful little dove that takes me now to within 10 birds of 600. Perhaps 2026 will see me over this milestone.