Signs of Winter

I'm never really convinced winter is here.

The reason is strikingly simple: because it really never does come here in Southern California. Call it what you will, but our winters are just summers in crappy, falling-apart Halloween costumes.

Sure, the predict El Nino will happen every year although it never does and this winter, we even had a miniature version of the 2014 East Coast snow disaster.  But just a paltry three days ago there were enough heat waves rising off from the ground that you could have fried a piece of pork on there and not contract salmonella. The birds can convince anyone otherwise, too. It's not yet February and Wilson's Warblers  are piled up into yellow dollops. Bullock's Orioles are rocking out on the streets to the wagging tails of summer empids. Only the occasional waterfowl waltz-in is an avian wake-up call for birders as to what season it supposedly is.

Sometimes we get enough Ring-billed Gulls at the dumpster to call it a White Christmas, but that's about as close as ho-hum SoCal gets.

Lewis’ Woodpeckers (OC winterers) are essentially woodpecker-flycatchers. How can such a trumpy* thing exist? Ask the strange ways of evolution.

Anything that has a huge, thick bill is automatically lovable. Like this, and this. 

The main difference that winter brings for me is that my suburban yard suddenly becomes completely devoid of anything flying and fruit-colored for a couple months. Unless you count adorable Lesser Goldfinches, which are sort of an aged, moldy banana shade.

Then, there's also the winter irruptions. 

Apparently, SoCal's vacation vibe has infected this winter's irruptive avian visitors, which influxed faster than a load of twitchers to an ABA Code 7 and let birders across Southern Cal have looks that would make any Northerner birder go red. 

There are so many Ancient Murrelets spilling across the SoCal coast that seeing them has already become old. #getthejoke

Varied Thrush outnumbered American Robins this winter. California, you're so weird. 

What are YOUR favorite signs of winter? 

-chiccadee-dee-dee

The Rainbow of Summer (Photo Blog #2)

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THE WINGED RAINBOW OF SUMMER

Summer in Southern California means vibrant reds, pretty yellows, and beautiful blues to birders. Here are seven common colorful visitors from the tropics that can be seen here. 

Western Tanager (backyard)

Fast fact: Western Tanagers obtain their red-colored head from rhodoxathin, without their specialized diet they'd lose it. 

Black-headed Grosbeak (backyard) 

Fast Fact: Black-headed Grosbeaks are one of the few birds that are immune to monarch butterfly toxin and often feed on them. 

Yellow-breasted Chat (Golf course)

Fast fact: Chats mimic other birds in their rattling, loud songs.

Yellow Warbler (park) 

Fast fact: The oldest Yellow Wabler recorded in the wild lived to be 11, which is longer than the longest recorded life span of a Western Tanager by five years. 

Orange-crowned Warbler (outside bushes of a building)

Fast fact: The Orange-crowned Warbler is one of the most geographically diverse warblers in North America.

Blue Grosbeak (Aliso Woods)

Fast Fact: Blue Grosbeaks seen in Orange County and other areas in the West Coast migrate directly over the Gulf of Mexico! 

Costa's Hummingbird (campground area)

Fast Fact: The heart rate of Costa's Hummingbirds vary from 50 times for minute when the bird is torpid to 900 times a minute when the bird is fully active (Soruce: Cornell Lab of Ornithology ) 

Signs of Spring

Spring is Here!

I'm convinced spring is here.

Of course, since it's southern California, technically spring is always here anyway. It's 90 degrees out right now. What I wouldn't do for some darn snow!

The swallows arrived a month or so ago, of course. You know what they say: The early bird gets the worm
(Okay fine, that doesn't even make sense. Whatever, you get the idea).

NRWS at Laguna Niguel. 

They're already seeking out nesting sites! SJ Wildlife Sanctuary. 

Today, I was surprised by one of my favorite summer friends....

 I was reminiscing about spring migration and getting ready to put my feeder back out for the beloved Hooded Orioles. The feeder was buried under a mountain of dust and trash under my bed and the nectar had been sitting in the refrigerator for a year (yeah, I'm probably going to throw it out) when my brother called me over.

"There's a SPOTTED TOWHEE on the plate!"

Now, naturally I was surprised because Spotted Towhees NEVER come to my feeder. They prefer to shamefully scratch under the cover of the briars and thorns. I toss out handfuls of sunflower seed out on the ground for them and the White-crowned Sparrows. '

Of course, it wasn't a Spotted Towhee.

The Black-headed Grosbeaks are back in my yard!!

Last year they had a lot of fun annoying the House Sparrows by pecking their feet at the birdbath (We no longer have House Sparrows here. That's not because of the Grosbeaks, though).

"Is that a House Sparrow?"

"Get out of here, pipsqueak!"

BOOM!

A couple days ago I also sighted the first Hooded Oriole of the year (which was why I was getting out the Oriole feeder) sitting in the magnolia tree. These guys were a blast last year. 10+ would come scrabbling and fighting on the feeder silently. They were all quite amusing to watch! 

"Outta here! This is MY turf!"

"Uh-oh - it's stuck!"

Male Oriole having a splash.

(No pun intended)

Different orioles like to eat in their own different ways. 

I haven't seen any spring warblers yet, unfortunately. It's only a matter of time....

What are some of your favorite summer bird residents?

For the next two days, there won't be any updates. I'm going on a two-day birding trip and will give full details and info when I get back! 

Happy birding, 

chiccadee