"Altricial birds, keeping their young (hatched naked and helpless) under lock and key, don’t have to lay as many eggs to get sufficient survivors. If you’re lucky, you’ll discover an altricial bird nest with young, cheeping incessantly as a mom or dad stuffs bugs and other delicacies into their gaping mouths. If you’re thoughtful, you’ll also watch from a distance, taking care not to unsettle this fragile launching of life. Eventually, after a couple of weeks or so, these helpless birds have eaten enough bugs, grown enough feathers and gained enough strength to test their wings and venture out where we can enjoy their comic struggles to mature. Even though some don’t look much like their parents, they’re still easy to recognize as juveniles. Look for fluff balls on unsteady legs, quivering, shaking and cheeping, while a parent faithfully brings them food, shows them where to eat and probably wonders when the heck they’ll fend for themselves."
birdingthebrookeandbeyond.com

Tags:   juvenile bird Pepla guy Phainopepla Phainopepla nitens Capulinero Negro Silky flycatcher Flycatcher Canon Camaraderie canon 80 D Phénopèple luisant Los Liones Lightroom lind Wesen Vogel Los liones canyon Inceville southern california birds Bird watching Bird watching Los Angeles migrating bird Friendship Fugl fledgling oiseau avem goober birding with W9 + Jerry pekabo90401 Pacific palisades birds from the vault goth baby

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Here is another photo of the Green-tailed Towhee. This little charmer put on a show for us just as we entered the garden…specifically the Children's Garden. We had to make a choice: stay and risk having a family scare off our prize quarry or, try to sidetrack the parents and child’s attention by diversion and thereby, temporarily abandoning our mark. We chose the latter tactical maneuver figuring that we could reenter the party at any time.

Here is what happened. After the family with the camera kid finally moved along… we plunged back into getting the GTTO. But now, the little fart wants nothing to do with us. W9 tracks him, finds him. He briefly visited a puddle and bolted. W9 finds him under bushes foraging in the shadows. What the hell happened to the showy diva we met as we arrived at the garden party???

W9 has skills and will not be detoured. Strong, acrobatic, flexible, relentless; all the necessary skills... to catch a skulker; you need to out-skulk the skulker. My feet are dog tired but I hope there is better light on the other side of the bushes. We split up. The light on the other side is equally bad, but W9 does not give up. Note to self: buy W9 a miner’s helmet with headlamp for Christmas.

And as for the unfortunate juju on W9's equipment, don't believe the claim that my "big rig" has powers, I am looking into a spell breaker. I saw it on The Grimm. A documentary series based on the true lives of North Americans of German descent.

I might try the anti-Verfluchte Zwillingsschwester. But, “Alles hat ein Ende; nurdie Wurst hatzwei."


Let's cheer to good friends sharing a common passion and allow me to present our latest lifer bird. Again.


"There’s nothing quite like the color that gives the Green-tailed Towhee its name—a deep olive lightening to yellow-green on the edges of the wings and tail. Set off by a gray chest, white throat, and rufous crown, this large sparrow is a colorful resident of the West’s shrubby mountainsides and sagebrush expanses—if you can see one. They spend their time scratching at leaf litter under dense cover, occasionally popping into view to whistle a song or give a querulous mewing call." allaboutboids

Tags:   Wesen southern california birds 100-400 Canon Camaraderie canon 80 D 80D Rare bird friendship palos verdes palos verdes birds SCBG TLDR GTTO Tohi à queue verte Pipilo chlorurus green-tailed towhee towhee bird watching American sparrow family Emberizidae pekabo90401 sparrow moineau spatz mus spurv passero chim se sẻ manu liilii σπουργίτης スズメ 참새 Birdwatching Los Angeles South Coast Botanic Garden south coast botanic garden birds birds of southern california garden monkey skulking bird The Grimm rusty Mohawk hair singing monkey vortex likes those sticks lightroom Lifer Life bird

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Wintertime in Los Angeles. We have two seasons. Wet and Dry. And we are lucky lucky to be getting RAIN now.
The parking lot at Los Liones Canyon was empty. The BDBs (Beer Drinking Bums: Our competition for the best picnic table.) were not in attendance. The hikers and joggers must have taken the day to go shopping for yoga attire and vapor pens. Or sunglasses. Whatever people shop for these days.
I would rather be birding than shopping and I have the outfits and shoes to prove it.
"Spotted Towhees are birds of dry thickets, brushy tangles, forest edges, old fields, shrubby backyards, chaparral, coulees, and canyon bottoms, places with dense shrub cover and plenty of leaf litter for the towhees to scratch around in."allaboutboids

Tags:   wesen Pipilo maculatus canon canon 80-D 100-400 Wintertime high ISO spotted towhee canyon monkey pekabo90401 Tohi tacheté Chouís Toquí de Socorro sparrow moineau spatz mus spurv passero chim se sẻ manu liilii σπουργίτης スズメ 참새 Bird watching Birdwatching Los Angeles Los Liones Los liones canyon southern california birds birds of southern california pacific palisades birds Inceville lightroom wet season green happens after a rainfall I guess it does rain in Southern California red eye Camaraderie friendship Not today, Beer Drinking Bums. Winter light catch of the day Stump monkey

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W9 and I find ourselves walking the mulched path along the racetrack of Jefferson Blvd.
Now the light is better. Thin clouds pass overhead. The sun is lower in the sky.
We haven’t traveled far but apparently this duck has.
I set my camp stool up at the water's edge. The ground is soggy and spongy. The stool legs are slowly sinking. Unevenly. I do my best to dig my heels into the soft muddy soil. My Marsh Pilates will have to do to get my lens as close as possible to this exciting visitor.

I feel something crawling on my shin and look down to see it was standing room only for the ant-palooza festival on my socks.
The water seemed to bubble and boil as the duck took a dive. Underwater 15 seconds. 15 seconds to frantically smack the ants off my legs without falling off the tilting camp stool...then boom. Back to focusing and waiting for the perfect shot.
Gotta get this wonderful duck who traveled so far to see us. It’s the least we can do…

Tags:   fulvous Whistling-duck pekabo90401 Canon Camaraderie Friendship Fugl Lightroom SX 50 southern california birds Rare bird Canon SX 50 chim Bird watching Bird watching Los Angeles Ballona Ballona Freshwater Marsh birds of playa vista ducks video has grebe call canard eend Marsh monkey had to delete first attempt at posting video 鸭 ente vogel Wesen suiriri bicolor dendrocygna bicolor πάπια アヒル 오리 утка vivid setting on SX 50 HSS Happy Slider Sunday pushing the sliders เป็ด dendrocygna fauve con vịt lind Lifer Life bird rare for us duck

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I was delighted to see our rare visitor continues. He has a special energy. W9 calls him an "Arcade Bird" daring you to catch a glimpse of him as he dashes back under the brush.
Here he is framed by green. Green in the canyon. Green in Los Angeles.
ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S35168053

Tags:   rare bird winter light pacific palisades birds canyon monkey pekabo90401 camaraderie friendship birds of southern california inceville lightroom 80-D 100-400 canon canon 80-D Zonotrichia albicollis white-throated sparrow wesen hiding monkey Bruant à gorge blanche sparrow moineau spatz mus spurv passero chim se sẻ manu liilii σπουργίτης スズメ 참새 Bird watching Bird watching Los Angeles Los Liones Los liones canyon

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