A Hatch-Year bird in the shade at Elk Slough, Yolo County, California. The dry rattle in background is a Western Tanager.

Tags:   Empidonax difficilis Pacific-slope Flycatcher Empidonax Flycatcher Tyrannidae empid California Yolo County Elk Slough songbird Passerine

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This dark morph was behaving more like its cousin, Red-shouldered Hawk. I have never seen a Swainson's perch so low to water before. It remained for some time scanning up and down Elk Slough, Yolo County, California. Birds singing in the video includes: Spotted Towhee, House Wren, Bullock's Oriole, House Finch, Nuttall's Woodpecker (rattle at 8 sec from end), and Northern Rough-winged Swallow (electronic buzz at 4 sec from end) a distant Jungle Fowl too.

Tags:   Swainson's Hawk Buteo swainsoni Buteo Hawk Raptor Bird of Prey California Yolo County Elk Slough

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Video of drying cormorant, photographed at Elk Slough, Yolo County, California. Here a Double-crested Cormorant is starting to dry its feathers after a morning of fishing. Cormorants lack preen glands that produce the oils that birds use to coat their feathers for waterproofing. So cormorants must dry their wings in the air. Kind of like hanging towels on the backward laundry line.

Tags:   Double-crested Cormorant cormorant shag Phalacrocorax auritus California Yolo County Elk Slough

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I like this sequence because the bird is out in the open and it shows off the nervous wing-flicking behavior of Hermit Thrush. Video taken at Elk Slough, Yolo County, California. The call in the background is that of a Bewick's Wren.

Tags:   Hermit Thrush Catharus guttatus Thrush Turdidae California Yolo County Elk Slough

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Foraging in winter wheat field. Cosumnes River Preserve, Salas Road, Sacramento County, CA. The breathing is Fenway the Boykin Spaniel!

Tags:   Sandhill Crane Grus canadensis California Sacramento COunty Cosumnes River Preserve Gruidae crane cranes

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