The California Bluebird Recovery Program has been going on for the better part of 10 years, and yesterday they finally came up with a statewide logo for all their brochures, etc. Other than looking out for the nest boxes on my trail for the past 5 years, I donated the photo of the Western BB. The original is located below.
Tags: California Bluebird Recovery Program CBRP Logo Western Bluebird Canon SX40 or SX50 DailyNature-TNC13 DailyNature-TNC14 North America NA Ethan Winning E. A. Winning
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My first shot of a WBB worth posting. One of my favorite birds is the beautiful Western Bluebird. Through six years of tending to their nest boxes as part of a recovery program (theirs, not mine), I watched them from eggs to chicks to fledglings. Some years are not good, but failures make me appreciate those that make it to adulthood. And then, being in the right place with my SX40, and getting a steady head and flapping wings (WBB's can hover for some time) just makes my day. Doing 5 miles in the hills and coming back with even one picture makes my day!
Note to those just getting into nature photography: I never use a tripod, and I never ever use Auto. I have taught people from around the world how to use the SX40 and SX50 (Skype helps), and to get around the low light (includes overcast and shade) issues, I have stressed Manual and Shutter priority. Go for speed: Canon finally gave you a burst mode at 4-9 fps: use it.
Tags: Western Bluebird Walnut Creek Open Space DailyNature-TNC13 Canon SX40 or SX50 DailyNature-TNC14 North America NA Ethan Winning E. A. Winning
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In 2009, I joined the new Western Bluebird Restoration Project. My primary responsibilities were to do the census of hatvere species were nesting in either nest boxes or natural nests along the Old Borges Trail. It was fairly rugged, but it certainly didn't seem that hard with all the wildlife that I found on the trail. In addition to seven species of smaller birds, I did find the Western Bluebirds, although they weren't quitte as cooperative as I thought they'd be. Maybe that's one of the reason for the "restoration." One year, I had a total of 126 in addition to tree swallows, oak titmice, and at least three species of wrens. Of course, the one species that were abundant was the state bird, the California Quail, having recovered nicely from a restoration project that started 10 years prior. The group asked me to get a picture of a Bluebird to use as the logo ... as if it were a simple matter of walking the three miles and just like that, voila, a logo. Well, it took four years to get the logo, but I'd like to start with this male in full breeding plumage with cherry blossoms in the background and perched nicely on a lichen covered log. (Logo to follow, but what better way to start this spring when we have counted more of them then in any other year.)
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Thanks to all that gave IDing this morning's upload that old high school try. Those of you who have never seen one, here's a much better example. In 2012, I became somewhat of an expert on Rock Wrens, having actually seen one ;-)
First, the rock wren (Salpinctes obsoletus) is a small songbird of the wren family native to South America and western North America. It is the only species in the genus Salpinctes. Adults are about 12 cm long. They have grey-brown upperparts with small black and white spots and pale grey underparts with a light brown rump. Additional distinctive features include a light grey line over the eye, a long slightly decurved thin bill, a long barred tail and dark legs. They actively hunt on the ground, around and under objects, probing with their bill as their extraction tool. They mainly eat insects and spiders. Its song is a trill that becomes more varied during the nesting season.
Since I was able to get within 25 feet of two nesting pair for much of the summer, I saw the most amazing thing about these birds. Like Bowerbirds, the male chooses two rocks or even better, boulders, and "builds" a runway to the entrance. He flattens it and removes debris from either side, and then lines each side with pebbles (only white from the three nests I saw), and starts the prettiest trill while perched atop the boulders. I only saw one successful courtship where the female flew down, inspected the "runway," and then entered. That was his clue. He clenched one claw, bent his knees, and yelled, "Yessss!"
The one problem I had was that these birds, while they may hunt for insects in the grasslands and wood piles on flat land, nested at 900 feet, and there was no trail ... other than the one I left by hiking uphill and down (there was another way, but it was six miles one way). I thought I would see the babies if they were successful, but I got no pictures of the eggs or any chicks. In fact, because of the slope, I could not hold my balance long enough to get the runway. I did, however, get a shot of a head to head meeting between the male of one pair with ... a Western Fence Lizard, a meeting which lasted about 15 minutes. It's not a great image, but it's in focus. If I can find it, I'll post beneath this.
Btw, if I had to rank songs, the House Wren would be first, the Rock Wren next, the Marsh Wren next, and the rarely heard Bewick's Wren fourth. The Marsh Wren, for those of you trying to get western versions, has one of the prettiest songs, but he belts it out from the top of a reed and immediately - I mean immediately! - dives to the bottom of the reeds. But, it is one of the birds where I listen for first and then find out where it's coming from. The Oak Titmouse is another, but it has a way of projecting so that you may not get a direction from it. The bird - at about 3 inches - could be anywhere including inside an old woodpecker nest. No, there's no echo.
For those of you who vaguely remember that summer of mine, this was the hill where I found the most beautiful and intricate map lichen. It is also the hill where I found Lark Sparrows dusting and rolling on ant mounds (called, of all things, "anting")
Tags: Rock Wren Wrens Songbirds Mt. Diablo - Walnut Creek, CA On Mt. Diablo Canon SX 40 Copyright Ethan Winning Western Fence Lizard
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My first of the year, this male Western Bluebird was making it very difficult to see and then get a good shot. The reason he was out so early was the female that I also captured. Neither is in full color, and the male is not singing. Still a most beautiful resident to perk up the lake (which is down at least a foot in water; the stream is dried up entirely; and the lush vegetation edging the entire lake by June is dead or dormant). On a positive note, the first notes of the rasp of the Redwing Blackbird could be heard yesterday, and I'm pretty sure I got a glimpse of one of our resident Red-shouldered Hawks.
I've got to get back there before the oaks leafs (it can't be "the oaks leave," right). Who knows what else I'll find. And note, in the 50 years I've lived here, we have always had at least one deep frost in late winter or early spring. If you're new here, it will comes as a surprise because it usually follows a rise in temperatures even into the low 70s. This year may be the exception: our citrus trees in the back yard usually don't ripen and become sweet until the last week in February or first week in March. But I've been picking four a day for the past week and we've been enjoying them with breakfast and lunch, and my wife has started making her "famous" lemon curd!
Tags: Western Bluebird Winter plumage Thrush Mt. Diablo - Walnut Creek, CA Canon SX 50 Copyright Ethan Winning
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