Tag: wildlife photography

White-crowned Sparrow

On By Mike and ChristyLeave a comment

An immature White-crowned Sparrow soaking in some of the golden morning sunlight.

We love listening to adults sing their songs each spring and according to the All About Birds website:

A young male White-crowned Sparrow learns the basics of the song it will sing as an adult during the first two or three months of its life. It does not learn directly from its father, but rather from the generalized song environment of its natal neighborhood.bird

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/White-crowned_Sparrow/overview

Wrentit

On By Mike and Christy1 Comment

Peeking into the shrubs to get a view of the ever-present but what seemed to be always-hidden singer of a wonderful back and forth duet of sound that guided us on our walks in a costal forest. The Wrentit is a beautiful bird with a piercing eye that inhabits the costal scrub and chaparral along the west coast of the United States. They are prolific singers the fill the forests with song at all hours of the day making it easy to know they are present even if seeing them is a chore. Wrentits are non-migratory and it is reported that they may not travel further than half a mile from where they were born.

Reference:  Geupel, G. R. and G. Ballard (2020). Wrentit (Chamaea fasciata), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (P. G. Rodewald, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.wrenti.01

American Pipit

On By Mike and Christy3 Comments
Bugs and plenty of them kept this American Pipit busy and well feed.

American Pipits breed on the arctic tundra as well high alpine meadows yet can regularly be observed during winter and spring migration, as was the case this day. While they sometime can be an inconspicuous looking bird the touch of peachy-orange on this bird certainly drew our attention her way as she foraged contently on a fresh hatch of spring insects.