Category: photos

This morning I hiked out at Black Rock Forrest again. I have enjoyed going out there – to me there is a sense of adventure involved because you never know what you might see. I had a birdy walk with mostly the usuals, but the day did end up being eventful.  I have to mention that the bugs were absolutely terrible on this hike. I walked around in a cloud of gnats and mosquitoes that never seemed to end. I’m usually fine with the insects on a trail; they don’t really bother me. But today it was overwhelming, to the point where it was affecting my birding because I didn’t want to stop as often as I normally would.

About an hour into the hike, I walked out into a clearing to find a relatively large black bear right in front of me. I took a quick series of photos, but I was nervous because I’d come out into the clearing  quite close to the bear. I made a bunch of noise, but the bear held its ground, so I decided that I did not need to continue on that trail any further and slowly retreated. Not long after that, I inadvertently flushed a RUFFED GROUSE as I walked along the trail. The bird was just off the trail and instead of taking flight, it fled into the forrest on foot – giving me (sadly) my best look at a RUGR to date. I lingered in the general vicinity for a good while, keeping still and hoping for a reemergence of the bird, but it was not to be. I think you only get one shot with these birds. My final event was not a good one. I was making my way back to my car, moving at decent pace. I stopped to listen as a distant (presumed) bear had heard me coming and was making its way through the woods at a rapid pace off to my right. I never saw the bear, but it made quite the ruckus. My next step happened to be on a wet rock and I wiped out pretty good. I was fine, but unfortunately my camera did not come out of it  unscathed. Fortunately the lens seems to be fine, but the body took a good blow and is not able to connect with the lens, so it looks like it will have to go in for repairs. I finished my hike having logged just over 6 miles, with 35 species of birds and who-knows-how-many mosquito bites.

It’s the time of year when just about all of the birds in our area are expected breeders, so I didn’t have any real surprises this week. I got out a good amount and, I have to say, the birding has been really enjoyable. It’s a time of year to just enjoy seeing the birds, and to watch their behavior, and, of course, to photograph them. Here’s a sampling of the birds (and bears) I had in the past week.

I got out and around locally this morning. My main goal was to check on the American Bitterns from last night – in my imagination I was picturing numerous bitterns flying around the Liberty Loop in perfect light. The reality was more than slightly different; I met Linda Scrima there first thing  and although we heard an American Bittern calling repeatedly, we were unable to get a visual. We had no shorebirds, but I did pick up a few FOY birds – Brown Thrasher, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, and Field Sparrow.

A quick stop at the Camel Farm was disappointing – one lonely Killdeer is all Linda and I could find as far as shorebirds go. From there I headed to Wickham Lake; best birds were a Common Loon and a Horned Grebe and I also picked up my FOY Blue-gray Gnatcatchers. Glenmere Lake and pond were relatively unproductive but I did have 4 Blue-winged Teal at the pond. I watched them for a good while; they are beautiful. My final stop of the morning was in the black dirt to check on the Horned Lark flock. I last had them on Tuesday evening, but including today I’ve come up empty on my last 2 tries. I spent about an hour trying to wait them out today, but I’m starting to think they have moved on.

The Lapland Longspur is another bird that, to me, has an inherent coolness factor. Even the name is cool. I can remember when I first began birding, looking in a guide at the Lapland Longspur and thinking: Now THIS is a bird I would like to see. Of course, I was looking in the book at the bird in breeding plumage- rather than the more muted winter plumage we see them in here in Orange County.  I hadn’t had much luck photographing LALOs this winter until today in the black dirt, where I located approximately a half dozen amongst flock of horned larks. The snow cover was forcing the birds to feed at the roadside, so I finally got my photo op.  And, at this late date in the winter, some of the birds were just starting to get their summer colors – it’s the first time I’ve ever had LALOs showing any significant amount of breeding plumage – I think they look awesome!