Late May Bird Banding

We started late yesterday. Walt was out of town and forgot to leave the gate key with Jim, who was our leader for the day. We waited a few hours for an NPS Ranger to show up and unlock the gate.

I had two guests this time, Mark and his coworker Kaori. And it was a good thing for me. There were three of us banders, so we ran only 9 nets. That meant I had 3 nets to myself on every run. Mark and Kaoari were great support holding the nets back, handing me sticks I could use as tools, and, most importantly, running the hummers back to the station to be processed ASAP. Hummers tend to be fragile creatures and it was hot in the canyon starting around 10 a.m.. Best to take care of them quickly.

The highlight for me was this Costa's Hummingbird; I had never seen one before. This is me getting him out of the net. Notice how his iridescent feathers look black from this angle.

And here he is on Kaori's hand. They often don't fly away right off, so she is providing a platform for his launch, once he decides to get up and go, which he did a few minutes later. You get the full effect of his iridescence from this angle.
Another treat was this Juvenile Western Scrub Jay. Look at the soft downy feathers on this head and the remnants of his gape (the wide usually yellowish mouth that nestlings have).
Another intersting bird - a Song Sparrow with some kind of problem with its head feathers.
Orange-crowned Warbler. You can only see his orange crown in the hand. This picture doesn't demonstrate it, but he had one!
And, the biggest treat of the day for me was the following bird. I saw the male flying around and hoped he would get in the net. Lo and behold, on the last net run I got my wish. Well close enough - I got the female Phainopepla.
She made lots of very unusual sounds when I was trying to take her out of the net. Kaori said she sounded like a car alarm.

Early May Bird Banding

It was a foggy morning at Zuma Canyon. Start time was 5:57 a.m. and I had brought company with me. Mark decided to check it out, just this once, to see what I do with myself every other Saturday. There were only four of us (not counting Mark), but we ran all nets except for #7, which involves an out-of-the-way walk up a steep hill.

The Pacific-slope Flycatchers were out in full force singing, and we got several in the nets.Look at their lovely almond-shaped eye ring (and please ignore my grip on the bird; it's all wrong).
Mark managed to get a photo of one of the gophers; we see evidence of them all over -their holes - but rarely see them.
We got another Black-chinned Hummingbird and this time I actually got a photo of it. It's gorgeous.

We also got two Warbling Vireos. Another first for me at that station. They are so quietly elegant.

Cool bush. I think it's called Sugar Bush.
And, last but not least, the House Finch. He's a very common bird around our house (he sneaks food from the hummer feeder) and we see him in the canyon all the time. This is the first time I have banded one, though, and I was impressed by his red feathers and his culmen. My neighbor calls them flying lizards.

April Bird Banding

It was an great morning of banding. We started at 6.11 a.m. and it was pleasantly cool in the canyon.
We got another Red-shafted Flicker. The person who brought it back from the net kindly handed it off to me to process. Perhaps I have made my great affection for Flickers clear?
Look how he uses his tail to brace against Walter's hand. That's what they do on trees, so he's just doing this behavior on a person for stability.
We also saw a pretty large Pacific Gopher Snake


Most birds are in breeding condition. The first bird I got was a Spotted Towhee female, who was about to lay an egg.I could tell because when I looked at her cloaca, I could see an egg-shaped bulge under the skin. As soon as I realized this I finished up with her quickly and let her go so she could make some more Towhees.

Some birds already had nestlings. Walter found these Bewick's Wren babies and showed us them:
We quickly took a peak and he put them back in the nest.

We also had a male and female Black-chinned Hummingbird, and a male and female Black-headed Grosbeak. Click on the links to look at the size of the beak. They use it. I have never been so abused by a bird. They are very good at getting tiny pieces of your finger skin in their beaks and they just clamp down. Ouch!

We also had another treat; this is an unusual bird to get in Zuma Canyon. It is quite beautiful.


Male Lazuli Bunting.

Carrizo Plain National Monument

Easier to post these here.

Our Very Own Birds

Two chickens and an (unexpected) quail. The quail chirps rather loudly for such a small creature. The chickens peep.

We're going to have fresh green/blue eggs in a few months!

March Bird Banding

We had an exciting morning yesterday as we got an unusual bird. Walt has been banding in Zuma Canyon for, I think, 20 years, and he has never caught this bird. It is a rare stray to the Western U.S., and to think it landed in one of our nets!

It's the Rose-breasted Grosbeak. If you look at the range map on the right in the link, you will see it is an eastern bird, but there are records of it straying this far west.

This is a male in his winter plumage. This is his breeding plumage.
Here's Walt getting the band ready for the bird. You have to do that and hold it at the same time, which can be tricky.
Here in the west we have more commonly have the Black-headed Grosbeak.

The canyon also seemed to be suddenly flooded with singing Orange-crowned Warblers. Two weeks ago I didn't hear any, which makes me think they are migrating north right now. Though Walt says there is a resident population, too. I was really excited I heard one on a net run. I tried to find it for a while to get visual confirmation (I had heard its song and was positive, but wanted to be extra-positive about the ID). Well, I couldn't find it, but I got back to the station and said, "Walt, I know I hear an Orange-crowned Warbler." Lo and behold, one had been caught in a net already and was being processed. Old news to everyone already back at the station.
It's hard to see the orange crown in the field with binoculars. You have to have it in your hand and actually move the feathers around on his head to see it.

These plants were in bloom all over the place. It's a ribes. I think the common name is some kind of gooseberry; I'm not sure. I got this info from other people as I'm not so great at plants.

And, I was saving the daintiest for last. We got a few Anna's Hummingbirds. Here is one. I think it was a female.
Oh - and we got a few Bewick's Wrens. I love its eye stripe.

February Bird Banding + Griffith Park

I'm far behind. These pictures are from our session two weeks ago. It was kind of slow; we only had 28 birds.
One of them is this gorgeous warbler - the Common Yellowthroat. I know I've had pictures of him before, but I never get tired of his Lone Ranger look.
Here is a California Thrasher's tail. Its tail gets very beat up because they spend a lot of time in scrubby bushes.
Here I am with a male Spotted Towhee.
And here is a Hermit Thrush. They have one of the loveliest songs. I hear them when I work in Yosemite. This one is migrating north.
Wildflowers were starting to come out. Lupine.
And, some yellow flowers near Net 08.


I went on a hike in Griffith Park a week ago and wildflowers were out there, too, in the recent fire areas.