December Bird Banding

It was a cloudy, cool day in Zuma Canyon. We were told the ticks were out.
We caught several interesting birds, most of which I have no (or bad) pictures of. Here are the few that are ok.

This is an Anna's Hummingbird. The first picture is blurry, but you can still see the beautiful colors on its gorget.
Clearly visible here are the growths around the hummer's left eye.
He had survived this long with them, so we could only release him and hope for the best. We do not actually band the hummingbirds. It is possible, but you have to have a special permit for it (and some very small tools). We take them back to the station and process them, meaning that we identify them and then age, sex and weigh them. Weighing them is kind of fun as you lay them on the scale on their backs and they don't put up a fight. They docilely stay there. They usually weigh a gram or so. All the other birds we put upside down in pill bottles to weigh (this keeps them from flying off).

Here is a female Nuttall's Woodpecker. She was aged as a hatch year bird (meaning she was born in the summer this year).
Her flight feathers had not molted yet as she was a hatch year bird, and they had been bleached through use/exposure to the sun.
Those feathers were much darker at the tips when she was born.

November Bird Banding

We had another session this month. It was back to standard time, so I had to get up at 5:00 a.m. to make it out to the coast for our 6:34 a.m. start time. I actually was a little early.
My favorite bird yesterday:
We usually don't catch Western Scrub Jays as they are "too smart" (the Master Bander's words) to fly into a mist net. He said only the young ones are stupid enough to do it, and it only happens once. Alas, I aged this bird as an adult. Perhaps s/he (sex difficult to determine unless it's breeding season) was having an off day.

In spite of its large size and fierce appearance, it was very tame in the hand.
When I let it go, it gave a classic jay squawk and shat. Glad it didn't do that in my hand. Handling bird poop is definitely a side effect of banding, but the mostly small birds we handle make small effluvia. This is ... palatable. The jay is not a small bird.

We had another Oak Titmouse, which, again, endlessly abused the fingers of those who handled it. Wasn't me this time! Walter, the Master Bander, said that this bird's raised crest was the avian equivalent of the primate's raised middle finger.
Here's part of our setup; that's Walter on the left, with the canyon behind him.

A Few Election Observations

This blog is and has been apolitical, but I feel compelled to speak today.
Yesterday I witnessed a few things I never have seen in Los Angeles:

- I had to wait in line an hour to vote. All very patiently & quietly waited their turn.
- I was out on the street around 8 p.m. PST when the city gave a collective yell. Barack Obama had just been named the winner, and our 44th president.
- I waited in line to get into a club were we could see Obama's speech, and the majority of the cars driving by were honking and there were people literally dancing in the streets.
- Later, on the way home, several corners were full of crowds of people yelling with joy.

A fine moment in U.S. history to be alive.

November Bird Banding

Cloudy and cool conditions made for the most pleasant bird banding in Zuma yet. For once, it was 10 a.m. and I did not feel like a turkey roasting in an oven.

Bewick's Wren. Such a pretty little bird, and feisty, too. They like to complain at the indignity of being held by a mammal.
And, for all you people out there who appreciate color, I present the
Nuttall's Woodpecker.


Lastly, the Oak Titmouse. Mark and I recently saw a lot of these up in the Central Valley, so it was fun to see one up close. It turns out they are avid and successful biters.

Young Elk Looking for Its Herd

It sounds a little pathetic, no? We saw it at Gold Bluffs Beach in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park in CA.

Yosemite Vacation

Mark and I spent a few weeks in July in Yosemite National Park with our friends Amy & Rich and their son Jefrey. We set up base camp at White Wolf, and spent many a day hiking in the High Sierras. Mark and I then spent 3 days+2 nights backpacking in the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne River. We started at Tuolumne Meadows and ended by walking out to our campsite at White Wolf. The last two nights were spent at a cabin outside the park, It was great to have a shower, cook decadent meals and play some backgammon.
I opted for a photo album, but that's the backstory.

September Bird Banding

It was a little chilly Saturday morning at 6:30 when I arrived at Zuma Canyon for bird banding. Fall is here. We were expecting many migrants, but only ended up with one, a Wilson's Warbler, on our last net run. Oh, wait. There was a female Black-headed Grosbeak, also.
Both of these bird I see in Yosemite during the summers. They were on their ways south for the winter.

We mostly had Wrentits and California Thrashers, an endemic California songbird - and a cool-looking bird if there ever was one. Look at that bill!


Wrentits are interesting because they are the only American representative of the Old World babbler family. When foreign birders come to the US, they try to see these birds as they are very unique. They skulk in the chaparral, and are more often heard than seen, but they are our most common bird netted. And, I managed to not take any photos of them! Next time .... They are very hard to take out of the net because they usually have a death grip on the net with their feet. You have to convince them to let it go.
I had a hummingbird. This time, I actually took it back to the station and processed it. I discovered it was an adult female Anna's Hummingbird. Her heart beats so fast that she felt like she was purring. Her bill was not flexible either (not like the one described last time), so they must harden up when they hit adulthood. No photos because I was too worried about her health. They tend to "go fast", so I don't dally when I process them.
It was an exhausting day for me. Some of the nets are a good distance, and it gets hot once the sun comes up. And, getting up at 5:15 .m. isn't easy for me, either. I am out of practice.