 |
| Western Bluebird, Sunset Boulevard Greenbelt |
One nice thing about bluebirds is there aren't 29 different species of them throughout the state, as there are with sparrows.
The other day I was scrolling through Flickr images and came across Eric Zhou's shot of a brewer's sparrow, which he was able to add to his life list. I thought of his shot again today as I was walking along the Sunset Boulevard greenbelt hoping to find some migrating birds to photograph, but having to settle for the usual suspects.
Among those were numerous little brown birds, most of which were probably house finches (judging by the males flashing red), whose camouflage is often so good that I don't see them until they're flying away from below my feet. I'm impressed by anyone who can spot, say, a brewer's sparrow, among such a group.
One interesting tidbit I learned today is that dark-eyed juncos are sparrows.
 |
| Okay, I'm pretty sure these are two little brown birds.... I would guess they are sparrows but would not be surprised if they are finches, or even one of each! |
 |
| A couple of pygmy nuthatches were probing for pine nuts among the cones and leaf litter. This little fellow pulled a nut from a cone but flew into a nearby tree to eat it before I could get my lens on him. |
 |
| If you look closely, you can actually see the horizon. Quite a change from our recent foggy days. This is the northernmost of the seal rocks, and it had the lion's share of bird life. Most of the sea lions seem to have moved on. There were none on the rocks today, and I've only seen one or two out there the last few days. I finally saw a few pelicans diving on prey today, but just a few individuals at wide intervals. |
* * *
