More Birds of Southern California

Nesting ibis

White-faced ibis

Ruddy Duck starting a dive

A coot - they have weird legs and feet

Spring at the San Diego Safari Park brings lots of native birds who enjoy nesting by the lagoon.  There were a lot of very boisterous egrets.  The ibises were also nesting.  I took about 15 pictures trying to get a good one.  They are dark brown and tend to conceal themselves in the trees.  I got a photo of two of them out for a stroll (top picture).

I believe this is a Eurasian Collared Dove.  It had a distinct ring-neck and was larger than a mourning dove.

I think this is a Townsend warbler.  It had distinct patches of bright yellow and inky black.

On Sunday, I went to Lake Hodges.  I was overjoyed to see that it was full of water and teeming with waterfowl.  

Grebes, Western grebes

The white dots are all pelicans

A pair of pelicans and their reflection in the still water

Mourning doves (Zenaida macroura) are common in our area, but I think they are always charming and interesting.  They are usually in pairs or a small family group.

These brown pelicans flew overhead while I was a Cardiff State Beach on Friday:

I believe this is a California thrasher (Toxostoma redvivum).  They perch and fly, but also enjoy some time on the ground.  Their beaks have a distinct curve and they have a long, expressive tail.  They are confident and it is a little easier to get closer to them than other birds.

California thrasher

It's so hard to tell some of these sparrows apart.  I thought the ones below were the same bird, but they actually look like different species.  The top one looks like a song sparrow and the bottom more like a chipping sparrow.  Both these birds get my vote for most likely to fly into your house.  They often peer at my glass doors looking intently into the house.

I believe these are ravens below.  They are much larger than crows and have thick bills.  I often see crows on the ground, but never ravens.  I see them flying or taking a break on the rooftops.  They seem uninterested in people, unlike crows who seem to take notice of human activities.  I used to live in a neighborhood where crows raided trash bags left out on trash day.