Birds of the Week

On Tuesday I noticed a different sparrow with all the White-crowned Sparrows under the thistle sock in my backyard. A Savannah Sparrow! It quickly departed, but I found it again foraging in the greenbelt behind my house. It was surprisingly well camouflaged in amongst the dead grass!

Here's another shot of it:

On Wednesday I birded Peters Canyon for a couple hours in the morning. I birded the Lakeview, Willow, and Cactus Point Trails. I found four new Peters Canyon birds - Lesser Scaup, Lesser Yellowlegs, Violet-green Swallow (county bird) and Dark-eyed Junco. Other birds of note included Fox Sparrows (singing), Northern Flickers, Northern Pintails, a single Vaux's Swift, and two Eared Grebes that flew within several feet of my head while I was standing on top of the dam (where it is legal, of course). I never knew grebes could fly that fast!

Yesterday I birded along the Santa Ana River between the Lincoln and Taft Avenue crossings. A Blackburnian Warbler had been found a few days before in a small line of trees and bushes next to the river, along with a Philadelphia Vireo. I dipped on both of them. I did see a Cattle Egret in the riverbed - a pretty decent bird for the county. It was a county bird for me. Here's an awful shot of it in flight - note the dark legs and feet; short, thick, orange bill; and overall stocky appearance.

This morning I was working on schoolwork in my bedroom when suddenly I noticed a bird fluttering around in a large eucalyptus tree right outside. It was acting like a flycatcher, but when I took a closer look I realized it was a woodpecker - a Red-naped Sapsucker! It was definitely a different one than the one that I saw a couple weeks ago in the neighborhood - this one was a full-blown adult male, while the other one was duller, with some white on the throat - maybe a female. Later, I noticed a Black-throated Gray Warbler right outside the window. I really should start a "birds seen from bedroom window" list!

Later, I found a Common Yellowthroat flopping around by the front door of my house - it probably hit a window. I caught it quickly and placed it under a cardboard box in the backyard to keep it safe from predators while it recovered. I checked every half hour. Its eyes were bright and open, and it was looking around, but it seemed disoriented and staggered around. Eventually it hopped/fluttered into some bushes so I think it will make it. Here's a quick shot I took of it in hand - though it may look like I was squeezing it, I was actually gently holding it in what's known as "the bander's grip".