My thanks to the wild birds for a wonderful winter!

Greetings everyone!

Sonoma County has now had 3 days of mild, sunny weather. It may be no more than a false spring, but it was enough to let me know that winter is coming to a close in our corner of the world, and I knew it was time to finish up the painting I’ve been working on during the cold months.

Above you see the result - Ode to a Winter Apple Tree, painted in acrylics on canvas. The subject of this painting is my Gravenstein apple tree which is my view from the place I work all day at my computer. This is my corner of bliss, an everchanging scene of colors, light, and of course, wild birds.

You can click for an enlarged view of the painting here. What you see in this post is as large of an image as the blog format will allow, but if you take a close gander, you will find 9 of the birds who have been daily visitors to this benevolent old tree. Can you identify the birds?
Try first, and then look at the list below:

American Goldfinch
Dark-eyed Junco
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Oak Titmouse
Hermit Thrush
Housefinch
Red-breasted Sapsucker
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Ruby-crowned Kinglet

If you’ve been watching the birds this winter in Sonoma County or the greater Bay Area, chances are, you’ve observed most of these species.

Did you see a day like this one this winter, with the afternoon sky slate blue, and shafts of sunlight piercing the glowering atmopshere, illuminating the last of the lantern-like leaves, the bark on the trees, and the flickering birds? Did you catch the special, glowing light of it all? This is what I’ve tried to capture with this painting and I hope you had at least one day like this in recent months.

The Red-breasted Sapsucker has truly been the apple of my eye this season, as I watched him watching the other birds around him. I watched him blink his thoughtful eye, craning his neck to be sure he missed nothing, and then he would spring across the trunk to chase away the Ruby-crowned Kinglet and the Yellow-rumped Warbler who came to the apple tree to glean the sweet sap he had mined. The Juncos have always been here, trailing their white streamers, and the Hermit Thrush never once uttered a sound from his secretive perch. The Housefinches were greedy, but the chubby chickadee’s generosity with the sunflower seeds became a subject of the closest study for us, and the Oak Titmouse was always at his side. And, the brightness of the American Goldfinch and the Yellow-Rumped Warbler fully quenched my color-thirsty eyes.

Already, the roster of birds has changed. The sapsucker and the warbler have left my garden, only to be replaced by the thrill of Varied Thrushes and White-breasted Nuthatches. Sparrows are everwhere! Spring is coming with its Orioles and Warblers in their lavish hues.

But first, a pause to reflect on the good winter that has been.

Stellar’s Jay - identifying the blue mystery in Sonoma County shadows.

Greetings!
Few Sonoma County birds present us with such a world of contrasts. At one moment, the Stellar’s Jay is the noisiest bird in the forest - the next, he turns as quiet as a Winter Wren. In the deep shade of the evergreens he loves, he moves like a shadow, a thing of dusk and mystery - and then he flashes out into a patch of sunlight, allowing the rays to illuminate his royal blue and ebony plumes. He can cry as sweetly as a Killdeer, but scold more harshly than a Barn Owl. He is the retrospective thinker in the conifer canopy, and the brash pilferer of picnics at the campground. In short, the Stellar’s Jay cannot be easily summed up.

A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I were walking through the mixed oak and eucalyptus grove below the silos at Jack London State Park in Glen Ellen. We were hoping to find the pair of Pileated Woodpeckers that we’d recently seen there. I thought we were in luck when I heard their loud, mechanical utterance blowing down the wind at us. We stood very still, scanning the trees for that fiery glimpse of red. The telltale shake of a branch informed me that a large bird was moving about above us. But then came a hawk’s cry…I guessed a Red-tailed Hawk…from that very spot. More rustling in the foliage. More lilting cries. And then…the derisive rasp of the Stellar’s Jay! He had completely fooled us, and perhaps every other bird in the forest. Like many Jays, this bird is an excellent mimic. I saw him then, with his signature peaked crown, as he headed deeper into the woods, satisfied with his gotcha!

Field Notes on the Stellar’s Jay
Sonoma County neighbors are most likely to encounter Stellar’s Jays wherever evergreen trees grow, be it in a state park or a backyard. They immediately give one an impression of power with their strong bill, sturdy form and assured skipping across the ground. Most people who have camped out in this neck of the woods know that this bird has readily adapted itself to humans and will scour for food scraps to supplement its diet of seeds, fruit and insects. Yet, around its nest site it can make itself practically invisible and is secretive and shy to protect its eggs and young in their twiggy cup.

Stellar’s Jay is the only crested jay bird in the western United States and it is a year-round resident in Sonoma County and the greater Bay Area. Where we live, it is not nearly as common as the blue, grey and white Scrub Jay, and I am always thrilled to see this bigger, more majestic bird. The blue coloration of his wings and underbelly is unique in the local birding world. To me, Scrub Jays are a dull turquoise. Western Bluebirds are a gleaming Dutch blue. Tree Swallows are like sapphires and diamonds in flight. I simply haven’t found words yet to quite describe the iridescence of the Lazuli Bunting we saw last year. But the Stellar’s Jay is decidedly royal blue, growing sooty and then black towards his neck and head. I’ve tried to capture the right tints here in my illustration of the bird. A single feather from this bird would identify him to me, and whenever I chance to see one, I am struck with his masterful air of self-sufficience and reserve.

The Stellar’s Jay can measure up to 13 1/2″ from beak to tail, and has a steady flight with swooping glides. Close observation reveals blue and black barring on wing and tail feathers. In my own experience, I see these birds either singly or in nesting pairs, but they can also appear in small flocks. Bold colors and crested head should make this bird a snap to identify, even if you are brand new to the birding world.

Should you visit Jack London State Park this winter, do keep an eye out for the Varied Thrush, Red-shafted Flicker, Townsend’s Warbler, Acorn Woodpecker, and of course, the Stellar’s Jay.

Sparrow Indentification in Sonoma County, California

How to tell our common White-crowned Sparrows and Golden Crowned Sparrows apart

Greetings!
To the right, you will see that trusty, abundant, Sonoma County bird: the adult, White-crowned Sparrow. His presence is almost a given beneath any hedge in your neighborhood. He is the most common sparrow in our neck of the woods, and his bold black-and-white striped head make identification a snap for even beginning birders. Birds out here along the Pacific have the lovely yellow bill, though their relations in other parts of the U.S. have a pink one. The White-crowned Sparrow is a great friend of mine and his three note song is one of my favorites. So, if you see a bird with the distinct markings shown in my sketch, you can feel pretty confident that you are looking at the grown-up White-crowned Sparrow.

Certainty of this kind tends to be a rarity in the sparrow kingdom, however, and I have spent several winters puzzling over a backyard bird conundrum caused by the extraordinary similarity between two members of the mixed flock of small brown birds that hop around beneath my feeders. Both of these two mystery birds have a yellowish head stripe, and I would look out my window saying, “that’s the narrow head stripe one…and there’s the broad head stripe one.” They looked almost exactly alike, to my eyes, apart from that difference in head marking width, and the constant presence of the more obvious adult White-crowned made me feel pretty certain that some of the birds were his family members. Additionally, I had a pretty good feeling that some of the birds were Golden-crowned Sparrows. I just couldn’t say which was which.

Tonight, I’m writing this post to announce that I’ve figured it out! I know how to tell the two apart, and I’ve discovered why this has been confusing me all this time. I want to share this information with you so that you, too, can identify the sparrows in your own backyard.

The sparrow puzzle solved
As I’ve said, the White-crowned Sparrow, Zonotrichia leucophrys, is a year-round Bay Area bird. The Golden-crowned Sparrow, Zonotrichia atricapilla, is only with us in the winter months. Both birds appear in abundance, and often in mixed winter flocks. When you take a gander, below, at my sketch of the two birds, I hope you will sympathize with my identification dilemma:

Here’s what going on with this picture. The birds shown are the 1st winter birds of both species. Because the Golden-crowned Sparrow is only here from August-March, chances are, we are unlikely to see him in his much more obvious breeding plumage. That would make things too easy! So, instead, what we are seeing is the 1st winter plumage of both sparrows, and they are, indeed, remarkably alike.

How to tell them apart? Look at my sketch above. As you can see, the White-crowned does have a narrower yellowish stripe on top of his head than the Golden-crowned. However, this isn’t a terribly good field mark to pass on to another birder. Rather, look at the bills! The White-crowned youngster has a yellow bill, and the Golden-crowned youngster has a grey bill. That’s important field mark #1.

Tip #2 for identifying these sparrows is shown in my sketch above. The White-crowned Sparrow has a dark eye stripe, right across his face. The Golden-crowned Sparrow does not.

So, to repeat that. Yellow bill + eye stripe = White-crowned Sparrow. Grey bill + no eye stripe = Golden-crowned Sparrow.

Because I’m only using this post for identification tips to help you to be able to name two of our most common and abundant local sparrows, I won’t go into detail about the lives of each. But, I did think it might be useful to bring up something new birders often wonder. How does one remember all of these field marks? How can you ever feel confident out in the field that you’re looking at a Winter Wren, not a Bewick’s Wren, or a Red-tailed Hawk instead of a Red-shouldered Hawk. The fact is, getting to observe a bird regularly eventually just lets you know who it is you’re looking at. There’s really no question. However, when you’re just getting acquainted with a new bird, you might find the following tip helpful.

Making up a song can help you memorize birding field marks!
It may be due to my history of working in early childhood education, but I see no reason why adults can’t benefit from the indisputable fact that words set to music are easier for most people to memorize than just plain words. My own skill at this is so honed that it has lead to near-insanity at times, realizing that I know all of the words to a song I hate but can’t get out of my mind! Why not put this phenomenon to good use by inventing little song snippets that feature a distinctive field mark of a bird you are trying to learn to be confident about? Here is my example of my Song about the Golden-crowned Sparrow:

Sing that 30 times and you’ll never forget that the Golden-crowned has a grey bill, I guarantee it! You could use the same tune with the words “White-crown, eye stripe, sparrow” for the White-crowned Sparrow. And, if you feel diffident about doing this, why not teach it to a little one? What is it about 4-year-olds that gives us the most wonderful excuse to sing silly songs, run around the yard, and meet the world with the wonder it truly deserves?

So, there you have it. Now is the time to really get familar with the sparrows in your garden. Sonoma County is home to many, many more, but perhaps none are such dependable stand-bys as these two friendly birds.

Ready for a really weird birding story? Read on…

Greetings Readers,
Remember when we were chuckling a few weeks ago over the local fame we achieved with Birding Sonoma County’s appearance in the Kenwood Press? We’ll here’s a story to top that one.

Readers will remember that my husband and I spent a day out at the Bolinas Lagoon last week, if they read my post about the Green-winged Teal. Well, something else happened on that day out that I kept under my hat until I could find out just what was going on.

After being out at the lagoon, we drove to the little village of Inverness on Tomales Bay - one of our favorite places in the world. At the local market, we picked up the local paper, the Coastal Post, and happened to take a glance at the back of it, where a lovely picture of The Varied Thrush was prominently featured.

“Hey, the Varied Thrush,” I said, glad to see that others were enjoying the winter visit this fabulously-hued bird is paying us all at present…and I started to turn the paper over to the front.

“Wait a minute…,” my husband reached out, gripping the corner of the paper. “That…that’s your illustration.”

Sure enough, it was, and I have to say…that was a weird five minutes on the sidewalk outside the Inverness store, with both of us saying, “What???”

To make a long story short, a couple of days ago, I spoke with Janette Pontacq, of the Coastal Post, which is based in the semi-legendary town of Bolinas, California. The story got even odder here, as Pontacq explained to me that in her search for an image of the Varied Thrush on-line, she thought mine was the nicest…and she also thought it was painted by an acquaintance of hers whose first initial and last name match mine. How weird is that?

Have you ever noticed that 1/2 of birding seems to be ruled by serendipity? Well, apparently that applies to all things bird-ish, for Ms. Pontacq was very apologetic for her mistake of copyright violation and asked if I would consider becoming her newspaper’s resident bird illustrator for their new Bird of the Month column (with full accreditation to me and Birding Sonoma County, of course). I’m delighted. Anything to further local interest and pleasure in the beautiful world of birds! And so, this funny mistake has actually resulted in good things for me, good things for the Coastal Post, and good things for the community. I like it when matters sew themselves up so nicely.

I really appreciate all of the nice comments coming in on the wild bird illustrations. For the record, I’ve worked for the past decade-or-so as a professional fine artist, and have won a handful of awards. I’m also the lead graphic designer for my web design firm, Solas Web Design. If you’re in need of graphic design work, web design work, or would like to license my wild bird illustrations, please visit Solas Web Design to get in touch with me.

So, there you have it. A really weird birding story. Be sure to check out the Coastal Post whenever you’re in Marin County. I really applaud the Coastal Post folks for devoting part of their paper to the birds which inhabit the Pt. Reyes region which is known, throughout the world, as one of the earth’s greatest birding spots!

Birder Interview - Harry Fuller, Bay Area Birder.

We’re chatting today with world-class birder, Harry Fuller. Harry Fuller is an author, and a fellow who really knows his local Bay Area, California birds, in addition to the fabulous species he’s encountered in his travels.

Me: Good afternoon, Harry. We’re so delighted to be speaking with you. First things first. We love that your website URL is Towhee.net, Was there any special reason you picked the humble California Towhee as you domain name?

Harry: I wanted a website URL named for a local bird. California Towhee are regular in our tiny back garden and in the nearest park which is the Sutro Heights unit of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area not far from the Cliff House in San Francisco’s Richmond District. I might have gone for pelican but all those URLs were taken. The California Towhee is a solid, stolid, dependable creature. Usually seen in compatible pairs. One of the first landbirds up in the morning, one of the last to disappear after sunset. The questioning “chink” call of the curious towhee pairs in the San Francisco parks are a familiar sound for anyone who birds the city regularly. Sonoma has its Spotted Towhees, we have the “brown.” Spotteds appear to be only occasional over-wintering visitors. For a couple years we had a snow-white albino towhee at Sutro Heights.

Me: You live about 60 miles south of us, Harry, so the variance in birds isn’t too great, but you did mention that you’ve noticed a number of irruptive species in your area. Can you tell us what an irruptive species is, and which species you’ve noticed that fall under this category?

Harry: The AUDUBON SOCIETY ENCYCLOPEDIA OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS defines “irruption” as “An irregular migration…often a spectacular mass movement southward in fall and wainter of birds that normally live year-ropund in parts of Canada and Alaska.” The Varied Thrush is having an irruption year in the Bay Area. They’re abundant this winter. Some winters they can be quite scarce. Other birds prone to a greater and lesser degree include: Red Crossbills (which are erratic in all seasons across their range), Siskins, Waxwings, Northern Flicker. Some birds we occasionally get in Central California can be irruptive further north like Snowy Owl (I got to see the one near Suisun this year), Northern Shrike and Goshawk. It’s assumed that variation in weather and food supply have an effect on irruptive birds.

Me: Of all of the places you bird in N. California, which is your favorite, and why?

Harry: Land’s End and Sutro Heights in San Francisco because they’re a two hundred yard walk from my front door. They offer a rich mix of land and seabirds. Here’s my birding checklist for that small area: Outside of San Francisco I really like Palo Alto Baylands, Princeton Harbor, Sunol Regional Wilderness, Las Gallinas sewer ponds. Further afield Woodbridge Road west of Lodi for the Sandhill Cranes and Tundra Swans each winter. Further yet: Sacramento Wildlife Reserve for the wintering Ross and Snow Geese. Then there’s the Klamath River rest stop north on I-5 for Lewis’s Woodpeckers just off the freeway….

Me: San Francisco is such a busy place compared to the quiet of Sonoma County. Some people might even be surprised to learn that great birdwatching exists in and around the city. Would you tell us about one or two key birding spots in the San Franciso area?

Harry: Crissy Field and Lagoon have become a rich birding spot since the marsh has been partially restored. Red-necked Grebe offshore, Wilson’s Snipe, Snowy Plover and more common shorebirds, various grebe and ducks, herons and egrets. You can tick off forty species there in a couple hours. It’s the first place I take out-of-town birding clients. They are always amazed because you have the Bay, Golden Gate Bridge, Palace of Fine Arts and birds galore. Lake Merced is another favorite - breeding Clark’s Grebe are a big draw if I have birders from east of Denver. And it is a draw for migrating birds in the fall, waterbirds all winter. Residents rails are a draw and this winter we have an American Bittern, now rare in the city.

Me: One of the most excellent things mentioned on towhee.com is that you will take locals or visitors on individually-planned days out in the field. How does this work? Can you tell us a bit more about this?

Harry: Birders from out of town tend to find me through Google, or friends of friends. We often do our planning via email and then phone. Often it’s a birder or two on a family or business trip. They have a day, or just half a day. Some are listers with target species, others just want to see some Pacific Coast birds. Mostly it’s in the city. But if they really want Pt. Reyes or need Nuttall’s Woodpecker or Wrentit we’ll go to Marin or south to the Peninsula. If a visitor doesn’t want to pay, I try to provide them enough info for a self-guided tour, or refer them to the many free Audubon walks. I do a monthly walk at Land’s End for Golden Gate Audubon.

Me: We know that you are especially expert and passionate about the history of ornithology and that you’ve also authored a book entitled Now and Then which is a history of habitiat change in the San Francisco region. How did you first get interested in these fascinating topics, and why do they appeal to you so?

Harry: I was a history major in college and my interest in the changes of society or natural habitat over time come from study of history of all kinds. For me it’s fascinating to know that Pygmy Nuthatches have dispalced the Red-breasted in San Francisco. That many birds listed as common in Golden Gate Park in 1930 are now gone or rare, while others have invaded or simply returned to flourish. Especially successful now that they are no longer persecuted are the corvids. Ravens rule where I live. Fifty years ago they were not to be seen. Another aspect of historical interest for me has been the early explorers and scientists and the species they “discovered” for science. The only bird named for a Californian, by the way, is Allen’s Hummingbird which Allen collected near Nicasio in Marin County.

Me: What are the current birding projects/activities you are participating in that have you most excited at the moment?

Harry: I am teaching some classes this spring at Point Reyes Field Seminars. And I have a history of ornithology talk for Golden Gate Audubon in April in Berkeley. Also I’m writing a second edition of NOW AND THEN. I had a chance to do a lot more research at the British Library while we lived in London.

Me: Do you have a dream bird you’d love to see more than any other in the world?

Harry: Shoebill in Uganda. All the birds Darwin saw on the Galapagos. And I’ve only seen the little Blue Penguin in New Zealand. One can never see enough penguins. Roger Tory Peterson taught us that.

Me: Can you tell us how you came to be the founding member of the San Francisco Field Ornithologists and what the particular aim and work is of this organization?

Harry: There is a core of a couple dozen very good birders in San Francisco. The most experienced include Joe Morlan, Dan Murphy and Allan Hopkins. They and many other fine birders decided there needed to be a group to organize all the data that was being gathered through Big Year contests and just regular birding. The group did publish the data from the breeding bird survey that had languished for years. My NOW AND THEN booklet grew out of research I did for the habitat evolution piece I wrote for the atlas which is now here online.

Me: Please, share one of your most vivid birding moments with us - one of those moments you’ll always remember.

Harry: Sadly it was seeing two of the last four wild alala (Hawaiian Crows) on the Kona Coast about ten years ago. As of 2003 there are no Alala living in the wild and they are in grave danger of extinction despite a captive breeding program. Toxoplasmosis and habitat destruction may doom these guys, once abundant across the major islands of Hawaii. Further irony: the endangered Io (a small buteo) is their natural enemy and captive-raised birds do not have the innate skills to avoid this predator.

Me: Do you keep a birding lifelist? Care to share your current count with us?

Harry: US, including Hawaii: 559.
California. 379 (snowy Owl my most recent).
San Francisco 274 (several of my friends are well over 300 for the 49 square miles and offshore waters which shows what a rich birding spot SF really is despite its urban habitat and small size).
Europe 324.
United Kingdom 200 (where some life-lomg residents are proud to break 300)

I haven’t birded any real tropics yet so my global life list is still paltry. A couple weeks in Costa Rica could surpass my entire four years and numeorus vacations in Europe.

Me: Harry, that is simply a staggering lifelist! I’m dazzled. Awesome! This has been an amazing treat hearing about your unique interactions with the
world of birds. Thank you for chatting with us today…I surely learned a lot.

Green-winged Teal at Bolinas Lagoon

Good Evening Everybody,
Yesterday was a great day out for us. We spent the afternoon at the Bolinas Lagoon in neighboring Marin county. Did you catch our previous post about the Winter Birds at Bolinas Lagoon? I wrote that after our first winter trip to this gorgeous 1,100 acres of tidal estuary along the Pacific coast, and you’ll find directions on how to get there in my original post.

We’ve been so eager to return for another day with the winter migrants, and the Bolinas Lagoon always holds the thrilling element of chance of encountering highly rare Eurasian birds, even for an experienced birder. On our day out, we got to add 2 new birds to our lifelist. It would have been 3, but we just went crazy trying to convince ourselves that the Dowitchers we spotted were Long-billed, not Short-billed. In the end, we couldn’t reach a conclusion we felt positive enough about to actually add the birds to our list, which is such a pity, as they let us get within feet of them to take a look. Anyone know the tried and true rule for telling these 2 nearly-identical birds apart in their winter plumage? We’d sure like to know what it is!

The day was quite temperate, and the tide was in, so there weren’t the number of long-legged waders present that we’d seen on our trip last month. However, waterfowl were in abundance and we were elated by the dazzling sight of The Green-Winged Teal.

My first thought in seeing these fabulously-hued ducks was, “I want to paint those!” In my illustration of the Green-winged Teal, Anas crecca, I’ve tried to capture the stunning green of the head stripe, contrasting with the burnished, glowing cinnamon of the rest of the face and neck. I’ve painted the bird with ruffled feathers so that his distinctive teal wing patch shows. In normal swimming position, this mark that gives this teal his name is often not visible. Note, too, the beautiful combination of spots and stripes, and the white shoulder bar that sets the Green-winged Teal apart from the rare Eurasian subspecies. The female was also interestingly marked, but is a golden-brown all over.

Green-winged Teals are fairly small ducks - about 14″ from bill to tail, but I didn’t really think of their littleness as I watched them sailing about the lagoon in pairs and groups. Perhaps it is the lavish display of color that makes them appear somewhat larger than life. They appeared almost constantly busy, foraging in the water with their long beaks submerged. There was also quite a bit of cavorting and splashing about amongst the teals and the American Widgeons who are also here for the winter. We weren’t able to distinguish any calls coming from the teals, but my bird guide tells me that the females make a weak quacking noise and the males whistle ringingly in flight, as the flock undergoes fascinating aerial formation patterns. Green-winged Teals lay 10 or more eggs in a grass-lined nest near the water.

You may see the Green-winged Teal closer to home at Shollenberger Park in Petaluma, but a trip one county over is truly worth it when you consider the rare beauty of the natural setting one encounters at the Bolinas Lagoon.

Our other bird of note for the day was the Double-crested Cormorant. Some day, I want to make a list of amusing birds, and this cormorant will definitely be on it. This bird looked completely outlandish to me, striding upright through shallow water with his haughty head held high in a toploftical manner and his white front puffed out with pride. He only lacked a cigar to complete the picture of a well-to-do gentleman of conceited aspect.

We’re up to 107 birds on our lifelist thanks to our day at the lagoon, and I’ll confess, half the time my husband and I are writing down a new bird we are laughing together over the humor, the wonderful variety, the surprising forms and habits of our local wild birds.

Townsend’s Warbler - A gem of a bird!

Greetings!
This was a happy bird-day for us. My husband and I had the afternoon free and decided to head over to Jack London State Park to see how the birds were doing now that winter has progressed to February.

Readers will know that one of our favorite spots in this valuable parkland is the eucalyptus forest just above the upper parking lot. It was a nippy day, with quite a wind rattling the long, fragrant leaves and we noted many fallen trees and broken off limbs in this bright, interesting grove. This small area is the haunt of woodpeckers, Varied Thrushes, and secretive wrens. Our habit is to go about 20 steps, stop, and stand for a few minutes just looking and listening.

About half way between the parking lot and the crossroads path at the other end of the forest, oaks begin to mingle with the eucalyptus trees, and it was here, to the right of the path, that I glimpsed quite a small bird moving about in the oak canopy.

It’s darker where the oaks are, and my first vague impression was of a compact bird with what looked like a prominent cheek patch and black under the chin. This immediately put me in mind of our daily friend, the Chestnut-backed Chickadee. One of the chickadee’s most distinct field marks is his bright, chubby cheek patch.

For a few moments the bird hopped out of view again, but on my second sighting, I caught just the tiniest glimpse of a deeply forked tail and a flash of yellow.

“Aha! American Goldfinch“, I thought to myself.

And yet, something kept me standing still. The American Goldfinch and the Chestnut-backed Chickadee are daily birds for me at my birdfeeder. I’ve had hours of observation opportunities. And, perhaps this is why I waited a moment longer, scanning the dense foliage for another view of the bird. Something must not have looked quite right to me, though I really wasn’t aware of thinking this at the time.

And then I got a better look. In fact, two birds became visible at once, and it was this third sighting that showed me the unmistakable markings of a brand new bird for us - the Townsend’s Warbler!!!

Field Notes on the Townsend’s Warbler Dendroica townsendi

As my illustration shows, this bird is extremely unique in appearance. Note that black chin and facial stripe, with the little golden patch on the ‘cheek’, just below the eye. And talk about color! In the gloaming of the forest, this bird first struck me as almost orange in hue, the yellow was so vivid. However, he popped into the sunlight at one point and I could see that golden is truly the word to describe his facial markings and breast. Note the checked lines along his sides and the grey-to-white of the rump. The upper back is a sort of olive-green and there are two white streaks on the wings.

For the past few months, we have enjoyed having the Audubon’s Yellow-rumped Warbler as a daily visitor to our backyard, and like him, the Townsend’s Warbler is a winter bird in Sonoma County. There is really no possible way to confuse the two birds, as the markings are so very different. Townsend’s Warbler is a little smaller than the Yellow-rumped Warbler, as well.

We only got to observe the Townsend’s Warblers for a couple of minutes, but it was enough to note their wonderful, Bushtit-like ability to tackle branches rightside-up, upside-down and sideways. Their movements are quick and agile, and keeping track of where they are does give your eyes a workout.

I was interested to read in Cornell’s article about the Townsend’s Warbler that comparatively little is know about these birds, although my Sibley Guide lists them as being common in coniferous and mixed forests. A wide variation in egg count has been found in this species - from 5-11 eggs. It would also appear that males and females have very different abilities. Only females build nests, and only male Townsend’s Warblers sing.

My husband and I did hear a peculiar song neither of us recognized. A sort of buzzy sound. According to our field guide, that may just have been this warbler.

Bird songs continue to be an area of intensive study and interest for us. We know most of the common birds by ear, but today, we were completely fooled by an invisible Stellar’s Jay who first convinced me he was a Pileated Woodpecker, and then convinced me he was a hawk before he started making that harsh, mechanical raaah raaah that I associate with his species. He really had us going for a few minutes there!

But to return to the subject of this post, getting to add the Townsend’s Warbler to our lifelist was really a happy event for us. I have looked at the photo of this bird in one of my birding guides for years and longed to see him. In person, he was every bit as charming as I could have wished. Warblers, in general, are some of the most colorful and interesting birds you will ever see in California, and this little fellow is surely one of the most beautiful.

If you’d like to try to see the Townsend’s Warbler yourself, please make use of our accompanying map to reach the exact spot where we saw him today. You may need to be patient and stand still for awhile, scanning the trees for darting movements. Bring your birding binoculars! You won’t want to miss the chance to really hone in on the intricate markings of this special winter bird - a real little gem of a warbler!

Birding California Map - We’ve found a treasure!

Greetings!
I am so excited to share a resource we just discovered that would enable any Californian to plan birding adventures from one end of the state to the other. San Francisco City College Professor Joe Morlan’s website is simply packed with California and Bay Area birding information, and to us, the most useful feature of his site is his interactive California birding map.

It’s a brilliant setup. Simply click on one of the counties on the map, and you are taken to a page of birding resources for that specific region. Professor Morlan has assembled a fantastic directory of links pointing to state and regional park sites, birding organizations, birding tours and publications (like our blog!). We were so thrilled to discover this amazing resource of information and I know exactly how we will be using it.

Any time we want to head out into new terrain for a birding adventure, we will first be visiting this map to get a bird’s eye view of the best places to go in the county we’re heading to. Despite the fact that I make my living working on the Internet, I have yet to cease to be stunned by the fact that my life can be so enriched by the educational materials others have taken pains to assemble. This birding map is positive proof of the fact that California is peopled with birders who so love what they do that they are willing to spend the time to document their best local birding spots and other special features about birding in their neck of the woods. How wonderful it is that I can benefit from their regional familiarity and drive straight to the places others love best for seeing special birds.

I hope you will spend some time investigating Professor Morlan’s map, and the other fascinating page of his website. He also posts birding trip reports and photos for you to enjoy. The discovery of this site has really made our week, and I could hardly wait to pass on this good thing to my Sonoma County neighbors.