I'm still in the phase of "learning what's around" here in the Central Valley. For example, I was working today on private land near Modesto when I stumbled on a PHAINOPEPLA. Now, I've seen this species in foothill areas in the Central Valley before but never on the valley floor. If this is actually notable or not, I haven't a clue. Either way, I snapped a couple of pics just in case:
Nothing else around was too crazy. Here is a standard RED-TAILED HAWK:
... and a KILLDEER:
Today I had more WESTERN BLUEBIRDS than usual. In fact, a couple even perched within shooting-distance:
That's all for now. I hope to put together a post about my year list from 2011 eventually.
