I noticed that I failed to mention some cool things from last fall. One of these things I thought it was worth sharing, even 4 months later!
It was one of the crazier birds found in California last fall; a COMMON CUCKOO. I happened to return from the Klamath Basin the day that it was found. The next morning, we were there:
Common Cuckoo was just no where near being on my radar for ABA life birds to see in California. I'll take it, though.
Ok, fast-forwarding to our recent trip out to Missouri/Iowa just last week... we flew out of Sacramento which yielded this nice view of Folsom Lake:
It was a long day of flying but the views were pretty neat. This is somewhere east of Salt Lake City:
What did I find back east? Well, it was cold. Like... really cold for my poor brown California skin. Oh well. Here's the Mississippi River in Hannibal, MO:
I actually enjoyed seeing things back East that I don't see often out in CA. For example, the PURPLE FINCHES at the feeders:
Yes, even BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEES were mildly interesting to me:
TUFTED TITMOUSE was another species that I hadn't seen in 1-2 years:
The "SLATE-COLORED" DARK-EYED JUNCOS were refreshing to me as well, no more "Oregon" DEJUs to look at:
Being in that neck of the woods I figured it was worth stopping in Canton, MO to see some EURASIAN TREE SPARROWS:
All in all it was a good visit although I didn't focus much on birding. No worries, I lived there for 3 years.
Just yesterday I got out for a bit and spun down to Staten Island and Cosumnes River Preserve. Staten Island is a great place to see the wintering "ALEUTIAN" CACKLING GEESE:
GREATER YELLOWLEGS are common winter residents:
SANDHILL CRANES are too:
This EARED GREBE was rather tame:
Pishing at a brushpile, this male COMMON YELLOWTHROAT popped out:
The only findable shrike around these parts is usually the LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE:
I was bored enough to take pictures of ducks. Here are a few of some AMERICAN WIGEON:
