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I can scratch Bullock’s Oriole off the list
PICTURE OF THE MOMENT
My best picture of a male Bullock’s Oriole (Icterus bullockii) from yesterday’s birding at the Blue Sky Ecological Reserve (see location map at What made the event worthwhile):
More pictures coming. I’m cataloging them….
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What made the event worthwhile….
PICTURE OF THE MOMENT
This morning, bright and early with rain pouring down, I hopped into the car to go birding 40 miles away with the San Diego Audubon meetup club. The highlight of the event for me was going to a place in San Diego County where I had never been: Blue Sky Ecological Reserve.
Blue Sky was hit hard by the “Witch Fire” of October 2003, basically being destroyed. It’s made a remarkable comeback, although I’ve noticed that Mother and Father Nature can rebound from just about anything — volcano, flood, fire, earthquake, hurricane, and tornado are the events that I’ve witnessed their rebound.
I was surprised at the amount of poison oak and poison ivy, which Blue Sky is full of. If you go, stay on the trails!
I saw so many different birds that I could not keep track of them all, but high up on the thrill list of birds was a White-tailed Kite (Elanus leucurus), a Bullock’s Oriole (Icterus bullockii), and an Anna’s Hummingbird (Calypte anna).
Now Anna’s Hummingbirds are nothing new to me. They are back and front yard birds at my home, making themselves at home at my hummingbird feeders, aloe blossoms, and fuchsia blossoms. However, the Anna’s Hummingbird this morning out in the boondocks was special. She was sitting on her tiny nest at about chest level:
She was well camouflaged and hidden, and I would never have seen her if I had been by myself, making a good case for going birding with a group of people led by an expert who can spot birds near and far; or by song, movement, color, size, or flight.
I’ll have more pictures after I finish cataloging them all.
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