This, as it turns out, is a chickadee. A Chestnut-backed Chickadee to be exact... and no, I had no idea what it was... I called it a Junco originally, but when I showed my mom she corrected me. (I never said I was a birder)
This one, I'm pretty sure is a Tufted Titmouse... she told me what that was a long long time ago, and it's pretty rare to see them in the yard. Sure aren't the finches which we have so many of.
edit: oops... It's a Lincoln's Sparrow thanks to Ruthie J's sharp eye. I looked at Cornell's All About Birds at both Savannah Sparrow and Lincoln's Sparrow and if they are right with their images, then this has to be a Lincoln's Sparrow... it has a ruffled head just like this one below.. and no yellow like the Savannah does.
Here's another one I mis-identified. I thought it was a juvenile or another type of finch. But hey, it got Mom all excited when she saw it. She said it's an Audubon's Warbler.
And not quite right this time either... Ruthie J properly identifies it (and backed up by Cornell's All About Birds) as a Yellow-Rumped Warbler... which when googling Audubon's Warbler, that page is #1 or #2. So looking at it, it seems to be with the yellow cap, throat and side be an Yellow-Rumped Warbler - Audubon's race... but it's plumage is the color of the Myrtle race... maybe it's a cross between them? Apparently they both winter in our area... and although the Myrtle one has the right coloring for a female, it doesn't seem to have the yellow cap or throat like this little one below (you can see that clearly by clicking on the photo and then zooming in the webshots menu just below the picture).
Oh and just to show my EXTENSIVE birding knowledge... as I typed out Audubon... I started typing it autobahn :p I've seen it spelled before so I knew better... I just wasn't quite connecting it at that time.
Here's one of those prolific finches we have... a male Lesser Goldfinch.
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6 comments:
I am so envious of that beautiful chickadee photo. But I'll keep trying to get one of my own. ;o)
just sit out front for a while... eventually that particular one will sit still long enough.
Hi Red,
Your tufted titmouse is actually a sparrow. There were too many branches in front of its wings, but I'm leaning pretty strongly towards Savannah Sparrow because of the markings on its head. Another possibility would be the Lincoln's Sparrow. Both of these birds winter in your part of California.
Audubon's Warbler is the Western subspecies of the Yellow-Rumped Warbler.
Great bird photos, BTW, we'll make a birder out of you yet! ;-)
Thanks for that info Ruthie! I'll get to changing it... I don't want to spread misinformation around the internet, lol... there's enough of that already!
me? a birder? ha ha :D i'm too much of a cat person... i love birds in the way cats do ;)
Hi Red,
My cat loves birds too! (but only from inside the house)
The birds torment her from the birdfeeder I have stuck right on the window and then she gets embarassed when I laugh at her for trying to attack birds through the window!
LOL Ruthie... I know just what that's like... our kitties get embarrassed too when we laugh at them for smacking the window trying to catch the birds.
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