The Birders Report

Lewis’s Woodpecker (Melanerpes lewis) photo by Larry Jordan

Go check out my latest West Coast Beat Writer post on the beautiful Lewis’s Woodpecker over at 10000 Birds!

Parasitic Jaeger (Sterocorarius parasiticus) photos by Larry Jordan

While at Clear Lake a couple of weeks ago to give a presentation on the Burrowing Owl to the local Redbud Audubon Society, I was privileged to be able to join Dr. Floyd Hayes as he and three fellow birders monitored the waterbirds on the entire lake.

Floyd is the ornithologist in charge of monitoring the grebes nesting on Clear Lake for Redbud’s four year grebe conservation project.  While on the lake that day, Floyd’s sharp eyed student assistant, Doug, spotted a Parasitic Jaeger (Sterocorarius parasiticus) on the lake (click on images for full sized photos).

It was an immature bird making identification a more difficult challenge

but getting some photographs of the bird in flight was a big help.

The thing is, these birds breed in the arctic tundra and are usually only seen off shore in summer when they are migrating.  It is rare to find them on an inland lake on the West Coast.

See the range map, courtesy of Terry Sohl from South Dakota Birds:

So for this birder it was a special treat to see my first Parasitic Jaeger, a life bird for me.  Then to be able to get photos from the boat, priceless.

I hope I didn’t get too carried away with the photos but we wanted to positively identify this bird.  This last photo was probably the best ID shot showing the barring undertail coverts and the extended central retrices.

I hope you enjoyed the Parasitic Jaeger photo gallery as much as I enjoyed shooting it!  To see more great bird photos, check out World Bird Wednesday and come join the fun!

Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia hypugaea) photos by Larry Jordan

I recently gave a presentation on the Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia hypugaea) for the Redbud Audubon Society, located on Clear Lake in Lake County California.  This Audubon chapter has a very vibrant membership and I had a lot of fun while visiting the area.  You will hear more about my trip in upcoming posts.  As usual, click on photos for full sized images.

Clear Lake being only about two hours from Davis gave me the opportunity to look in on the owls that reside there on Wildhorse Golf Course.  Whenever I get anywhere near Davis I can’t help myself.  I have to see how they are doing.

Unfortunately, this day I didn’t make it to the site until about 2 pm, nearing the hottest part of the day.  Burrowing Owls are active both day and night but tend to retreat to their burrows when it is this hot in direct sun.

There were plenty of California Ground Squirrels running around though.  I must have seen over 30 squirrels darting in and out of burrows, running along their well worn pathways through the grass.

This individual was the only owl I saw.  I didn’t realize until I got home and looked at these images on the computer that it was banded.  I have some feelers out to find out if anyone knows where this owl may be from.

What I really wanted to do was to get some video of the Burrowing Owls in flight with my new Panasonic HDC-SD90 high definition video camera.  I am just learning how to use it and will most likely write a review on the camera once I get the hang of it.

What I did manage to record was this owl, standing at a burrow, while a squirrel approached from behind.  It shows how nonchalant these two species are when in close proximity to one another.

To me this video shows that these two species actually share a symbiotic relationship.  At the end of the video, feeling like the owl was getting ready to take flight, I did zoom out and catch a short segment of bird flight.  Nothing to write home about I’m afraid.

At the 42 second mark a golf cart drives by about ten yards from the pair and the squirrel dives into the burrow, only to reappear 10 seconds later.  The owl however, seems much more interested in exactly what the heck I am doing.

To see more great bird photographs, check out World Bird Wednesday!