Wood-warbler

  

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata) on driftwood along the upper beach near Salmon Creek, 25 December 2024.

Starting the day

 

 

Townsend's Warbler (Setophaga townsendi) bathing in Monterey on 12 November 2023.

A flash of green

 

 

At work today I looked out the window and noticed a small bird flitting around in a lupine bush.  I could tell it wasn't a sparrow, but wasn't sure what it was, so went to get my camera and then stepped outside for a closer look.  

 

As I approached the shrub I noticed a flash of bright green and then this young Chestnut-sided Warbler (Setophaga pensylvanica) appeared.

 

The weather was good for seeing migrants today, so I wasn't totally surprised, but it was a nice view!

 

Sunshine on a cloudy day

  

A quick shot of another backyard visitor — Townsend's Warbler (Setophaga townsendi), in Cotati, 2 January 2021.

Drying off

 

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata) just after a bath, 15 December 2019

Up on the rooftop

As I walked through the parking lot at work yesterday (19 November 2018), I noticed this handsome Palm Warbler (Setophaga palmarum) on the roof of one of the buildings. Palm Warblers spend a lot of time walking on the ground, so it was fun to see this one from a different perspective.

Late afternoon baths

We haven't spent much time outside lately because of the wildfire smoke and poor air quality, but at times there have been quite a few birds visiting the water bath in our yard.  Here's a sampler (photos taken through the kitchen window on 17 November 2018).  [Click in the images for larger versions.]

 

Bushtit (Psaltriparus minimus)

 

Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Regulus calendula)

Townsend's Warbler (Setophaga townsendi)

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata)

 

Fox Sparrow (Passerella iliaca)

With the passing rains

This morning I was interested to see that we received almost 2 inches of rain last night.  Some of the local birds took advantage of the puddles.  I was pleasantly surprised to see a Clay-colored Sparrow (Spizella pallida) among them:

 

Likely the same bird in a Coyote Brush shrub (Baccharis pilularis):

 

Not too far away, a Palm Warbler (Setophaga palmarum) was finding something to eat on the pavement:

 

And here's a view of the same bird on a nearby Bush Lupine (Lupinus arboreus):

 

Nice views during a brief walk through the parking lot!

 

One of yesterday's visitors

There have been many visitors to our bird bath recently.  Here's one photo from yesterday (25 November 2017):

 

A very bright Yellow-rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata)

 

Between showers

Between rain and hail showers today, quite a few songbirds visited the plum tree blossoms in our yard.  Two examples photographed from our kitchen window:

 

Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis), with an entire blossom in her bill.

 

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata)

The spring equinox is only 15 days away! 

Singing redstart

A few people have expressed interest in seeing and hearing this American Redstart (Setophaga ruticilla) that appeared on Bodega Head today (7 June 2016).

This isn't a great photo, but it's the best I have under challenging conditions.  You can see the orange patches along the sides and dark gray-black splotches on the face and breast indicating a young male.

 

I managed a couple of song recordings for the record.  Below are two examples.  [If you can't see the audio files in your e-mail, click on the title of the post above to go to the web page.]

Fall colors

Fall colors, in migrants and foliage, in Alstead, NH, on 28 September 2015:

 

Black-throated Green Warbler (Setophaga virens)

 

Black-and-white Warbler (Mniotilta varia)

 

 

Blue-headed Vireo (Vireo solitarius)

 

 Leaves turning color along the shore of Lake Warren

 

Pleased to meet you!

 

Janet noticed this young male Chestnut-sided Warbler (Setophaga pensylvanica) in the Bodega Marine Lab parking lot on 9 June 2015.  Luckily, it was still around on 10 June, so I documented it with a few pictures and an audio recording. 

Although I've photographed several Chestnut-sided Warblers in the fall, I think this is the first time I've seen one on Bodega Head in the spring.

 

After the rain last night and this morning (!), the warbler spent quite a bit of time preening and trying to dry off.  It alternated preening bouts and feeding bouts, and was very vocal, singing loudly throughout the morning.  (I first heard it while working inside at my desk!)

 

 

While feeding, it actively looked for insects among the leaves and branches:

 

 

And here's the audio recording.  You might need to turn up your volume.  [If you can't see the audio file below, click on the title of this post above to view the file on the web page.] 

Sometimes this warbler's song is translated as "Pleased, pleased, pleased to meet you!"  Chestnut-sided Warblers have two types of songs: one that sounds like that phrase with an accent on the "you," and another that has an unaccented-ending.  Mostly this bird seemed to be singing the unaccented-ending song, but if you listen closely around 12-13 seconds, you can hear a quiet version of the accented "Pleased to meet you" phrase.

What a treat to hear this handsome warbler on the West Coast! 

 

Songs of The Cedars

We'll wrap up The Cedars Series with a few miscellaneous shots:

 

An ultrabasic spring (pH > 11) where calcium carbonate is a byproduct of serpentinization.  [Serpentinization as defined by Roger Raiche = "a process where igneous ultramafic mantle rock (peridotite) is metamorphosed into secondary serpentine minerals.]

A water strider (and its more obvious shadow) on the surface of the pool downstream from the spring:

 

Mineral Falls (~20-feet high):

 

At the top of the falls, I couldn't help exclaiming, "What sedge is that?" upon encountering this showy inflorescence:

 

When David answered that it was Cotton Grass, I smiled, and thought to myself, "Of course."  I recognized the genus from seeing it in New England and Canadian bogs, but hadn't seen it yet in California.  Be forewarned: the first half of the common name is accurate (it does look like cotton), but the second half is misleading, i.e., it's not a grass.  Perhaps it should be called Cotton Sedge?  [This is Calliscirpus criniger, formerly Eriophorum criniger.]

And one more image from The Cedars, although I wish I had an audio recording to share.  Some of you know how much I appreciate listening to the sounds of landscapes.  While listening to The Cedars, the sounds I will remember most will include the piercing scream of a Peregrine Falcon, the distant call of a raven...and the most common sounds — running water, sometimes close, sometimes far, running over rocks...and singing Black-throated Gray Warblers (Setophaga nigrescens).  I like thinking about their songs carrying across that open landscape, connecting the stands of cypress trees on the slopes and in the ravines.

 

Hermit in the Dunes

I've been seeing a lot of Townsend's Warblers (Setophaga townsendi) lately.  A few days ago, on 26 December, I ran into a flock of them in the Bodega Dunes.  I started looking at each bird, wondering if there were any other species in the flock.  I thought I had checked them all and just started studying plumage variations — see one example below:

 

And then my camera landed on this bird:

 

A Hermit Warbler (Setophaga occidentalis)!  Although more common during the summer and as a spring/fall migrant, Hermit Warblers are rare in Sonoma County during the winter.  Most of them spend the non-breeding season between Mexico and Nicaragua.

Not sure how long this flock will stay together, but if you're near the Bodega Dunes Campground and run into some Townsend's Warblers, you might want to keep an eye out for a Hermit, too.

Prairie in the dunes

 

Spotting a Prairie Warbler (Setophaga discolor) foraging along the dune ridge near the entrance gate to the Bodega Marine Laboratory was a very pleasant surprise while I was working in the late afternoon today (14 September 2014).

I only managed a few distant shots, but here they are, as this is my first observation of a Prairie Warbler on Bodega Head.  

This species is a rare migrant in this area — they're primarily residents of the eastern U.S. and mostly winter in the West Indies.

In the photo above and those below, note the black streaks along the sides, faint wing bars, white eye crescents, and white in the outer tail feathers (barely visible).  This bird was very colorful, but the bright yellow only shows in some of the photos.

 

This next shot was unintended, but it's fun to see the bird in flight: 

 

And here's one more, a head-on view of the Prairie Warbler peering through an opening in a lupine: 

 

Black-and-white and not red-all-over

I haven't had much time to catch up with fall migrants this year, but here are a few quick shots for the record.  These are the first pictures I've taken of these species on Bodega Head: 

 

Black-and-white Warbler (Mniotilta varia), Owl Canyon, 24 August 2014

 

And here's one from the Bodega Marine Lab parking lot yesterday, 12 September 2014: 

 

This is an immature American Redstart (Setophaga ruticilla).  It was very active and didn't come out in the open, but below are two more pictures: one of the fanned tail with bright yellow patches and another showing the yellow patches in the tail, wing, and along the sides of the breast. 

 

 

Both of these warblers are considered rare migrants on Bodega Head.

P.S.  Rather than gray with yellow patches (as in females and young males), adult male American Redstarts are black with orange patches.  The name "redstart" is a little misleading.  Although "start" comes from an old word for "tail," and therefore the name could refer to the adult male's red tail patches, the patches are more orange than red.

Blue and black

Well, I didn't get great shots of this bird, but it was the first time I've seen this species on Bodega Head, so I'm posting these photos for the record.

 

Black-throated Blue Warblers (Setophaga caerulescens) are rare migrants on Bodega Head.  They primarily breed in the northeastern U.S. and southern Canada (and follow the Appalachians south) and winter in the Caribbean (a few are found along the Caribbean coast of the Yucatan Peninsula/Belize/Honduras).  But lucky for us on the "Left Coast," a few stray west every now and then.

Here are two more pictures.  The first is a view from above, highlighting the blue back and the white "handkerchief" or wing patch.

 

The second is a more distant view on a limb within the eucalyptus that the bird seemed to favor during foraging bouts.  All of these images were taken in Owl Canyon on 15 October 2013.

 

I'm going to show two more pictures, but they come with a warning:  They're not "pretty pictures."  They're about a couple of details that I was curious about.  

In the field I noticed that the bird had a white "chin"— just below the bill.  I was curious about this feature, as I hadn't really noticed this on Black-throated Blue Warblers before.  Here's a picture showing the white chin:

 

I didn't know if this could be particular to an individual bird, or if it could have something to do with the age of a bird.  After reading a little more about Black-throated Blue Warblers, it sounds like younger birds might have white chin feathers.  But since I'm new to interpreting this, perhaps someone out there might be able to help with evaluating the white chin on this bird?

And here's another feature I was wondering about: the leg/feet color.  In good light, the legs/feet were pale orange (see below). 

 

My reading also led me to believe that leg color may be an age indicator.  That is, that younger birds have paler legs, and that legs become darker with age (e.g., they're black in adults).

So you can see I've started to wonder if this might be a subadult male Black-throated Blue Warbler.  But I'll be the first to admit that I don't have much experience aging them, so I'd be very interested in what other people think!

P.S.  Thanks to Mike for first spotting this bird on 11 October!