Mountain Quail at Columns of the Giants

We took a short trip up the Stanislaus River this afternoon, taking a short hike to the Columns of the Giants. The columns are volcanic in nature, similar to Devil's Postpile, or the Giant's Causeway in Ireland. Along the way, we spotted a new bird (to me). It was fairly large, moving through the underbrush. I thought immediately of California Quail, but I thought maybe we were a bit high for them (a check of the e-bird map confirmed this).

It was only a moment before I realized that I had encountered a covey of at least a dozen of them. Later, I was able to identify them as Mountain Quail (Oreortyx pictus). Like the California Quail, it is a bird of the far western United States, with a range from northern Baja to the Canadian border and only barely extending into Idaho. Their habitat includes shrubby vegetation in mountainous areas. It has not been reported in my home area in the Great Valley.

They crept slowly up the granite boulders above the trail, and several kept an eye on us from the top of the small ridge. Then they disappeared into the trees, but called out for a while longer. We moved on up the trail.

It's Jay Day! But Don't Call Us "Blue": The Jays of California

Western Scrub Jay on the Tuolumne River Parkway

Blogging doesn't evoke much in the way of mysticism and supernatural signs and that sort of rubbish, but I had signs that I was finally supposed to post pictures of two of the most common kinds of birds in my region, the jays. I was exploring the upper reaches of the Stanislaus River near Sonora Pass when smoke from the Kings Canyon fire chased us back down the hill. In consolation, I took a walk along the Tuolumne River Parkway at sunset. In the whole day I saw only jays. I haven't mentioned them before on this blog, so this must be the day.

Western Scrub Jay on the Tuolumne River Parkway

The birds were the Steller's Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri) up in the mountains, and the Western Scrub Jay (Aphelocoma californica) down in the valley. Notice in these pictures that they are blue in color, but they are not "blue". The actual Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) is mainly an eastern species found mostly beyond the Rocky Mountains, although they are occasionally found in the Pacific Northwest and northernmost California. But not around here.

Western Scrub Jay on the Tuolumne River Parkway

There are two other species of jay in California. One is really special: the Island Scrub Jay (Aphelocoma insularis) is a rare species found on Santa Cruz Island off the California coast and nowhere else in the world. There are perhaps 2,500 of them in existence. Isolated from its relatives on the mainland, it has evolved into a unique species that is bigger, with a larger bill, blacker cheeks, longer legs and deeper blue color.

Western Scrub Jay on the Tuolumne River Parkway

The other jay is the Pinyon Jay (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus). It lives mostly in the Basin and Range province east of the Sierra Nevada. I haven't had the pleasure of seeing them yet, although they have been seen in the Central Valley on very rare occasions.

Western Scrub Jay on the Tuolumne River Parkway

The Western Scrub Jay is a common bird in my neighborhood, and one of those birds that don't really care what humans think. They'll go about their business in my backyard or by the river, not caring whether I'm watching them or not. On many mornings I can be awakened by their pounding of acorns or pecans on the roof. I'm constantly digging up tree sprouts that came from seeds they have inadvertently left lying on the ground in our yard.

Sunset view of the Tuolumne River from the new parkway trail

The Steller's Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri) lives primarily in the conifer woods above the valley floor, but they will venture onto the valley floor during the winter at times. They are another "in your face" species, inhabiting campgrounds and picnic areas loudly and in large numbers. The one I saw today was being sneaky, though, because I was nibbling on a sandwich looking one way while it was sneaking about in the tree behind me waiting for some crumbs to fall.

Steller's Jay in the upper headwaters of the Stanislaus River north of Yosemite

I have surprisingly few good pictures of Steller's Jays. As common as they are, they've never remained still enough for me to get sharp pictures. The picture above is from this afternoon, but I had to go back to a trip in Big Sur in 2008 for some adequate shots of the species. That's like two cameras ago!

Steller's Jay at Big Sur

So...two jays down, and two to go, unless I go far afield. I'll have the best chance on our Cascades Volcanoes trip in a few weeks when we go into northeastern California and the pinyon country. I'll be looking for Pinyon Jays. I don't know when I'll have a chance to reach Santa Cruz Island to see the Island Scrub Jay, but I'm really looking forward to the day when that can happen.

Steller's Jay at Big Sur

Bird of the Day: White-headed Woodpecker at Calaveras Big Trees State Park

We headed out into the Sierra Nevada. We've really gone nuts in the gloom of fog, and had to see some sunlight. We ended up at Calaveras Big Trees State Park along Highway 4. While we wandered about the forest we could hear woodpeckers in the forest canopy above, so we were on the lookout. Finally one landed at the top of a dead pine.

The shots were difficult at the extreme zoom, but we got a couple of slightly less fuzzy shots of the White-headed Woodpecker (Picoides albolarvatus) as it pecked away at the treetop. I took a short video as well.

The White-headed Woodpecker is a bird of the western mountains, with a range extending from British Columbia to Southern California, but no further east than Idaho or western Nevada. They live pretty exclusively in montain forests. I've only seen them once before, with equally fuzzy photographic results, at the Columns of the Giants on the Stanislaus River in the Sierra Nevada, a few miles south of Calaveras Big Trees (below). I'll keep at until I get some sharp pictures!