Geotripper's California Birds

It was a delightful day on the Tuolumne River Parkway Trail. I was on the trail early, so it was cool, and the river is still running at flo...

It's a bird I had seen only one time previously, and there was a good reason for it. The Lawrence's Goldfinch ( Spinus lawrencei ) i...

I didn't post about this back in January for plenty of reasons, too busy with school starting, and lousy pictures, but Merlins ( Falco c...

There was this bird this morning. It was way out of place, but for more reasons than I realized at the time. I'm really familiar with ou...

I'm starting out with the most crummy pictures I'll post all year, but of course there is a story. I was up before sunrise on New ...

Now just to be clear, I mean "rare" in the sense that they haven't been seen on this stretch of the Tuolumne River where it ...

I had a new surprise today. On Wednesday it was about a flock of Common Goldeneyes and fresh beaver sign , and today it was a sighting of ...

Great Egrets ( Ardea alba ) are relatively common sights in our region on the floor of California's Great Valley. The pastures and rip...

I've only seen them a few times on the Tuolumne, but it is always a delight to see a Phainopepla ( Phainopepla nitens ). When you walk...

When I say "elusive", I don't mean rare. I see Ruby-crowned Kinglets ( Regulus calendula ) quite often when I hike the Tuolu...

I haven't seen too many Red-shouldered Hawks ( Buteo lineatus ) of late. The last ones I got pictures of seem to have been in 2015, an...

Well, it's at extreme zoom, and a little bit fuzzy, but darn it I finally got a (semi)clear shot of the Wood Ducks ( Aix sponsa ) tha...

Spotted Towhees ( Pipilo maculatus ) are beautiful colorful birds that I've seen a fair number of times, but I've found them diff...

I guess I need to do more morning walks along the Tuolumne River. Yesterday's stroll yielded sightings of not one, but three birds new...

I took my customary stroll on the Tuolumne River Parkway Trail (still not completed!) this afternoon, and wasn't seeing a lot of bird...

A combination of extensive travels and orthopedic problems have kept me away from my own backyard wilderness along the Tuolumne River. It...

Spottted Towhees ( Pipilo maculatus ) are another of those birds that drive me nuts by being hard to photograph. I've seen a fair numb...