Birds & Birds

I see birds and then I photograph them!

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Dark morph Swainson’s Hawk

Putah Creek

Davis, CA

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Save the Santa Rita Lodge

In these unprecedented times, everyone in our communities have been touched by the affects of the Coronavirus. Here, in the heart of Madera Canyon, there...

Hi birders, bird enthusiasts and general nature enjoyers: the Santa Rita lodge in Madera canyon, AZ is one of the most fantastic places to stay at and bird, that I have ever experienced. Like many other small businesses, it is suffering from the current situation and may close permanently. If you have ever been here, or more importantly, haven’t gotten the chance to go yet, please consider helping them out so there is still a Santa Rita lodge to go to after we’ve weathered this shit storm. I mean ffs, I saw an owl there so small, I thought I was going to pop. (Elf owl. Look it up.)

When I went, we stayed at the lodge. There was a bronzed cowbird going around tapping on all the windows trying to attack his own reflection. We originally photoshopped an enlarged cowbird creeping in the window next to where I was taking a nap. It has become the template for this ongoing joke. 

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Little butterball

Here’s a sweet little hen bufflehead

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Rude

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We had a productive day.

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My friend/lab mate, Alison is very clever with the waterfowl ID slides for our waterfowl class.

Emperor Goose

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So I thought I’d tell you all about how my R Programming class went today.

We were working through some data step by step and we got to some made up hummingbird data (to use as an example). But then I noticed that the masses of the hummingbirds are in ounces instead of grams and let me tell you, I got so distracted by picturing and laughing at what a 5 oz hummingbird would look like and how many grams that’s equal to, that I got incredibly lost on what we were learning. So I will be spending my Friday night playing knowledge catch-up. All because it said oz instead of grams.

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Northern Harrier

Hatch year female

(Trapped and banded with proper permits and procedure for scientific research)

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I’m a few days late, but what was your first bird of the year??

Mine was a flock of snow geese ☺️

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Eurasian wigeon (hybrid, I believe) going after American Wigeon

Colusa NWR

Colusa, CA

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Northern Pintail

Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area

Davis, CA

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Great Egret with Vole

Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area

Davis, CA

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Northern Pintail

Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area

Davis, CA

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Great Egret

Colusa NWR

Colusa, CA

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Wilson’s Snipe

Colusa NWR

Colusa, CA

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Northern Pintail

Colusa NWR

Colusa, CA

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Sandhill Cranes

Modesto, CA