Steller's Jay - my 1st USA tick!

A brief stroll into the local canyon today rewarded me with my first tick of my American tour. I was delighted to glimpse several Steller's Jays pinching nuts from peoples gardens and flying low into the canyon. I always assumed that they were birds of the high elevations but I learnt today that they are found on lower ground during the winter.

 Acorn Woodpecker

 Steller's Jay

 Cedar Waxwings - photo bleached by the light

 American Robin

 Northern Mockingbird

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Tomorrow I will be in Tucson, Arizona where the real heavy duty birding begins.

Quiet days in old LA

 Red-shouldered Hawk

 Band-tailed Pigeon

A female Mule Deer

A male House Finch

Things have been pretty quiet for me here in Hollywood since I arrived last Sunday. I haven't been out properly birding yet and for the first three days I had horrendous jetlag to contend with. Any birding was incidentally seen from the apartment I'm staying in at East Hollywood. The reason for my slowdown has largely been because I have been spending time organsiing the next legs of of my tour. For instance, I have just been invited to spend three days in San Francisco at the beginning of March - a city that I have never been to before.

Anyway, back at the ranch I have managed to connect with the usual avian fayre for these parts including Raven, American Crow, White-throated Swift, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Scrub Jay, California Towhee, Ring-billed & Western Gulls, Anna's Hummingbird, Turkey Vulture and of course, Red-tailed Hawks.

The birds and deer featured in the above photographs were all seen from my apartment. All things are set to change when I hit Tucson, Arizona on Sunday. It promises to be a full on birding fest in a part of the world that I have never been too. Can't wait!

LA school day!

Fresh after a 10 hour long haul flight from London and after a disturbed night's sleep, I was whisked to Viewpoint School (www.viewpoint.org) early in the morning to speak to a group of 120 6th graders (11 year olds) about the joys of urban birding.

The whole event was put together by Tracy Wymer, an inspirational teacher at this school who has been encouraging the kids to study birds

 The kids learning about how Peregrines hunt pigeons

 TUB being introduced

 TUB and the kids

 A White-breasted Nuthatch in the school yard

 Another view

 An Oak Tit

 Junior birders

 Female Lesser Goldfinch at the birdfeeder

Tracy Wymer with TUB

Fieldfare fest on The Scrubs

Last week saw a fantastic influx of Fieldfares down at The Scrubs. Normally, we are lucky to see perhaps one or two head over at this time of year. But due to the severe weather there was influx that saw at least 200 birds on site variously feeding on the ground, hanging out in the trees and flighting between the both.

All the action was presided over by a Kestrel!

 A Fieldare views the scenery

 Kestrel

Fieldfare looking for morsels

My Portuguese list

Life has raced on and I'm now sitting in an apartment in Los Angeles as I write this blog entry about my short time spent hanging out in the Alentejo Region in Portugal just a few days ago. I certainly consider myself lucky to be able to have such a seemingly jetset lifestyle. 

Of course, it couldn't be further from the truth as there is never any time for just simply lounging in the sun. Anyway, ahead of the piece that I will write about my experiences in the Alentejo in a future issue of Bird Watching Magazine, I thought that I would supply you with the list of species that I encountered whilst I was there.

Incidently, I was in Portugal primarily to discuss the distinct possibility of me presenting a film on birding in the region potentially to be funded by the region's tourist boards. Watch this space.

 Yellow-legged Gull - looking sideways

 TUB - looking up!

A Little Owl - just looking

Some of the birds that I saw:

Great Crested Grebe
Black-necked Grebe
Little Grebe
Great Cormorant
Little Great
Great Egret
Squacco Heron
Grey Heron
Black-crowned Night Heron
Glossy Ibis
White Stork
Greater Flamingo
Mallard
Shoveler
Wigeon
Teal
Osprey
Marsh Harrier
Common Buzzard
Black-shouldered Kite
Sparrowhawk
Kestrel
Coot
Oystercatcher
Black-winged Stilt
Ringed Plover
Grey Plover
Lapwing
Common Sandpiper
Greenshank
Redshank
Bar-tailed Godwit
Curlew
Ruff
Snipe
Black-headed Gull
Mediterranean Gull
Little Gull
Yellow-legged Gull
Lesser Black-back
Sandwich Tern
Wood Pigeon
Collared Dove
Little Owl
Kingfisher
Great Spotted Woodpecker (heard)
Skylark
Barn Swallow
Meadow Pipit
White Wagtail
Wren (heard)
Robin
Black Redstart
Stonechat
Song Thrush
Redwing
Blackbird
Blackcap
Zitting Cisticola
Chiffchaff
Great Tit
Blue Tit
Long-tailed Tit
Nuthatch
Iberian Grey Shrike
Magpie
Azure-winged Magpie
Jay
Carrion Crow
Spotless Starling
House Sparrow
Chaffinch
Siskin
Serin
Greenfinch
Goldfinch
Rock Bunting
Corn Bunting

81 species

My views on the Alentejo region, Portugal

I snuck off for a quick for day trip to the Alentejo region of Portugal. It is the area sandwiched between Lisbon in the north and the Algarve in the south. Most people who visit Portugal tend to make a beeline for the latter area missing out on this amazing area.

 Male Chaffinch

 Greenfinches with a solitary Serin on the right

Common Sandpiper 

 Female Black Redstart

Little Owl 

Iberian Grey Shrike

I'll break down my trip a bit more tomorrow.

Ruff day at The Scrubs

The last couple of days at The Scrubs have been pretty good when it comes to adding to our newly started 2013 year list.

Yesterday, after watching my personal first Bullfinches fly over (however, not the first for The Scrubs this year) I glimpsed a Med Gull flying past and managed to grab a rather rubbish record shot.

 Mediterranean Gull spiriting away

 Common Gull

The Med Gull was flying in loose association with a bunch of Common and Black-headed Gulls and was the first for the year on the patch. They are seen annually but usually have to be searched for. A little later, I was walking through the grassland when a Ruff flew low over my head, twice, as it circuited the area looking as though it was going to land. It eventually disappeared heading northwest.

Interestingly, a Ruff turned up at the nearby London Wetland Centre. Was it my bird?

 A party of Ruff in the Hula Valley, Israel

A Mediterranean Gull - photographed in Hartlepool.

Today, a Woodcock was flushed by an intrepid Scrubber - another year tick!