Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2019/10/11
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Last week I visited Marin County California where I found a few birds: Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis), a widespread raptor in North America. Its plumage is highly variable, western birds being typically darker than eastern ones. http://www.wildlightphoto.com/birds/accipitridae/buteo/rthawk22.html Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia), another widespread species with some geographic plumage variation http://www.wildlightphoto.com/birds/passerellidae/melospiza/sospar02.html Chestnut-backed Chickadee (Poecile rufescens), a west coast specialty. Chickadees found in much of the rest of the continent are the Black-capped Chickadee; other Chickadees species are the Boreal Chickadee, Carolina Chickadee and Mountain Chickadee. These birds are related to old world Tits (I didn't name them!) and the western Titmouse species. http://www.wildlightphoto.com/birds/paridae/poecile/cbchic00.html Closer to home (much closer!) is another member of the Chickadee family, the Oak Titmouse. This is another west coast species; similar birds are the Juniper Titmouse and the Tufted Titmouse. http://www.wildlightphoto.com/birds/paridae/baeolophus/oatitm12.html Golden-crowned Sparrows (Zonotrichia atricapilla), like the closely-related White-crowned Sparrow, are migrants who breed in the far north. There song is one of the reminders that winter is coming. http://www.wildlightphoto.com/birds/passerellidae/zonotrichia/gcspar12.html For comparison, an adult White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophyrs) from last winter http://www.wildlightphoto.com/birds/passerellidae/zonotrichia/wcspar29.html all photos: off-topic equipment Doug Herr Birdman of Sacramento http://www.wildlightphoto.com http://doug-herr.fineartamerica.com