Saturday 1 December 2007

Kalifornia

Well, that's me just back from a fab trip to California and Las Vegas, what a fantastic place! This time last week I was in Santa Cruz near Monterrey watching live bands, tonight I was in the Ellington Miners Social & Welfare Centre...........
Anyhoo, as well as a wedding, gambling, massive drunkeness, I did manage to get some birding in too. Highlight had to be my 'fishing' trip offuv Monterrey...Cummmon..Albatross way. Saw 3-5 black footed albies as well as pink-footed, bulwers, flesh-footed, short-tailed and black-vented shears, elegant tern, rhinocerus & cassin's auklet, pigeon guille and elegant tern as well as the 'common' gulls etc..superb!

Also did the parks in SFO, Big Sur, including the banding station at the Andrew Molera sate park, Elkhorn Slough, Kern Valley (how nice are canyon wrens?) and Death Valley. All in all pretty cool, here are some of the better pics.


Stellars Jay, golden gate park SFO



Fulmar eatin' a huuoge orange fish







Stunning.....




Western Meadowlark



Nuttall's Woodpecker


Hairy Woodpecker


Fox Sparrow


And in the hand...

Black Phoebe

3 comments:

Stewart said...

Bet that Willet is from the Oddie Hide...suppressor.

Ipin said...

BB, I was expecting you to say something like "I think you'll find your hairy woodpecker is actually a downy...." Maybe ADMc will on behalf of the mafia?

The Fulmars out there are superb, much better than ours! Gutted I missed you WBD tho, that would've been a first for me.

Ghost of Stringer said...

Nice pics... totally green with envy !!

Black Phoebe's are really great birds !!... One of my unexpected favourites from my trips over there..

Fulmar looks well cool !!