Monday, May 28, 2007

Birding on Memorial Weekend

Well I was supposed to be spending this weekend in the desert, as is an unofficial tradition by many California birders, and from what I hear: scissor-tailed flycatcher, prothonotory warbler, and ruby-throated hummingbird, so far- its a good year. Instead, because of work, lack of a ride, and other reasons, I am here in Orange County. So when I read about the Bay-breasted Warbler in Huntington Beach, which would be a lifer, I was definitely going to go try for it.

I found the park with no trouble, and ran into some other birders also looking for the BBWA, one of whom was Sandy Koonce, who I knew by name only since he had given me directions to the Painted Redstarts that showed up in Big Bear a few years back. I successfully chased and saw the redstarts which was a life bird for me.
After being there only a few minutes, Sandy called that he had seen the bird, and we hurried over to the willows to see it. The bird was foraging, quite oblivious to our excitement and clicking camera lenses. It fed for a few minutes, giving me, Bob and Cynthia, Sandy and three others, including my non-birder friend Peter, a great look at it, before it worked its way farther into the willows. Time allowing, I may try and go back this week in the morning to get better shots since the lighting was pretty crumby.



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well done Leigh - great shot considering it was such an active bird. I showed up as you and Sandy were watching it. Great relief as I had been there a while. I had just come from the Mississippi Kite at south coast botanic gardens. If you haven't seen one, you might want to try for this bird - v. obliging. Photos posted on Surfbirds.com under "N. American Stop Press" Best, Andy

Bob Kaufman said...

Hi, Leigh,
It was fun birding with you and Peter!

Bob & Cynthia Kaufman
http://ornithographer.blogspot.com/2007/05/bay-watching.html