outdoor photography

Nuttall's Woodpecker When we were in L.A. last week, we took a little time to visit Huntington Central Park.  I'd checked eBird and found that over 300 species have been recorded in this one little park. That's simply amazing to me!  The park reminded me of Central Winds, which is one of my favorite birding spots in my home county, though only 162 species have been recorded there. In fact, fewer than 270 species have been recorded in my whole county.  However, this park is near the beach, and it's in Southern California.  I had a wonderful time, and if I lived nearby, I suspect I'd need to be there at least once per week. The Nuttall's Woodpeckers I saw making more Nuttall's Woodpeckers were lifers for me. Western Bluebird Western Bluebird There were a few Western Bluebirds here too--I haven't seen these since I was a kid living in Concord, CA. I was pretty struck again by how beautiful these birds are, especially the males.  Our eastern va...

Ruby-crowned Kinglet This past week I went to Seattle to attend my sister's wedding.  It was a pretty good time to hang out with my sister, her husband and my parents.  We had time in the morning for my dad and I to do some birding.  We couldn't go very far or stay very long, but in just the little time we had, I found about 25 life birds (including about 5 birds I'd saw when I was a child living in California but before I was a birder).  We visited a few places in King and Snohomish Counties, including Picnic Point Park, Wallace Swamp Creek Park, Lake Washington and my sister's back yard.  I thought it would be best to share what I saw in two posts. In post, perching birds, and in the next, ducks and gulls. One of the first birds I saw was a Golden-crowned Kinglet (a life for me). We also saw many Ruby-crowned Kinglets, and I was was surprised to find my first Hutton's Vireo, which do a pretty good job of looking like kinglets. It must be irritating for bi...