Simon and Sara's Birding Adventures: Three More and A Non-ABA

Mallard Chicks

Well, we were at Whittier Narrows Recreation Park, El Monte, CA, yesterday and picked up three new birds! We haven't been out too much lately; I believe the last time was up in Montana over a week ago. It sure was nice to get out and bird again!

Caspian Tern

Before we arrived there, we did an eBird.com search for any new sightings and their was three birds that we did not have yet. Those birds were Caspian Tern, Hooded Oriole, and the other a non-ABA Yellow-chevron Parakeet. Every time we go out birding anywhere we always check out the reports on eBird. It gives us a much better idea of what may be there and what to keep an eye out for.

Gosling

House Finch Yellow Variety

Once we arrived at Whittier Narrows we saw all the domestic geese and then we spotted some bird flying over the water, could it really be the Caspian Tern already. It was indeed the Caspian Tern and then it did a dive bomb into the water. What a amazing thing to watch and they dive into the water and then a second later they pop out and fly away. After we watched the tern for a little bit we made our way around the lake and spotted some Canada Geese. There was about eight geese floating in the lake some of them walked up on the shore there was one who had it's neck extender, I thought that to be the mamma. She was in alert mode; I was using a tree for cover and I decided to come out in the open and squat down. That was when they all started coming out of the water and began eating grass. I got a few nice shots of them close up.

Domestic Goose Napping

Hooded Oriole

After taking a bunch of pics of the geese and so me Mallards, we walked a little further I heard some chirping that was not a familiar to me. I pointed this out and Simon was still searching for the bird when I came back from the bathroom. We finally found the bird that was making all the noise and it was actually a Hooded Oriole standing on top of her nest tending to her chicks! We took some shots and tried to get a little closer, but that was too close for her; she flew away. Well took a few pictures of the nest, backed away and waited for her return. Her chicks were starting to call out for her again and within a few minutes she came back. Click, click on the camera and we got her! We left her alone so she could feed her chicks in peace!

American Coot with chicks

Next, we came to a flock of Domestic Geese, Domestic Mallards and a pair of American Coots with their two young chicks. Then a Caspian Tern flew over head again! The terns gave us plenty of chances to get a good picture of it!

Pied-billed Grebe

Simon was successful in getting a great picture of a Pied-billed Grebe! These little grebes are so little, only twelve inches long; head to tail! Such a cute little bird!

Next we saw more Caspian Terns, Forester Tern, Rock Pigeons, Downy Woodpecker and Black Phoebe. Along the back side of the lake we saw some Tri-colored Blackbirds! Wow! Every time we drive through California we look for that bird and we finally found it!