Cindy McIntyre's Blog

Birds of the Oaks

July 8, 2018 at 6:00 am (Bird photography, Birds - California, California, California Central Coast, Nature, Nature photography, Photography, Wildlife)

Since I live in the Central Coast area of California, there are lots of oak trees, mostly blue oak, and there are some very nice stands of large valley oaks as well. The acorn woodpecker is extremely populous here, since there’s a plethora of acorns. You can see how striking they are with their black-and-white plumage topped with a red cap, and white eyes.

I’ve always admired their granary trees, where they drill holes in the bark and fit the acorns into them as a way of storing them through the winter. They jealously guard these granary trees, and only allow members of their family group to partake.

Western bluebirds are also abundant, and undoubtedly many woodpecker cavities serve as their own homes.

They hang out in the oaks and other trees bordering grassy areas, where they catch bugs.

There are several bluebird families at the Mission San Antonio de Padua.

The ash-throated flycatchers like those millstones, too.

The red-breasted sapsucker isn’t nearly as common as are the acorn woodpeckers.

Frankly, I don’t know if this is the phainopepla’s usual range, but I have seen them several times here. They are more common in the desert areas and feast on mistletoe berries. In that we have tons of oak mistletoe I’m surprised I don’t see more of these birds.

The ruby-crowned kinglet seems to be all over the country!

The turkey vulture is also a ubiquitous bird.

This turkey vulture looks positively vulturish.

The California scrub jay is also quite common in oak country.

Here’s a real surprise for me. The song of the mockingbird is, for me, the Song of the South. I grew up in Louisiana and Texas hearing its melodious song, so seeing how common they are here messes with my mind. I’m so glad!

You’ll notice there are a LOT of birds with “California” in their name. Not sure why, but it shows how special we are to lay claim to so many feathered dinosaurs.

These birds, however, aren’t too loyal to their namesake state, because they spend the day calling out “Chi-ca-go” to each other.

Several sparrows are found here, but they aren’t among the most common birds.

The golden crown isn’t as gold in winter.

Black-billed magpies are common in the West, but the yellow-billed is endemic to central California.

The California towhee is in the sparrow family.

Its spotted cousin, however, is more handsome. This one is gathering pine needles for its nest.

Notice the red eyes.

Anna’s hummingbirds are found here year-round.

You never see just one bushtit.  They travel in small noisy flocks and rarely keep still long enough to take a photograph.

The orioles leave for the tropics in winter.

So do the western kingbirds.

This one shows a little of the orange-red cap that normally stays hidden.

I’ll end this with a winter landscape typical of the Central Coast.

Photos and text copyrighted by Cindy McIntyre

Feel free to reblog or share

Website:  CindyMcIntyre.com

Online gallery:  Smugmug and Fine Art America

Join my Facebook Page

Contact:  cindy at cindymcintyre.com

 

Permalink 4 Comments