corrections and retractions ツ

my little bird, which i thought was a dusky warbler, turns out to be a bewick's wren.  though dusky warblers have been seen in california, it would have been quite a rare sighting down here in LA.  my biology professor and amateur ornithologist brother-in-law got me straightened out!

these bird parents are busy all day long, feeding their babies, who chirp long and loud for their frequent meals!  they are so quick that i continue to have difficulty snapping a decent picture.

new mystery bird... a pair live in my neighbor's yard.  i have NO idea what this one is!

knitting will return in my next post.  lots of dishcloths, for some reason!

my bird

a poor photo, but this dusky warbler is so quick, it was really hard to capture him/her with my camera.  s/he has a nest with babies in a deep nook in my garden wall.  i have not seen him/her today -- i hope i have not scared her away.  the babies are still peeping.

it's still wintertime here...

... but that means it's time for the camellias to begin blooming, and it's time to take the opportunity to pop over to descanso gardens for a mid-winter stroll.  they have wonderful huge koi swimming around in the sky.ツ

no snowdrifts here!  just beautiful white camellias in full bloom.

pink ones, too, but my favorite are the white.  the red ones are pretty spectacular, but how many flower pictures can i post?!

a resident white goose hangs out with a mallard pair (right behind the tree).  there is a pair of wood ducks living there as well, but they were not at this pond when i was there.  the breeze came up as i took this picture, blurring the reflection.

i have never seen a rhododendron this color.  it practically glowed.

not trying to rub it in, really!

ETA: click on picture to really see it, as always.

hangin' out

i THINK this is a young female rufous hummingbird, enjoying the sunshine on the wire above my driveway.  she's really backlit, so it's hard to say exactly.

we have a lot of hummingbirds here in southern california, but unless their nest is threatened or it is really really quiet outside, they're hard to hear above all the other noise in our environment.  and they are very quick, darting around and disappearing into the trees before you can get a good look.

ummm, excuse me...

a talented photographer took this picture of a female downy woodpecker.  i found it here.

i SAW a female downy woodpecker this afternoon, trying to peck a hole in my concrete street light pole.

she gave up pretty quickly.  exercise in futility.

what a pretty bird!

a hungry fellow

a western bluebird dined in the outfield and watched the smnll giants lose to their classmates and good friends, the padres.

that whatbird.com website is fantastic -- answer a few questions, and the bird identification possibilities pop up!