When is Vermillion NOT Red???

Well, I can tell you that when it comes to the Vermillion Flycatchers that I have seen - there ain't nothin' red!

The Vermillion Flycatcher is one of those birds that I have really looked forward to seeing. Growing up in Florida, I was certainly exposed to some great birds - like the Roseate Spoonbill - that looks sorta like a small flamingo with a lot of beak that got flattened by a steamroller. Pretty crazy to be able to see such a bird where I worked - along Sarasota Bay at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens.

However, NO Vermillion Flycatchers were to be seen. I read books. I've seen pictures. And the Vermillion Flycatcher (VF in birder-write) is a spectacular bird. Apparently as red as one of my very favorite birds, the Northern Cardinal, (why it's 'Northern' Cardinal when seen in the Heart of the Ol' South..??) the VF adult male has a brilliant red cap, throat and 'underparts', contrasted with very black eyeline/mask, nape, back, wings and tail. Sheesh! What a bird to see! And now I live in the southwest USA where the VF live. Cool.

So when I read on the local Santa Barbara, CA 'bird alert' group that a Vermillion Flycatcher had been seen only 30 miles up the coast at Gaviota State Beach, my wife and I headed out. After a dry run and literally no birds at Refugio State Beach, we zoomed ten more miles up the coast to Gaviota State Beach. Jeanne quickly spotted a 'new bird'. She's quite good at this. Not only does she see birds very well, she is also able to quickly discern if we have seen the bird before. Handy to have around!

Sure enough, in a struggling Western Sycamore, planted at Campsite #29, we had found our bird! Sound the drums! Here is the bird I had been waiting for!

Nooooo???!!! How can this be? Where's the freakin' Vermillion? With the mask?

So I have officially seen a Vermillion Flycatcher. Simply turns out this one is a juvenile bird (likely a female), with typical coloration(for a VF juvenile female). There will be more. This one can't be the only one in a vermillion. Guess I'll have to go back and keep lookin' for a MATURE MALE VF that will actually be RED!

Vermillion Flycatcher (juvenile female) on introduced/escaped Nicotiana.

Blog or Blob? Gotta Get Goin'!

You must read to the end for info on this one!

Birds I Have Seen Lately

Finding myself in a sudden and early retirement 18 months ago, I find I enjoy having much more time to look at birds. Now eating is still a good idea, so I'm not so sure just how long this 'retirement' might last - so I'm grinnin' with each birdin' opportunity. To get myself back on a bloggin' track, I have decided to post photos of birds that have made a reasonable image in my digital camera lately. While I'm 'proud' of the quality of some of the photos, others are simply for 'documentation' that both the bird and I existed at the same moment in time, occupying a nearly identical space.

On Friday 5Sept08, I took a look at Devereux Slough on the UCSB Campus, and while the dabblers were a long ways away, they seemed different than the Mallards that have inhabited the Slough all summer. My binoculars are fairly decent and 8x, yet really weren't sufficient to bring in the birds from the distance at the far western edge of the Slough. I took this photo at 500mm with my DX digital camera, equalling 750mm of reach. With the average human eye working at approximately 50mm, this totaled 15x. Then when I got home, I enlarged the image. If you don't have a scope, or the $$ to get one, then you have to do a LOT of steps to get any sort of an identification of distant birds - and then only if the birds are the size and coloration of these Cinnamon Teals. Peeps? Forget it! WAAY too small at that distance.

These Greater Yellowlegs were much closer.

Red-necked Phalaropes do nothing at less than warp speed. While my long lens has good 'reach' it is slow to focus, so I was fortunate to catch these zippy little birds at all.

These Wilson's Phalaropes were at Devereux Slough on 12Aug08. Twenty percent larger than the Red-necked Phalaropes, Wilson's Phalaropes seemingly do not partake of the caffeinated crustaceans as much as their relatives.

Occasionally I remember to LOOK UP! And am often rewarded. You'd think I would do it more often. In this case I was fortunate to have this raptor circling quite low, as I didn't have my long lens, and was limited to 200mm. If you're having difficulty recognizing this very large eagle, it was also new to me - a White-bellied Fish Eagle! And no, this is actually not just a post about Devereux Slough - remember? These are birds I have seen lately! I visited Singapore in late July and saw this bird circling overhead. It is a widespread bird from India through Malaysia to Australia. While mostly feeding on water-based animals, they also eat carrion, and have been know to take birds as large as swans. Look out, Fifi.

While watching the White-bellied Fish Eagle, I noticed another raptor-looking bird circling overhead as well. Turns out this is a Brahminy Kite, another common raptor with widespread distribution in Southeast Asia. Not as large as the WB Fish Eagle, this individual looks like it came out second in a fight.

Now THIS bird may look familar, as it is related to our own Brown Pelican. This is an Australian Pelican, seen in the Singapore Zoo. Somehow, just not as 'dignified' as our Brown Pelican, do you think?

Well, dignified may be not quite the right word here.... Brown Pelican at Devereux 12Aug08.

Last fall, when I was first 'into' looking around Santa Barbara, CA at birds, the Black-crowned Night Herons covered the tamarisk trees at the south end of the Slough (near the renowned Bridge-to-Nowhere - this is an old wooden bridge with the distal portion removed - not to be confused with the as yet unbuilt bridge noted all-to-frequently by Sarah Palin.) On 12Aug08 there were three back in the same tamarisks.

No, this Southern Cassowary did not pop out from behind a jacaranda tree on Foothill Road. A native of New Guinea and New Zealand it is a rainforest bird second (at 150lb+!) only to the Ostrich in size among living birds.

WHOA! Now THIS bird just looks like it has been hitting the double espressos! Again at the Singapore Zoo, the Saddle-billed Stork is native to much of Africa from Sub-Saharan regions to South Africa. Just waaay too colorful and amazing to leave out of this eclectic post.

Oh, and the very FIRST bird in the post? It's a Victorian-crowned Pigeon, also from the Singapore Zoo, and just too fancy for belief!