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Re: Can you help?
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On Jan 10, 2021, at 2:12 PM, Clifford Hawley <yellowhammerCA@...> wrote:
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Re: Can you help?
开云体育
Oh dang!? I looked at Mountain Bluebird because I thought that Di mentioned that the turquoise blue color caught their eyes.
From: [email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of Peggy Andrews <peggy.andrews@...>
Sent: Sunday, January 10, 2021 1:39 PM To: [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [sacramento-birds] Can you help? ?
a Mountain Bluebird?
From: [email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of Di <2curiousdi@...>
Sent: Sunday, January 10, 2021 1:18 PM To: [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: [sacramento-birds] Can you help? ?
We were crossing the bridge behind the visitor center at the Cosumnes River Preserve late Friday afternoon (about 4:45) when we?noticed
a group of about twenty small birds with bright turquoise-blue feathers moving about in the marsh area to the left of the bridge.?Their turquoise color was so striking against the orangey-red brush!?They
would only land on a branch for a few seconds and would always land upside down so we were assuming they were some type of nuthatch.?
But when we got home and checked, for the first time ever, our bird ID app (Merlin through Cornell) said it was “unable to identify this bird”! The photos are a bit blurry as they were quite
far away but we’ve had blurrier photos of incomplete birds that were easily identified by Merlin so we are stumped! Would any of you have an idea of what these little guys could be??
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Re: Can you help?
Thank you Clifford and Stephen! We looked up bushtits and the chubby body shape is absolutely spot-on! But the birds really were blue- that’s what caught our eye! We know all about the camera putting a bluish cast on gray in low light- Morris has seen that many times- but the light wasn’t really that low yet and the birds really did look sky blue to our naked eye- not just the camera’s eye!
We looked up mountain bluebird on the Cornell site and one of the photos looks exactly like our little mystery bird ! We can’t understand why Merlin doesn’t identify it as such since the photo on their site looks just like the little guy in our photo! Please scroll down to see the photo of a screenshot of Merlin‘s response and also of the photo from their site of a mountain bluebird… |
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Re: Can you help?
Definitely a male Mountain Bluebird - only one with a light blue belly (Charming picture!) Bess L. Hadley On Sunday, January 10, 2021, 02:02:29 PM PST, odonata23 <odonata23@...> wrote: Looks like an adult male Mountain Bluebird based on color, apparent size, beak color & shape, range, your description it was in brush with about 20 other birds, and time of year (winter) from checklist of the Birds of the Sacramento area. Nice! Eric Sent from my Galaxy -------- Original message -------- From: Di <2curiousdi@...> Date: 1/10/21 1:18 PM (GMT-08:00) Subject: [sacramento-birds] Can you help? We were crossing the bridge behind the visitor center at the Cosumnes River Preserve late Friday afternoon (about 4:45) when we?noticed a group of about twenty small birds with bright turquoise-blue feathers moving about in the marsh area to the left of the bridge.?Their turquoise color was so striking against the orangey-red brush!?They would only land on a branch for a few seconds and would always land upside down so we were assuming they were some type of nuthatch.? But when we got home and checked, for the first time ever, our bird ID app (Merlin through Cornell) said it was “unable to identify this bird”! The photos are a bit blurry as they were quite far away but we’ve had blurrier photos of incomplete birds that were easily identified by Merlin so we are stumped! Would any of you have an idea of what these little guys could be?? |
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Re: Can you help?
I appreciate that the bird appears blue. It is a common issue in birds with gray plumage that they can appear blue because of the lighting. Perception of color is a tricky business. Everything you describe about the habitat, the behavior and appearance other than the color matches Bushtits and is unlike Mountain Bluebirds. The picture you took really clinches it. That dangling upside down while foraging is classic Bushtit behavior. Mountain Bluebirds behave much like Say's Phoebes and forage from fences or by hovering over grassy fields and dropping down on prey.? Cliff Hawley Sacramento, CA On Sun, Jan 10, 2021, 2:35 PM Di <2curiousdi@...> wrote: Thank you Clifford and Stephen! We looked up bushtits and the chubby body shape is absolutely spot-on! But the birds really were blue- that’s what caught our eye! We know all about the camera putting a bluish cast on gray in low light- Morris has seen that many times- but the light wasn’t really that low yet and the birds really did look sky blue to our naked eye- not just the camera’s eye! |
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Re: Can you help?
Do bluebirds often eat upside down?? On Sun, Jan 10, 2021, 14:02 odonata23 <odonata23@...> wrote:
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Re: Coming up! Great Backyard Bird Count
开云体育This is so great! I’ve always wanted to do this but have never taken the time. (thank you, global pandemic!)?Does anyone know if there’s a coordinated approach to this in Sacramento? Do people ever sign up to cover certain areas? Or is it really just crowd sourced data wherever and whenever during these four days?? ? |
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Re: Coming up! Great Backyard Bird Count
It truly is a backyard count - do it where ever you like - backyard, local park, state park, national wildlife refuge.? Do it by yourself, or with friends, or family.? Do it one day or all 4, what ever works for you. Just remember to enter the data on their website -?https://www.birdcount.org/? -----Original Message-----
From: Bernadette Del Chiaro <bernadette@...> To: [email protected] Sent: Tue, Jan 12, 2021 12:10 pm Subject: Re: [sacramento-birds] Coming up! Great Backyard Bird Count This is so great! I’ve always wanted to do this but have never taken the time. (thank you, global pandemic!)?
Does anyone know if there’s a coordinated approach to this in Sacramento? Do people ever sign up to cover certain areas? Or is it really just crowd sourced data wherever and whenever during these four days??
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Re: Coming up! Great Backyard Bird Count
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On Jan 12, 2021, at 12:20 PM, Subhash Chand via <SubhashC@...> wrote: It truly is a backyard count - do it where ever you like - backyard, local park, state park, national wildlife refuge.? Do it by yourself, or with friends, or family.? Do it one day or all 4, what ever works for you. Just remember to enter the data on their website -??
-----Original Message-----
From: Bernadette Del Chiaro <bernadette@...> To: [email protected] Sent: Tue, Jan 12, 2021 12:10 pm Subject: Re: [sacramento-birds] Coming up! Great Backyard Bird Count This is so great! I’ve always wanted to do this but have never taken the time. (thank you, global pandemic!)?
Does anyone know if there’s a coordinated approach to this in Sacramento? Do people ever sign up to cover certain areas? Or is it really just crowd sourced data wherever and whenever during these four days??
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Re: Coming up! Great Backyard Bird Count
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On Jan 12, 2021, at 12:20 PM, Subhash Chand via groups.io <SubhashC@...> wrote:
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Re: Coming up! Great Backyard Bird Count
It is really anywhere you want. Some people have their favorite patch that they cover or just count their yard. I usually like to hit a few underbirded spots in my 5 mile radius for that patch list. Just use eBird to submit data in that window and it will contribute to the count.? Cliff Hawley Sacramento, CA On Tue, Jan 12, 2021, 12:10 PM Bernadette Del Chiaro <bernadette@...> wrote:
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STEPHEN COFFMAN
Clifford Hawley
Randuckley
Troy Edson-Smith