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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: 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?
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?
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?
¿ªÔÆÌåÓý
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?
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On Jan 10, 2021, at 2:12 PM, Clifford Hawley <yellowhammerCA@...> wrote:
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Re: Can you help?
These are Bushtits. The low light is causing your camera to color correct gray as blue.? Cliff Hawley Sacramento, CA On Sun, Jan 10, 2021, 1:18 PM Di <2curiousdi@...> wrote:
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Re: Can you help?
¿ªÔÆÌåÓýLooks 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?
¿ªÔÆÌåÓý
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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Can you help?
¿ªÔÆÌåÓýWe 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: Great Horned Owl
Asleep, and then looking right at you! It's an unforgettable sensation, being held in the gaze of a great horned owl. Our outdoor song circle throughout this past year was visited at dusk regularly by a great horned owl who seemed genuinely interested in the acoustic guitar sounds and singing that reached him at his perch atop a walnut tree towering above the Sacramento River. A few times, a mate or a friend of his would join in at a pine tree standing opposite. Seemingly shy introverts being quietly social and curious. Sweet Virginia was a part of our sons' childhoods--we thought she'd live forever.
On Wednesday, January 6, 2021, 5:58:31 PM PST, Nancy via groups.io <cat0614@...> wrote:
Oh how precious!!? The only Great Horned Owls I have ever seen were/are at Effie Yeaw Nature Center - Virginia who has passed away and Echo who is there now.? I believe I have heard them in my neighborhood though on occasion. -----Original Message-----
From: Subhash Chand via groups.io <SubhashC@...> To: sacsubcoho@... <sacsubcoho@...>; [email protected] <[email protected]> Sent: Wed, Jan 6, 2021 4:33 pm Subject: [sacramento-birds] Great Horned Owl Yesterday a friend took me to see a Great Horned Owl roosting during the day at River Bend Park.? Took us a while to find it because they hide among the branches and are hard to see (pic 1), but then, since it was sleeping, we could move around under it to get decent views.
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Re: Great Horned Owl
Oh how precious!!? The only Great Horned Owls I have ever seen were/are at Effie Yeaw Nature Center - Virginia who has passed away and Echo who is there now.? I believe I have heard them in my neighborhood though on occasion. -----Original Message-----
From: Subhash Chand via groups.io <SubhashC@...> To: sacsubcoho@... <sacsubcoho@...>; [email protected] <[email protected]> Sent: Wed, Jan 6, 2021 4:33 pm Subject: [sacramento-birds] Great Horned Owl Yesterday a friend took me to see a Great Horned Owl roosting during the day at River Bend Park.? Took us a while to find it because they hide among the branches and are hard to see (pic 1), but then, since it was sleeping, we could move around under it to get decent views.
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Re: Egret Tryptic
Gorgeous, I need a bigger computer screen to do the pictures justice. So glad I don't do email on my phone.?
On Tuesday, January 5, 2021, 07:23:04 PM PST, Di <2curiousdi@...> wrote:
Hello again, everyone! Thanks so much to those of you that commented on my last post. As it turns out, what I sent you was only 1/3 of a triptych of photos. A few weeks ago, Morris was observing a beautiful egret at the Cosumnes River Preserve just as the sun was setting. The egret was wading around in the shallow water looking for dinner but didn¡¯t seem to find anything that suited his fancy. Eventually, he slowly and gracefully took flight but stayed very close to the water before touching down again to check out the food supply a little further down the way. This three-part composite panorama is actually a series of still images culled from the 75 consecutive shots Morris took while panning the egret¡¯s flight. Hope you enjoy it.... |
Randuckley
Clifford Hawley
STEPHEN COFFMAN
Kathy Adcock