Birds since 1st January

This is just a collection of some of the birds we have seen since Jan. 1st. Taken anywhere between our garden in Truro down to Landsend and The Lizard. Nothing rare except the Great-Grey Shrike from Stithians. We took the Wood Pigeons because we had never noticed a Juv. (no neck markings ) before. We have had a lot of Siskins in lately but for some reason they don't photograph well. Same could be said of the 3-4 Scaup that we saw at Gothian Sands yesterday.

Local Birding

Local Birds

Drake Eurasian x American Wigeon

And finally, does anyone know what this duck is, we took it at Hayle yesterday. The green eye patch and very pale forehead on a red head suggests a cross between American Wigeon and one of ours?

Seeing the brilliant shots of the Phalarope being taken by a Buzzard reminded us of when we witnessed a pair of Buzzards being mobbed by Jackdaws and eventually managing to take one. That was about 18mths ago down at Nanquidno. Not brilliant shots but good enough for our records.

California Trip, Sept. 2008

These are from our recent trip to California. There are a lot of them but California is a big place and this is only a fraction of what we took. We covered 2500 miles by road, down as far as the Mexican border. California is constantly shrouded in a haze which doesn't help with photography. 

We spent a day at the Salton Sea, one of the hottest places on earth and it smells awful. 

Had a great time though and came back exhausted.

Californian Birds

Californian Birds

Monteray Pelagic

These were taken on a 8 hour Pelagic out of Monteray Bay, I was so ill I thought I was dying and after 3 hours John had to take over. Sue

Californian Wildlife

Californian Birds