We were struck by how similar this photo of the Red-Tail is to the picture on the front cover of the Sibley guide.  This Great Blue Heron was photographed at Lake Cachuma.  The Least Bittern is very rare on the west coast.  We were fortunate to see this one at the UCSB (University of California, Santa Barbara) campus.  The Thrasher was seen near Lake Los Carneros in Goleta.  "Storing Acorns" is one of our favorite pictures.  It was taken of an Acorn Woodpecker getting ready for (the virtually non-existent) winter in Santa Barbara's Rocky Nook Park.

This version of the Magpie is found in a limited area of California only.  They are very common in our Central Coast area, especially in the Santa Ynez Valley.  The Yellow-billed Magpie prefers open pastures or farmland near groves of oaks, but can be found freeloading at rest stops along Highway 101.  They are omnivores, but insects are their nourishment of choice.  They are smaller than the widespread Black-billed Magpie, but their voices are similar.  Their ranges do not overlap at all; no Black-billed Magpies are found in this area.  The Red-breasted Sapsucker was photographed near Lake Cachuma north of Santa Barbara.  This bird's range is up and down the Pacific Coast, preferring the humid forests of the Pacific Northwest.  They are a form of woodpecker who drill rows of holes in trees as "sap wells" in order to drink the sap from the trees.  Both the American White Pelican and the Ruddy Duck, in breeding plumage, were photographed at Lake Los Carneros in Goleta.

Santa Barbara area Shorebirds

All of these pictures were taken at East Beach in Santa Barbara.  The Whimbrel is the most widespread of the Curlew family and is seen all over the West Coast.  The Long-billed Curlew is the largest of the sandpipers.  Can you believe the length of that bill?  They are beautiful to watch in flight with the sunlight hitting their cinnamon coloring.  These Black Skimmers are amazing!  They look like little clowns on the shore and are very graceful in their formation flying.  Kenn Kaufmann calls them "a bizarre relative of the terns."  They feed by flying low over the ocean, trailing the longer lower mandible in the water, then snapping the bill shut when detecting a fish (usually a minnow).  They rest in flocks on the beach near Santa Barbara's Stearn's Wharf.  

At Our Backyard Feeder

We look forward to the arrival of Hooded Orioles each spring.  They hang around our area all summer, and love the grape jelly we put out for them (about 20 pounds of the purple stuff is eaten between April and September!).  We are very puzzled by the simultaneous arrival of a female Acorn Woodpecker at our feeder each year.  She enjoys the grape jelly along with the Orioles, but leaves in the fall at the same time they do, even though Acorn Woodpeckers are seen in our area all winter.  Other aficionados of the grape jelly include the local scrub-jays.

We were surprised to see this hawk in our back yard, stalking the birds at our feeder.  The heron photos were taken in Los Osos, near Morro Bay.  After posing nicely for us, the heron decided it was time to "go!"

Out of Town Birds (photographed while on various vacations)

This Osprey nest was at the top of a tall pole which was put there to attract Ospreys.  They were obviously successful.  The Great Horned Owl and her chicks were photographed at the Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge near Alamosa, Colorado.

The night photo of the Western Screech Owl was taken in Cave Creek Canyon in Southeastern Arizona.

The woodpecker was also seen at Cave Creek Canyon, right outside our cabin.  We spotted the bald eagle while taking a boat trip on Vancouver Island in British Columbia.  He was one a several we saw doing what eagles do best: posing at the top of a tree.