4 more where that came from

There has not been enough recently to make seperate blog posts for each event, so I will post them all together.

Firstly, at Oak Canyon Community Park came....

Common Yellowthroat, a new Parulid warbler for the Dendroica page. Their tail is much stubbier than I would have imagined, especially for a warbler, see the right image.

I also unexpectedly found a Buckeye (the North American Meadow Argus) here.

Some better Bushtit shots too:

At Sumac Park just a minute drive (literally over a hill away) I found two more that should be in our local area but apparently aren't.

Northern Mockingbird; a common sub-urban bird that I should have found ages ago. An immature bird on the right.

A Hooded Oriole, and a male at that. Not a bird I expected here (I didn't think this region was urban enough for them, especially as Bullock's is here). I assumed at a distance it was a Black-headed Grosbeak.

And also from Oak Canyon Community Park, from the duck pond near the entrance, was a Black-crowned Night-heron spending its time perched in the shade of a tree well above head height.

And because I feel like it, here are some California Ground Squirrel shots from the same location. If you haven't seen them before then you should be to tell from the pictures that they try to get as close to the ground as possible, getting around by inching very slowly. The image on the left is the highest they sit. This particular squirrel was very unique, as in the Canyon Park itself, they scatter from more than 10 metres away. They certainly have some charm, definately more than the Grey Squirrel which surprisingly I still haven't seen here yet.

And here is the commonest local dragonfly, the Flame Skimmer, which for the first time so far happened to sit.





And here is a "Golden hummingbird". Believe it or not its just a regular female Anna's (which are green) at a funny angle.