Something's Strange in the Neighborhood

We are currently staying in my son's apartment in Glendale, California. Wednesday afternoon, we decided to bird around the neighborhood. Expecting to see the usual suspects, we were quite surprised to encounter some species we never expected to be in this sort of urban environment.

But first allow me to show the "regulars". A Black Phoebe has made this place its home. We've seen this bird for the past several years here.

It seemed that the Mourning Doves had multiplied a lot. They're practically everywhere - lots of them!

Another common species here were the House Finches, although this time they stayed at the higher places.

As expected, California Towhees were foraging on the ground, unmindful of the people passing by.

The Northern Mockingbirds were, as always, displaying their audacious attitudes.

A pair of Acorn Woodpeckers were up a palm tree looking for food. I got a photo of one.

Then there were the unexpected. After taking some shots at the mockingbird, I noticed something strange. Softly, I told my wife, "Turn around slowly, there's a Junco behind you". We've seen Dark-eyed Juncos the day before in Bonelli Park. Lots of them. And that's where they can be easily found, not on a sidewalk, along an apartment complex.

Perched alongside a Mourning Dove, was a Band-tailed Pigeon! Again, this species prefer the trees in parks, not electric wires.

While trying to aim at another Mockingbird singing from a tree top, Cynthia saw something green. I looked at where she was pointing and surprise of all surprises - a Yellow-chevroned Parakeet! It didn't stay long though and I was lucky enough to get a couple of shots. We've seen this tropical species before (a feral population thrives in the greater Los Angeles area) in Arcadia and El Monte. Never in Glendale. Until now.

A big bird on a tree top, about a block away, was another unexpected encounter. A Red-tailed Hawk was surveying its surroundings, perhaps looking for an unwary prey. Sometime later it even flew and landed on the top of a pine tree right next to us. Unfortunately, it was so high up that pine needles prevented us from getting a full view.

What was also strange, sort of in a negative way, was the scarcity of House Sparrows. This species was the "trash bird" of urban areas. However, we only saw two, both immature.

It was a productive birding experience for us, considering the type of environment we're in. Thanks to the "strange" appearance of some uncommon birds.

Birds on a Wire

On our first birding foray in California we visited our favorite destination - Eaton Canyon Park in Pasadena. We spent the whole day seeing familiar birds.

In the afternoon still affected by jet lag, we decided to just explore my son's neighborhood in Glendale. Palmer Park was a huge disappointment. It became a "people park". It now has a basketball court, a children's playground and a "social area". With such an abundance of human beings, the birds were nowhere to be found. So our option was just to walk along the street inasmuch as we've seen some crows and a mockingbird there earlier.

Surprisingly, the birds were here! Albeit perched on electric wires. Some would fly down to catch some unfortunate insect. And here they are:

Hooded Oriole (immature)

House Finch

Mourning Dove

Northern Mockingbird

Western Bluebird

Then suddenly this lovely bluebird spotted a worm and flew down just a few feet from where I was. That resulted in my photo of the day:

I think I'm right but what if Tamron?

As in previous years I purposely did not bring my 500 lens on our trip to the US - for the simple reason that it is huge and heavy. Another thing is that birds are generally tamer in America than in the Philippines. Having a long lens is not really an advantage if the subjects could be photographed from just a few feet away. However this time, I wanted to try a long lens but lighter in weight. Our friends in the Philippines had been giving good reviews of the Tamron 150-600 zoom lens. After consulting with my wife/CFO, I was given the go signal to purchase one. I promptly ordered from B&H Photo in New York to be delivered to my daughter's house in Arcadia, California. On the day of our arrival, we met up with Michelle and finally got my hands on my brand new lens.

Early the following day, I gave the Tamron a field test. The place was Eaton Canyon in Pasadena - one of my favorite birding haunts. As in any new equipment, it took some getting used to before I was able to truly appreciate the 150-600 lens.

Here are a few sample photos:

Northern Mockingbird - one of the early shots, still in learning mode

Western Scrub Jay - getting better

Golden-crowned Sparrow - should've gotten more depth of field

American Bushtit - was able to nail this hyperactive tiny skulker

Swainson's Hawk - also tried some BIF but the subject was just too high up

Aside from birds, I also photographed a ground squirrel

maybe I should shift to mammal photography

and a California Poppy

a Poppy is also a flower (to borrow from a film title)

All in all I give a 4 stars out of 5 rating. The lens sometimes was quite slow in focusing, particularly on fast moving birds. Also, in my observation, a higher shutter speed was necessary to obtain sharper images which means setting higher ISOs. I am happy with the Tamron and I was right in getting one.