jak86094

A friend and I spent the morning in Bommer Canyon in Irvine, CA. The spring migration has brought a nice variety of species into the canyon. While I had hoped to see Blue Grosbeaks, which were reported there earlier in the week, we were able to find several other species instead. Tops among our morning's discoveries were Grasshopper Sparrows and California Quail. While the quail are fairly common, they often stay well hidden in the brush. Grasshopper Sparrows are small, solitary and spend most of their time hidden down in the low grasses. Our first grasshopper sparrow connections were auditory, frustrating us by staying well hidden on the nearby hillside. But as we hiked through the canyon, we were lucky enough to get a really great sighting and photo opportunity. This was shortly after a nice sighting of quail perched atop fence posts along the trail. We also saw several Pacific-slope Flycatchers, who have been surprisingly common this Spring. Here are a few samples, all taken with a Nikon D500, Nikkor 200-500mm telezoom, handheld, in bright sunlight. Using Manual, Spot focusing, Auto ISO and shooting in the range of 1/1000 to 1/1250 at f/7.2 to f/5.6, all of the attached required cropping and some exposure adjustment due to distance, high contrast and dark shadows. Still, I've tried to minimize any changes in hue, over saturation, and over sharpening. Hope you like them. Downloads are all better than the thumbnails.

jak
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Grasshopper Sparrow

(Download)

California Quail

(Download)

Common Yellowthroat

(Download)

Pacific-Slope Flycatcher

(Download)


(Download)

Orange-crowned Warbler

(Download)

sakitson Loc: Goleta, CA

Good ones! That Grasshopper Sparrow was great luck to see so well.

jak86094

sakitson, thank you for the kind comments. I agree. Last year, I saw 1 at another location. The bird was tiny and seen from about 150' away so the photo was only good for ID. This one is good enough to print out and display, I think. After our original experience of hearing but not seeing the Grasshopper Sparrows, I was a bit discouraged. My hearing isn't very good...especially at the high range...and that's precisely where the GRSP's call falls. Luckily, my friend has excellent hearing and is an experienced and knowledgeable auditory birder. She hears them, we find them together, and then I try to get a good photo. Usually works out well. In this case, it was better than expected. At first, the sparrow was farther way. I got a few shots. Then it flew even further and we thought that would be it, but it turned around and perched even closer to us...out in the open as shown in these photos. Sometimes things go our way...sometimes they don't. Hope you are well and dealing with social distancing without too much stress. Take care and have a great end to your week. jak

UTMike Loc: South Jordan, UT

More of your usual high quality captures of a variety, jak!

jak86094

Hi, Mike. Thanks very much. Have yourself a great week. jak

Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV

Great job with great equipment!

jederick Loc: Northern Utah

Another magnificent series...have never scene of heard of a GHSparrow until now so many thanks for sharing!!

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

Nice set. Well taken.

jak86094

Thank you very much. I do enjoy the equipment and plan to for many years. I'm glad I can bring pleasure to viewers of my photos. Have a great week. jak

jak86094

jederick, that's very kind of you. Thank you for the nice comments. The Grasshopper Sparrow is not well known. They don't appear in great numbers, at least not here. I wasn't that sure what they looked at until AFTER I took the photos and then I had a good chance to study them more closely. Hope you are well. Take care of yourself and have a good week. jak

jak86094

Thanks, kpmac. It's kind of you to say so. Have a good week. jak

J-SPEIGHT Loc: Akron, Ohio

guardineer

Excellent photos and description. What a great productive day.

blacks2 Loc: SF. Bay area

Very beautiful images, I love them.

Earnest Botello Loc: Hockley, Texas

Very good series, Jak.