Greetings to all you Hedgehoggers out there.

While we're technically just starting Spring, here in Southern California we have been enjoying Spring conditions for weeks and some migrants are starting to leave their winter/spring homes. Others have either bred or are demonstrating mating, nesting or breeding behavior. Still, it's a very good time to see a variety of species, some of which will leave by Summer. I am getting out a couple of times per week to find current species. Here are some recent photos. Hope you enjoy.

Cactus Wrens live up to their name, living only in areas with substantial beds of cactus. Native throughout the Southwest, these large wrens build distinctive, tubular grass nests in cactus patches. In our survey near UC Irvine yesterday we saw 4 Cactus Wrens and heard several others, which were singing loudly, probably hoping to protect territory or attract mates.

The California Gnatcatcher breeds and feeds in coastal chaparral areas of our environs. One of their calls is a falling zeeer that can sound like a kitten. During breeding season (see example below), males develop a solid black cap. The black tail is edged in white, but the underside of the tail is black with white edges in comparison with the white under tail of the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher which is frequently found bouncing through similar chaparral areas. The California Gnatcatcher is generally considered the rarer sighting.

Greater Roadrunners are fairly common throughout the Southwest US. The pictured specimen, below, raced along behind a waist high wire fence, at the base of a hillside, before flitting to the top of a fence post, brandishing its (tasty?) meal of a Jerusalem Cricket (aka Potato Bug). This bird was one of the largest roadrunners I have seen and shows its distinctive plumage, long, powerful beak and long tail. The white eyeline with orange and blue details always catches my eye. The Roadrunner's powerful legs and wings make them effective and speedy predators. I've never seen one interact with a coyote (though we saw several during yesterday's survey), but would our cartoonists just make something like that up?

All of these photos were taken with a Nikon D500, a Tamron SP 70-200 f/2.8 mm lens through a Tamron SP AF 300F-FNs 2X teleconverter because my Nikkor 200-500 telezoom lens is in the shop. Handheld and manually focused, I cannot get the lens and 2X teleconverter to focus automatically. The Tamron web sight says that it AF should Roark with my camera and the Tamron lens. If anyone can tell me how to get the AF to work with this setup, I'd be grateful.

jak