I caught this Acmon blue butterfly at the right angle where the natural light has caused the scales to iridesce across the entire spectrum of colors, but still dominated by the indigo-blue the species is named for 📷🌈🦋
That rig took this photo of a California Towhee!
This digiscope rig has some severe limitations, as the multiple layers of glass aren’t meant to sharply transmit light
I mean you’re not beating the photography from a real telephoto lens, but who woulda thought I could manage this with a Leica? 📷🔭🪶
I am one step ring away from being able to take some bird photos with my Leica cameras and the Kowa scope
I found my little travel scope I used initially to take photos on my phone
Been a nice little upgrade since then 🔭
Local Cooper’s hawk fledgling!
This momma, first photo, has successfully fledged offspring in our neighborhood the last three years
I once named this juvenile’s sister, a SQUEAKER, pinecone
I hope she is well as her momma has given her more siblings!
Phone scoped! 📱🔭🪶
#birdbutt
This was shared by boomers on a birding listserv
While I’m not for theft, this dude hit Optics4Birding and Samy’s for nearly $15000 of birding gear
My dude got the itch but no cash for glass!
But here’s Irvine PD’s latest… same folks who arrested students and teachers…
Free the Birder in you 🪶
I started using eBird to track my life list because of this white wagtail, wintering in SoCal 2023
I had a lifelist of ~120 then, so I resolved to find every bird before this wagtail rather than backlogging
This Lewis’s woodpecker at mono lake park was one of the last remaining backlog targets
/1
It’s def not an Allen’s. The photos are Live Photos and I can tell the rectrices are not lancolated
Allen’s is really rare here
broad tail has range that summers here
And so does calliope, they breed in the sierras as well 🤷♂️😳
Broad-tailed Hummingbird — surprise lifer!
I originally misID this selasphora as Allen’s because I’ve never seen a broad-tailed hummer before
I knew Allen’s range would be extremely rare here this time of year, so I studied my photos longer and def didnt see Allen’s as I suspected
Lifer! Woohoo!🪶
This east side Sierra trip can be explained in one eBird breeding code…
FY - Feeding Young
Mountain Chickadee FY
Nuttall’s Woodpecker FY
Greater Sage-Grouse FY
American Robin FY
Red-breasted Sapsucker FY
Violet-green Swallow FY
American Coot FY
House Wren FY
As I am not confident with my flycatcher calls, I had to depend both on calls I didn’t know and finally seeing a bird fly up into some bare branches…
Perched like a flycatcher, this bird was over 300’ away and I had no chance with my bins, and a photo could not resolve enough detail
Phonescoped📱🔭🪶
In the same spot, a pair of mountain bluebirds foraging for food, likely for a nest in these trees somewhere.
Phonescoped 📱🔭🪶
For context of distance I added a self portrait 😂
Thankfully they foraged closer and I did manage some photos in my camera! More photos soon!
High desert chicken 🏜️🐓
I present to you one of the jewels of birding in the eastern sierras!
A chance to watch this mom walk her beeb up and down the road picking at sagebrush was a dream come true
A miracle of conservation, vast sage brush plains forever be pristine because of this bird! 🥰📷🪶
About to retreat to the Eastern Sierras for a week. Ironically, it’ll be hotter there than in coastal SoCal
I have about a dozen or so lifers that I’m gonna try to go after! Mountain birds for this bird man for the next week 🪶
