Some Birds Photographed This Summer

I’ve been traveling a lot this year. In my travels, I have seen and photographed many interesting birds. I just haven’t made the time to share them. Here are a few of them. Others will follow.

First up is the Gray Jay. It is a corvid like other jays but is smaller and has a much less raucous voice. In November 2016 the BBC reported that Canada adopted this bird, also known as the Whiskey Jack, as its national bird.

The other Jay in this collection is Woodhouse’s Jay. Those of us in the west don’t see Blue Jays; they are eastern birds. Mostly, we see the scrub jay.  At one time, the Scrub Jay was just called the Western Scrub Jay. But recently, it was split into 3 separate species: the California Scrub Jay which we see here west of the Sierra Nevada mountains; the Island Scrub Jay which is only found in the Santa Cruz Islands, and Woodhouse’s Jay which is seen between the Sierra Nevada mountains and the Rocky mountains and from Southeastern Oregon into Mexico.

I found the Horned Lark and the Black-throated Sparrow at Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge. Ash Meadows is an oasis, a marshland in the Mojave Desert that is fed from springs that draw from an ancient aquifer. You’ll find it in Amargosa Valley, NV . It is a great place to visit, in the early morning.

The Yellow-headed Blackbird is a common bird in much of the western US. It thrives in marshes among the reeds and cattails.

Note: Please click on caption to see image at higher resolution.

These and other images are available to purchase on my website: www.earthwatcher.us or by contacting larry.klink@earthwatcher.us.