Phoebe and the Goldfish

Jan. 5, 2015

No need to triple layer my clothing today. The weatherman says it will be in the high 70s. It's bird count Monday at the San Diego Botanic Garden and a great time to meet up with friends and catch up on what is new in the birding world.

I arrived at the Gardens about 9:30am and it already felt like the temperature was in the mid-seventies. I walked towards the bamboo forest looking to see if I could spot the birders but got distracted by this beautiful Northern Mockingbird.

He flies over to the next Dragon tree and finds a nice ripe fruit. Dragon Tree, Dracaena Draco... originated from the Canary Islands according to the sign near the Dragon Tree. The sap of this tree is one of the sources of Dragon's blood which is used to dye violins.

The Northern Mockingbird really seems to like this fruit. He can be found hanging around this area most of the time. Their diet consists of insects and small berries and fruits.

Northern Mockingbird, Mimus polyglottos measures 10 inches with a wing span of 14 inches.

There is a bonanza of food for birds in this beautiful garden and plenty of acorns for the Scrub Jays too. This one stops by for a quick pose.

I finally found the birding group. Here is Eve looking at a huge tree full of birds by the old caretaker's cottage.

It was great visiting with Eve and finding out what the birding group has spotted this morning. One is this Cedar Waxing. A whole flock flew in but all were too far for photos.

We birded towards the Children's garden spotting lots of sparrows, finches, and Yellow-rumped Warblers but heard a very familiar call which we could not believe... it was the Belted Kingfisher! I never expected to see a Kingfisher here at the Botanic Garden but it was a pleasant surprise. We finally found her perched in a tree across the street near a runoff collection pond.

We walked over to a huge Coral tree to see if we could spot a "Myrtle" Yellow-rumped Warbler. Eve said that there was a possible sighting this morning. We looked but we only found the very common locally "Audubon's" Yellow-rumped Warbler . We did however see a Orange-crowned Warbler.

Orange-crowned Warbler, Vermivora celata measures 5 inches long with a wing span of 7.25 inches.

They eat mainly insects but will visit sapsuckers' sap wells and also pierce the base of flowers for nectar as seen in these photos.

As the Orange-crowned Warbler pierces the base of the flower for nectar, I was hoping to see some sign of the orange crown... I think this photo shows a slight hint of orange on the top of his crown. Only when they are upset and mostly when defending their territory from other males will they display the orange plumage on their crown.

Eve had to go home and I decided to take one more look around. As I walked through the tropical fruit area, I spotted this Red-tailed Hawk perched in a pine tree located on the outer edge of the gardens.

A male Anna's Hummingbird was busy fueling up.

It's breeding season for these little beauties and he needs all the high energy drink he can get to chase away his competition.

I walk up to the pond near the waterfall and was rewarded with a sight of a Black Phoebe thrashing his newly caught fish... a baby goldfish!

I have never seen a Black Phoebe with a fish before! This was very exciting to watch but he is in the shade and photographing a black bird in the shade is not ideal for capturing the details.

One happy and proud bird! Black Phoebes diet consists almost entirely of insects but has been observed snatching tiny minnows swimming near the surface. Well this Black Phoebe just snatched a small goldfish swimming near the surface!

A nice baby goldfish for this Black Phoebe. I have seen the Phoebe beat an insect in a hammering motion to make sure it is dead. He treats this fish the same as he does a large insect such as a dragonfly by hammering it on the rock surface with a twisting motion of his head.

Black Phoebe, Sayornis nigricans measures 7 inches long with a wing span of 11 inches.

He slams the fish several more times on the rock and is now ready to swallow.

A cute front view.

Making sure his prey is dead and not fighting back.

Perfectly positioned to consume the fish.

A quick gulp and it is down the hatch.

Now it's time to sit on the warm rock and let the fish digest.

He puffs up and sits on the warm rock.

What a sweet bird, and a super fisherman too. Leaving him resting with his crop full of goldfish, it's time for me to head home.

Have a beautiful day everyone.