When there is a rare bird sighting in our area, you can
bet that it will be posted on the San Diego Region Birding
website. As soon as I saw the posting on this website that there was a
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher spotted at Twin Trails Park in Rancho Penasquito, I
e-mailed Eve to see if she wanted to dawn patrol the area and search for the
Flycatcher. Eve was quick with her answer and the birding day trip was on for
6:00am! There are many birding trips when we've been unable to spot the bird
that we were searching for. But today, it was an epic birding morning, where we
got to see our target bird, not just one but four Scissor-tailed
Flycatchers!
As soon as we arrived, we spotted two birders looking
intently at a large eucalyptus tree on the west side of the baseball field back
of the home plate. We hurried over and sure enough, we were rewarded with the
sight of four Scissors-tailed Flycatchers all on the same tree. Soon there were many
more photographers and birders all hoping to get a good look. Our highlight of
the day was meeting Greg Gillson in person! He has a wonderful
informative website giving great detail on how to get to many super birding
sites as well as having come to our rescue more than once with help IDing birds. Here is a photo of an adult Scissor-tailed Flycatcher with that famous long tail.
A shot of one of the Scissor-tailed fledglings.
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Tyrannus forficatus measures 10 inches long (adult
male may measure 15 inches long) with a wingspan of 15 inches. They are common
in Midwestern states especially Texas where they are also known as "Texas bird
of paradise".
A second fledgling is seen.
One of the fledglings has spotted a bug.
Got it!
Showing us his underside as he flies off with the bug.
Adult looks on.
Another fledgling shot.
Two fledglings and an adult in this frame.
A youngster flies close to the adult.
Wants to land on the same branch as the adult.
But decides to pick the next one over.
Flies to the next branch.
And flies up to the next branch.
I'm not sure what is going on here.
Maybe lots of excitement to encourage the youngster to
keep flying.
They both move to the chain link fence area where there
is a carrotwood tree loaded with berries. The youngster starts to beg to be
fed.
Youngster begs for food with beak wide open
The youngster keeps up the begging.
Adult gets ready to fly.
The youngster follows the adult closer to the
berries. (Sorry for such grainy photos. It was a dark overcast morning.)
The adult comes back with a red berry from the
Carrotwood tree.
Happy fledgling getting fed.
A good look at the famous tail on the adult.
The youngster begs for more food.
The parent brings more food.
Food service.
It was exciting to get three Scissor-tailed Flycatchers in
one frame.
The one on the right of this photo appears to
have peachy/yellow coloring on his underarm area but not the bright coral color
of a full adult.
The one in the meddle of this photo has a nice long
tail for a fledgling and the one on the left has a nice long tail.
The Scissor-tail Flycatcher on the left is the adult.
Here is the proof. See the bright orange color under its wings at the under arm area and light peach color on the side of the belly.
The adult flies away.
A photo of an adult always keeping an eye on the
youngster.
A youngster begs for food.
This fledgling appears to be the youngest.
A beautiful youngster spots an adult and flies to her.
Flying over to the adult.
Youngster flying towards the adult.
The adult flaps its wings as if giving flight signals
as if to say "you're coming in too close and too fast"
The youngster wobbles to a stop on the lower part of
the branch.
We get a good look at the tail of this youngster.
Now there is activity at the carrotwood tree. We are
treated to another feeding session. The adult has a berry/seed that she has
just plucked out of the carrotwood tree.
An adult is looking over the carrotwood tree seed pods to
see which one looks ripe enough to feed the youngster
Got one! The youngest one appears to be the winner of
the meal. We barely can see the feeding behind the leaves.
Waiting for his meal.
Here is the parent with a nice berry/seed.
The adult brings the food over to the youngster.
Feeding time.
Going for more food.
No, the highlight was me getting to meet the two of you, Jo and Eve! -- Greg
ReplyDeleteThank you Greg!
Delete