California - Part 4

Day 10 - Mojave Desert

What to do on a Saturday during vacation? Why, visit the desert of course! We went with Aunt Joan and Claire on a roadtrip to see some of the neatest places in our family roots. Kyle's and my grandfather, as well as Aunt Joan, grew up in Mojave and Randsburg, which is out in the middle of the Mojave desert. Not much birding, but I finally saw a California Quail, plus my lifer Greater Roadrunner! Thinking back now, I wish I had been more observant when I was there. I dipped on Black-chinned and Sage Sparrow, plus Sage Thrasher because I wasn't aware they would be there. However, the desert was filled with a bunch of great photo ops. Hopefully you won't get overwhelmed by the following HDR photos.

Scene seen from the Golden Queen, a gold mine my family used to own.

Red Rocks Canyon State Park

Red Rock Canyon State Park

Randsburg ore mill

Mojave

Road towards San Diego

Day 11 - Oceanside

First thing on Sunday, as always, was Mass. We visited a different church and it was far better than the previous week. Afterwards, Todd picked us up (we were to stay at Tina's house again) and the family took us to Oceanside where we spent the day on a family friend's Yacht in the Oceanside Harbor and the surrounding beach. Oceanside was a very neat beach! Birds observed here include: Double-crested Cormorant, Brown Pelican, Great Blue Heron, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Long-billed Curlew, Heermann's and Western Gull, Caspian Tern, Rock Pigeon, Great-tailed Grackle, and Long-billed Curlew. Other neat animals were Sandcrabs, California Sea Lions, and my very first wild Octopus!

California Sea Lion

Long-billed Curlew (immature)

Day 12 - La Jolla

Kyle is a big fan of cars, and I wouldn't say I'm completely clueless when it comes to them either, so Tina took us to La Jolla again to see all the dealerships and go swimming. We visited three, maybe four dealerships of the most prestigious companies (Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Maserati, Rolls-Royce, Maybach). Afterwards, we went to the beach on Marine St. and I went swimming for the first time in two years (pretty much wading previously). We walked on the beach to a rocky outcrop with tons of crabs and shells, where I found a Least Sandpiper, who looked tiny foraging next to a Western Gull.

By this time I was feeling dehydrated, so we headed back to Tina's. After eating Dinner, we left San Diego, for what we thought was the last time. We had another day with Aimee in Orange County before we were to leave for Georgia.

Lamborghini Gallardo

Day 13 

Back in Georgia, Bella and Kyle had gone bowling and Kyle had won, so Isabella challenged Kyle to a rematch. 

Therefore, we spent the morning bowling. Not to pat myself on the back, but I ended up winning both games. By a landslide. 

Anyhow, after bowling Aimee promised I could get some birding in. She took us to Caspers Wilderness Park, which is off of Ortega Hwy (74). Birds I saw there include: Turkey Vulture, Mourning Dove, Acorn and Nuttall's Woodpeckers, Common Raven, Cliff Swallow, White-breasted Nuthatch, California Towhee, House Finch, and my lifers Western Scrub-Jay and Oak Titmouse (lifer 250!). We hiked a for a while, but most of the birds we found at the visitor center, where they had a feeder. 

Acorn Woodpecker

Immature Turkey Vulture

Widdle baby Cliff Swallow :')

Lifer Oak Titmouse!

Days 14 and 15

Before sunrise, August 8, we headed to the John Wayne Airport in Orange County, and tried to get a stand-by flight to Atlanta through Denver. That flight was full, so we tried for another that went through Las Vegas, but that one was full as well. In the end, we wasted 3 and a half hours trying to get a flight, and we decided to try again later.

We got some Starbucks and went back to Aimee's where we spent part of the morning watching My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Have I mentioned it's an awesome show?

Anyway, we tried to get another flight to Atlanta at the John Wayne Airport, but failed once more. Another two hours wasted. Andrew, the cousin who works for Southwestern and gave Kyle and me the tickets, told us our best chance was to try again the next day in San Diego, so we headed down to San Diego once more. We stayed the night at Tina's, but Aunt Joan brought us to the airport the next morning. We managed to catch the 6:30am flight to Atlanta through Las Vegas just in the nick of time thanks to Aunt Joan.

I wasn't a fan of Las Vegas's airport. It was much too commercial for my taste. It was crowded and noisy. And unfortunately, we were stuck there for about three hours. However, we were lucky enough to get tickets on the flight to Atlanta. Even though we were able to squeeze into a couple window seats, I slept most of the way back. After getting up at 4:30 for the past two days, I was pretty darn beat.

30-thousand feet above what could be Oklahoma

We arrived in Atlanta around 4pm EST, where is was raining, hot, and humid. Apparently, it was an awesome storm system caused by a trough line, complete with rotating wall clouds, but by the time we landed, the storm had mellowed down to a drizzle. 

It is good to be back in Georgia, but I will miss everything about California like crazy.

An obligatory thanks goes out to: Aimee, Mike, and family; Tina, Todd, and family; Aunt Joan and Uncle Larry; Aunt Margie and Uncle Nils; and Andrew. Without y'all, the trip wouldn't have been possible and definitely not as fun. So thanks so much for the trip of my life!

Signing out for now. Who knows when you'll see another post from me, hopefully soon. ;)

California - Part 3

Day 6 - Balboa Park

We spent all afternoon at Balboa Park with our Great Aunt Margie and Siena, visiting random museums and gardens. I found my lifer Umber Skipper and a Fox Squirrel here. Afterwards we ate at Hometown Buffet (again) and spent the night at Aunt Margie and Uncle Nil's.

Day 7 - SeaWorld

Talk about a fun day! I woke up around 9am (thanks to my ninja EST skills) and the window was open. From my bed I heard Spotted Towhees and Lesser Goldfinches and from the window I found two Western Bluebirds - a lifer! And to top it off it was my 8-year birding anniversary, August 1! After breakfast, we went and picked up Siena and spent the whole day with her at SeaWorld San Diego. Ten hours at SeaWorld meant we saw a lot! The Shamu show was okay, not as great as I had heard, and I wasn't the biggest fan of the acrobat show, but I enjoyed the Sea Lion and Pet shows. Lots of the exhibits we visited twice, and Kyle and Siena rode on the Atlantis ride, but our favorite part was hands-down the SkyRide cable cars over Perez Cove. We rode the cable cars so many times I lost count and from them we had a great view of the sunset and the fireworks.
There were birds at SeaWorld too! Mostly pigeons, but Western and Heermann's Gulls, Snowy Egret, and Mallards were all around and some allowed for close approach.

Western Gull

Juvenile Snowy Egret

Probably one of the most enjoyable days of the whole trip. :)

Day 8 

Lake Hodges

Early Thursday morning, Aimee's family drove down to San Diego and took Kyle and me to Lake Hodges, which is south of Escondido. We parked at Del Dios Community Park and hiked the road to the lake shore. Along this road I found my lifer Cassin's Kingbird sitting out on an exposed perch, hawking for insects. Also present was a Red-tailed Hawk being mobbed by an American Kestrel. At the shore we found Black Phoebe, Red-winged Blackbird, Great-tailed Grackle, Forster's Tern, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, and my lifers Western Kingbird, Western Grebe, and Clark's Grebe. The Clark's and Western Grebes were one of my favorite things about California. Such cool birds! They were even vocalizing for me! I have a video here.

Clark's Grebe

Female Great-tailed Grackle

Afterwards, we hiked out to the Lake Hodges headquarters, where we found Acorn Woodpeckers, Black Phoebe, California Towhee, American Kestrel, Hooded Oriole, Black-crowned Night Heron, American Coot, and Lesser Goldfinch. I also found my lifer Acmon Blue with a Fiery Skipper.

Acorn Woodpecker

Acmon Blue

Fiery Skipper

On the hike back, I found Cassin's Kingbird, Red-tailed Hawk (doing its best White-tailed Kite impression), Cliff Swallow, California Towhee, and my lifer Bewick's Wren. We heard a California Quail, but since it was heard-only, I didn't count it on my lifelist.

Lakeside

The rest of the day we spent with Aunt Joan and Bella. Aunt Joan promised to take us to our Dad's old hometown, Lakeside, California. We drove around the town, saw my dad's old house and his old church, and decided to take a stroll at the local park, Lindo Lake Park, after I noticed a few Black-necked Stilts. Minus the Stilts, I found Wood Duck, Mallard, Western Sandpiper, Nuttall's Woodpecker, Mourning Dove, American Crow, Common Yellowthroat, Great-tailed Grackle, House Finch, American and Lesser Goldfinch, California Ground-Squirrel, and my lifer Tricolored Blackbird - another endangered species for the lifelist!

Tricolored and Red-winged Blackbirds with a Black-necked Stilt

Black-necked Stilt

Day 9

We went to Birch Aquarium around noon with Aunt Joan and both Tina and Aimee's family. All the different varieties of fish and jellyfish were amazing, and from the tidepools exhibit we had this great view of a weather front over the Pacific.

Afterwards, we drove to Encinitas to visit the San Diego Botanic Garden, also known as Quail Gardens. We had an enjoyable time, walking around and making mustaches out of fuzzy purple grass. There were some animals around, though.

Unidentified female Selasphorus sps. Allen's and Rufous are both present in San Diego in August, and a definite ID would not be possible from a shot like this that doesn't show particular retrice feathers.

There were mostly Western Fence Lizards, but this was the first Desert Spiny Lizard I had seen.

The rest of the day we spent with Aunt Joan, we took a look around Mission San Diego de Alcala to see if my grandfather's carvings were still there. We came out empty-handed, but it was a pleasant place.

That brings us to the end of Part 3, I know it was rather lengthy and pic-heavy.
Part 4 should come soon, and I believe that will be the final part of my California adventures.
Good birding!

California - Part 2

Day 3 

St. Michael's Abbey

On Saturday we woke up early (again) and headed off to St. Michael's Abbey. Patrick had a camp there, and we went to pick him up. After mass, Aimee said we could wander about the Abbey's accessible paths while the awards ceremony took place. I already knew it would be a great place for birding. Before mass I had seen Cliff Swallows and Lesser Goldfinches. Past the parking lot we walked by a grove of trees and I spotted a family of Acorn Woodpeckers. However, when I tried to take a picture of them, I realized I had forgotten my memory card at Aimee's! No photos for me! All my camera was good for now was a birding optic! It was a shame too, here at St. Michael's, I found my lifers Nuttall's Woodpecker, Hooded Oriole, and Wrentit. Here is the checklist.

O'Neill Regional Park

After lunch, we decided to take a hike at O'Neill Regional Park, which is within walking distance of Aimee's neighborhood. O'Neill Regional Park is a fairly dry park. The habitat is mainly chaparral with lots of open areas covered in low shrubs, but it is also forested. There are a few creeks, and here is where all the insects congregate. Bees and wasps were drinking on the edge of the creek, and my lifers Vivid Dancer and Flame Skimmer were flying about. Marine Blue were also present. The birds at the park were mostly Lesser Goldfinches, Hummingbirds, and Acorn Woodpeckers, but Black Phoebe, House Finch, and White-throated Swift were around. I was seriously hoping to find a rattlesnake or a coyote, but none showed.

Typical habitat of O'Neill Regional Park

San Elijio Lagoon and Lake Mirimar

Our time in Orange County was over for now and Aimee took us to my Great Aunt Joan. Since San Diego and Orange County are relatively distant, we met in the middle near Camp Pendleton. On the way to San Diego, we stopped by San Elijio Lagoon in Encinitas for a little walk. There is a short nature loop that is very easy to walk and here we found California Towhee, Black-crowned Night Heron, Great and Snowy Egret, American Coot, Nuttall's Woodpecker, Cooper's Hawk, Mallard, and Bushtit. It was getting a bit chilly, being nearly 6 in the evening, but the walk was enjoyable.

Immature Black-crowned Night Heron 

After San Elijio, we drove to Scripps Ranch, where we decided to visit Lake Mirimar, which is a reservoir with a recreational park for running, biking, and fishing. Not a great spot for birding, but I did find my lifer Great-tailed Grackles here. I also found Red-winged and Brewer's Blackbirds, Mallards (domestic and wild), American Coots, and a ton of American Crow. American Crow are very populous in Southern California. It made me miss my Fish Crows.
Afterwards we wrapped up the day with dinner at Aunt Joan and Uncle Larry's restaurant, Pernicano's. We spent the night at Aunt Joan and Uncle Larry's house with their funny dog Maylee.

Day 4

After Sunday Mass, we were picked up by my Great Uncle Nils. We pretty considered our options and what we could do for the next few days as we ate lunch at Hometown Buffet. After doing nothing the rest of the day, Uncle Nils dropped Kyle and me off at our 2nd Cousin Tina's house in Mission Bay where we'd stay for two nights. Mission Bay is a pretty affluent area and Tina's house had a pretty nice view of the area and the Bay. I'd never stayed in a house so nice, and it was a great experience!
Tina took us to Belmont with her three kids and the neighbors after playing kickball and dinner. Call me crazy, but I had never before been to an amusement park or fair before (my excuse when asked is that I'd rather be birding), so Belmont too was a first for me. I'm not normally a big fan of roller coasters and that sort, but I ended up having a pretty good time.

Day 5

Waking up in Mission Bay is always a nice thing. From the window we had a great look at the Mission Bay area, with the bay water glimmering in the distance and an hour or two later, we were sitting on the shore of the bay laying in the sun or paddleboarding to the opposite shore. While we were in the area, we visited the Catamaran Resort and Spa where there were talking Macaws and exotic ducks. Sadly, all the drakes were in eclipse plumage, which means I wasn't able to see the glorious plumage of the Mandarin Duck.

La Jolla

Though Mission Bay was great, the highlight of Day 5 was definitely La Jolla. Tina's husband Todd took Kyle and me, as well as two of the kids, to the Children's Pool area. There they have a neat walkway that was built to act as a shield to the beach so the water would be suitable for children, hence the name. From the spot on the curb where we parked, I had a view of a rock island a few hundred feet out. Sitting on this island was nothing less and nothing more than my lifer Brandt's Cormorant.

Also visible from the spot were Western Gulls, Brown Pelicans, Black Phoebe, a little Ground Squirrel, and this view.

We walked down to the beach where I saw my first wild seals! A Harbor Seal pod was active in the Children's Pool and a few were even coming near the beach, probably finding a place to sleep for the night.
We reached the top of the walkway the hard way by climbing up from the beach (not recommended) and were nearly immediately sprayed by a wave. I hadn't noticed it from beach, but the waves on the side opposite the pool were crashing up pretty high.

This high to be exact.

Yes, I did manage to get my cameras slightly wet, but they are still working just as well as they had before. After walking and getting wet, we headed over to the other side of the beach and explored a while before going back to Tina's for the day.

I'll think I'll leave it at that for now. Part 3 coming soonish, so stay tuned.

California - Part I

Hello, readers. Since I neglected to post last month, I'll give you a quick recap on what's been going on in my humble life of birds.
June: Nothing horribly spectacular, no lifers, but some excellent birding trips to Phinizy Swamp Nature Park. Here are the lists from Trip 1 and Trip 2.
July: Early July was great! A trip to Phinizy Swamp on the 7th resulted in my lifer Cliff Swallow and my long-awaited nemesis, the Least Bittern. Not to be forgotten, however, was my state Black-crowned Night-Heron. I reported a total of 48 species on this trip, which isn't bad at all for the middle of Summer. Later in the month, we were visited by extended family from California. They had heard all about the swamp were interested in seeing it. This trip to the swamp hailed my first of the year Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, a favorite of mine, but I counted only 31 species by the end. The rest of July in my area was pretty normal as far as Summers in Georgia go. However, after the extended family flew back to California, I heard news that they wanted Kyle and I to visit them the following week! I was skeptical at first, we never get to vacation, but my doubt faded when we finished packing and drove to the Atlanta Airport at 3:30 in the morning on July 26th.

Day 1 - Atlanta and Orange County

It's great having family connections. My dad's cousin works for Southwest Airlines and hooked Kyle and me up with non-rev stand-by tickets from Atlanta-Denver and Denver-OC. Though we didn't know it at the time, we were extremely lucky on our flights there. Everything went smoothly, even though we did get the last two seats on the Atlanta-Denver flight. When we arrived in Orange County, we were greeted by my wonderful 2nd cousin Aimee and her family. Birding in her neighborhood I found my lifers White-throated Swift, Lesser Goldfinch, Acorn Woodpecker, Bushtit, Anna's Hummingbird, Black Phoebe and California Towhee. It was a long day, with 3 extra hours, but the results made it worth it.

Bushtits

Day 2

Bolsa Chica

Day 2 we woke up bright and early, though I didn't feel tired; it was 11am on the East coast and I was used to waking up around that time. We ate, dropped Shane off at camp (where I located an Acorn Woodpecker in the parking lot), and went birding at Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve. I had originally planned to meet with my birding friend Dinuk here, but unfortunately he had work. The trip went on as planned without him, though, and as exciting as it was, I can only imagine how spectacular it would have been with him birding with us. The first thing I heard when we stepped out of the car were the terns - Royal and Elegant. We have plenty of Royal Terns on the East Coast (emphasis on 'plenty'), but the Elegants were a new species for me. As we started walking down the boardwalk, I noted species I'm familiar with: Snowy Egrets, Black Skimmers, Rock Pigeons, and Common Terns. However, when we reached the designated nesting area, I found another new bird, a Belding's Sparrow, a subspecies of the Savannah Sparrow that Bolsa Chica is well known for harboring. There was a pair flitting across from the Inner Bay towards the designated nesting strip and perching in the chain-link fence. I had some good views of these birds, which look quite different from the Savannah Sparrows I see on the East coast. Belding's Sparrows are more drab and have longer bills than the Eastern invididuals. Needless to say, I prefer the Eastern birds, but this local bird was neat to see.

P.s. savana on left and P.s. beldingi on right

A quick look at the nesting area yielded Western Gulls (known to Dinuk as "trash birds", but a lifer for me nonetheless), Double-crested Cormorant, Black-bellied Plover, Willet, and Least Sandpipers. Further down the path was a view of a nearby sandbar that was crawling with shorebirds. First in sight was a conspicuous Marbled Godwit swagging through the tide attempting to catch a meal and beside it a handful of Willets and a Short-billed Dowitcher - a new lifer! Also present on this sandbar were Black-bellied Plovers, including a stunning adult in alternate plumage! As a Double-crested Cormorant passed and a Snowy Egret landed close-by, I used the huge zoom on my little point-and-shoot to see what I could find on a distant sandbar. Common, Forster's and Caspian Terns sat within a mixed flock of Black Skimmers, Least Sandpipers, and of course Willets. When we walked on, I located a few Least and Western Sandpipers feeding on the shore with a Semipalmated Plover. While watching these birds, I was distracted by a large shorebird flying past, which after landing, revealed itself to be my lifer Whimbrel! This species I always felt went hand-in-hand with the Long-billed Curlew, and sure enough, not a minute later I spotted my lifer Long-billed Curlew on a sandbar between myself and Rabbit Island. This individual was a juvenile, so the bill was shorter than I would have expected, but an adult with a scythe-like bill appeared on the shore of the Inner Bay. After this, we decided to hike back to the parking lot so we could visit the beach. On the way back, I was able to photograph this immature Forster's Tern that was being rather cooperative.

When we reached the beach, I caught my first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean, and with it, my first sighting of a Heermann's Gull. Both of which made me pretty ecstatic. I always thought the Heermann's Gulls were the best-looking Larid.
Our time was limited, so we dipped our feet in the water and drove back to Aimee's place.

Mission San Juan Capistrano and Laguna Beach

After picking up Shane (who is a hilarious child) and eating lunch, we decided to see Mission San Juan Capistrano and Laguna Beach. Kyle and I knew next to nothing about California history, but the Mission gave us a good impression on how California was colonized. The architecture and gardens were very pleasant and the chapel and church were unique. Plus it was home to my lifers Western Fence Lizard, Marine Blue, and Allen's Hummingbird.

Allen's Hummingbirds

Marine Blue

 Laguna Beach was a neat place. There is a walkway overlooking the beach lined with desert-esque plants, flowers, and lizards. It was here I found a flock of Brewer's Blackbirds feeding along the path. They're an extremely populous species in California apparently, but a new one for me.

Yeah, where I come from all the Blackbirds are just as Rusty as everything else

Walking down to the beach, we found Western and Heermann's Gulls and a group of Brown Pelicans. As I noted earlier, Heermann's Gulls are without doubt the coolest gull in America, and the gulls at Laguna were extremely cooperative.

At this point, I was running out of battery power and we were all pretty hungry, so we called it a day and headed back.

Stay tuned, more coming soon!

May: a Month in Migration

Migration is like performing a cannonball into a swimming pool. When it starts, you're not quite sure just what to expect, but as you you sail through the air, you're excitement swells. Finally, right when the jump is most exciting, the whole thing ends suddenly. This migration season started out with my lifer Prothonotary, but really got going at the end of April and beginning of May. However, immediately after the coolest migrants showed up, migration ceased quickly.
May started after a week of Black-throated Blue and Cape May Warblers, Red-eyed Vireos, and Acadian Flycatchers. 3 days in, I knew migration was in full swing. One morning, I woke up to a song I'd never heard in person before, a "Sweezy Sweezy Sweezy". I immediately recognized it as the song of an overdue lifer. I was simply hoping it wasn't an American Redstart. I searched from 7:30-8:00, but instead of locating the singer, I found two Bay-breasted Warblers and a Northern Parula. Slightly after the 8:13 mark, I saw a handsomely marked bird fly up onto a dead branch more-or-less 5ft from me and start nuthatching around. I quickly snapped some less-than-perfect photos with my camera. I finally observed my lifer Black-and-White Warbler! The worms that morning must have been everywhere. Shortly after this encounter, the American Redstarts and Black-throated Blue Warblers started to sing and even a Common Yellowthroat was present.

Well I did say less-than-perfect...

My next lifer I encountered just two days later during a trip to Phinizy Swamp Nature Park with my brother, Kyle. On this trip we observed great birds such as Wood Duck, Snowy Egret, White-eyed Vireo, Northern Parula, Yellow-throated Warbler (with adorable fledglings!), and Indigo Bunting, but the award-winners were the Bobolinks (estimated number of 1000 individuals; video) and my lifer Yellow-breasted Chat! I wasn't expecting to find this bird, but heard it calling off in a grove of well-spaced trees and was lucky enough catch it singing in the open! I've met a few Yellow-breasted Chats after this, but none have been as cooperative as my first.

Two days later, I was out in the yard, very early in the morning as usual, when the sharp note of a warbler caught my attention. I noticed a pair of warblers flitting through a juniper. Of course, my interest was piqued and I had to know what these two unknown migrants were. After snapping a few backlit shots, I noticed the bright legs of the birds and immediately knew they were Blackpoll Warblers. Later, when reviewing the, again, less-than-perfect photos, I concluded there were two males and one female. I was content with the record photos I had (fortunately in focus, but horridly backlit and noisy), but I knew I could do better. So I went out that afternoon and found myself to be in luck - the Blackpolls were still there. I was happy to find a female Redstart hanging around with them as well. Throughout the day they stayed in the vicinity, especially near my chestnut tree and I was able to take some better-than-less-than-perfect photos. This wasn't a lifer for me, but a great experience!

After the Blackpoll Warblers, migration slowed down dramatically, with mostly Red-eyed Vireos and Redstarts visiting the yard. By the end of May, all the Summer birds were out in full force.
Butterfly lifers I observed during May include: a Broad-winged Skipper at Phinizy Swamp Nature Park, and a Summer Azure in my yard.
My yearlist currently stands at 140, with Northern Rough-winged Swallow being my latest yeartick.
June hasn't been too exciting. I will probably not cover June, maybe just an individual adventure. Thanks for reading and stay tuned!

April: a Month in Migration

So far of all the years I've been birding (eight this August), I must admit that this year has been one of the most exciting bird-wise. I have gained 8 definite lifebirds, plus 2 unverified lifers in the first five months. April was pretty awesome for migration! I recorded 31 year-ticks and attained 2 definite lifers and 2 unverified lifers.
The month started off with a bang, as on the 2nd I traveled with my family to Columbia, South Carolina to pick up some German New Hampshire Red chickens. Since we were in the area, we stopped by at Congaree National Park to look for migrants. It was mid-day so we didn't find as much as I'd like, but I managed to locate my lifer Prothonotary Warbler, plus 7 FOY birds. I had thought I had found my lifer Prairie Warbler, but since I didn't really have any positive evidence (it was heard-only), I had to leave that one as unverified. At Congaree I also photographed my lifers Zabulon Skipper and Harvester.

It took me a while to find this Prothonotary Warbler, even though he was singing his heart out!

The next six days didn't hail anything fantastic, no year-ticks, just the usual Cardinals and Mockingbirds around the yard, but on the 7th I took a birding trip to Phinizy Swamp Nature Park in Augusta to see if I could find anything real nice. I had five FOY birds, but nothing more fantastic than the Osprey, one of my favorite birds. The next day, I went with my family to visit my grandparents, who live out in the countryside of Hephzibah. I gained three nice year-birds: Orchard Oriole, Eastern Meadowlark, and Red-headed Woodpecker, which put my yearlist at 106.
For the next week, I only had one year-tick (Great Crested Flycatcher, which I was quite happy to have back in the area), but on the 16th I had a highly successful day in the yard, starting with my second unverified lifer, the Worm-eating Warbler, calling from a dense area of underbrush. I attained three other yearbirds, including another favorite from the yard, the Gray Catbird and the next day I was surprised by a Painted Bunting chilling in one of my trees, a migrant I wasn't expecting for another month. The next two days didn't produce much except my FOY Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, but on the 20th, I was more than happy to find my 8th lifer of the year: a Cape May Warbler that decided to pop up by my window as I was writing an essay, something I wasn't expecting at all. And likewise, a few days later, I randomly found my second-ever Black-throated Blue Warbler at my aunt's house.

Lucky I had my camera with me

This wasn't the end of it, though. The month still had ten days left, and I was determined to find more birds. Unfortunately, I didn't find anymore lifers until May, but throughout the next nine days I found my FOY Summer and Scarlet Tanagers, Chuck-Will's-Widow (heard only, of course), and Yellow-billed Cuckoo. On the last day of the month, the thirtieth, I was ready for May and Bobolinks, being pretty satisfied with what I had seen in April, but there was one more surprise for me yet. As I do every Sunday, I went to my friend's house to hang out, but this week was different. Everywhere in the pecan trees there were migrants! My friend Matt and I spotted tons Butterbutts (which along with "pishing", Matt was very fond of), a couple Cape May Warblers, Northern Parulas, Common Yellowthroat, Red-eyed Vireo, Palm Warbler, and my first look at an Acadian Flycatcher (only heard them before), another new year-tick (putting my yearlist at 122).

So far, May has been pretty successful as well, but I'll be writing a whole post on that soon, so stay tuned. Thanks for reading and good birding!

Review: Sigma AF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 APO DG Macro Lens for Nikon

In October of 2010, I purchased this lens (or more like my wonderful Grandmother purchased it for me) for $209. I have used it for a year and a half now and thought it was about time I wrote a review on it.

The lens mounted on my Nikon D70

Throughout this particular lens' life, I have only used it on my Nikon D70 body. My overall feeling towards this lens is absolute hatred, but I do think I have taken some decent photos with it. I have compiled a list of pros and cons, but the cons way outnumber the pros, so I'll quickly give you the few pros there are.

Pros
Dual purpose: Macro and Telephoto - Since my specialty is birds and macros, I enjoy being able to just flip a switch when I go from photographing Ospreys to Rambur's Forktails. Personally, I think the lens works better as a macro than a telephoto.
Autofocus - I'll say more about this later (in the cons), but I'm grateful this lens has autofocus, because most of the time I don't trust my eyes to manual focus.
Cheap price: $209 - Even though you get what you pay for, the photos I have took with this lens are not horrible for such a cheap lens.
Lens hood - it just makes the lens look sexy.

Those are all the pros I can think of right now. The cons will be more extensive, so brace yourself for a lot of negative remarks and foul words (such as "bad", "horrid", and "cheapy").

Cons
Autofocus - In the year and a half I've owned this lens, the autofocus it has crapped out on me three times! Not once, not twice, but three times! The first time was in January 2011, just three months after I got it. I was in the middle of photographing a flock of Cedar Waxwings when the autofocus motor decided to knock out of place. It took the Sigma repair company in Atlanta a whole month to repair it. The second time, in August 2011, when I was photographing Southern Skipperlings, the problem recurred and I sent it in again, this time to New York, and they got it back to me within a week. The third time was the absolute worst. While I was birding on Hilton Head Island, photographing Piping Plovers (one of the best birds ever), the autofocus crapped out. I was super mad at the lens then, and since it was out of warranty it would cost some to get it repaired. The lens still works when the autofocus craps out, but the autofocus only focuses on the farthest point of focus and consequently gets stuck there and buzzes like it's about to explode. Nowadays, I only use manual focus, but the manual focus isn't as perfect as it used to be either. Focusing manual is a pain. The manual focus is the complete opposite of smooth and there are some areas it refuses to focus on. I missed out on some nice photos of a Blue-headed Vireo on Jekyll Island thanks to that.
Before the autofocus was crapped out, it was still crappy. It only focuses on what it wants to and completely disregards the wishes of the photographer. Imagine a Northern Parula in a tree, seven feet away. The lens will focus on anything but the Parula. It's almost as if the lens hates me. The autofocus on this lens is really bad. It's horribly noisy when focusing. I don't have video capability, but my friend Alex who has a D3100 says the AF can be heard in videos. Major fault there.
No stabilization - Called Image Stabilization (IS) on Canons, Vibration Reduction (VR) on Nikkors, and Optical Stabilization (OS) on Sigma, this feature stabilizes the lens and reduces vibrations (you don't say?). This lens doesn't have it. The majority of the pics will turn out blurry if you don't use a high ISO, and if you have an older camera (such as the D70), that cannot handle higher-ish ISOs (ISO400+) without grainy noise, then your photos will turn out quite horrid in certain situations. Either way, your photos will either be grainy or blurry if you use my set-up or a similar one. No stabilization does help while panning or while photographing flying birds, but many lenses with stabilization have the option of turning it off.
Image quality - If you're shooting at close range, then the quality is fine. However, if you're a birder, most of the time you'll be shooting birds >15ft away. At 300mm, the quality can be quite awful if you're shooting a subject that's not between 5-10ft in front of you, and if you're shooting something 50ft away, the results can be depressing. That's probably why the macros turn out better.
Product quality - This lens feels like it's made of the cheapest materials possible. The exterior is plain plastic and rubber, and the paint isn't something worth praising.
Zoom quality - Two cool words, but the zoom feature on this lens is pretty cheapy. 70-300mm is a nice length for the price, but the zoom is awful. When twisting, the zoom ring is rough and very "sticky". Relatively hard to get it to 300mm in under a second.

Overall
This lens is junk; don't buy it if you'll use it everyday.

I would enjoy criticizing this lens more, but I must admit, even when the autofocus is broken, I can still take decent photos. I must also admit that the problem with the autofocus may be contributed to the handy, but large focus range of the lens (5-40ft, according to the focus ring).

Once I get this lens repaired for a third time, I'll be selling it in hope of a new set-up. If you are interested in buying it, hit me up! ;)

EDIT:. I have a link to a gallery a photos I've taken with this lens here.