Birding!

[The Masked Shadow]

I don’t really know why they’re so bright, wouldn’t they lose their color if they are away from their normal diet?

 

[jjohnwm]

Those are clearly a couple of short-bodied bent-billed glo-herons.

Damned irresponsible breeding projects....

 

[Deadeye]

I don’t really know why they’re so bright, wouldn’t they lose their color if they are away from their normal diet?View attachment 1556478

If I’m not mistaken, it’s mysis shrimp that gives them their color. They are pretty common in most waters.
Really any shrimp rich in carotenes would help.

 

[RD.]

To be specific, it's the astaxanthin found in the shrimp that supply the boost in color. The higher the level of astaxanthin, the more intense the color. At least to a certain point.

 

[jjohnwm]

I'm assuming those are American Flamingos on vacation from the Caribbean? They're likely eating a diet similar or identical to what they find in their regular environs, no?

I did a bit of Googling...thanks a lot, Shadow, as I had nothing better to do with my time ...and none of the news stories I found verified that they were American or Chilean flamingos; the latter are apparently established someplace in the U.S.? In those pics they seem to be Americans.

Are those birds "countable" by the AOU rules? Yes or no, still a cool thing to see in the wild.

I should probably hang around a birding forum or two, but I rarely visit them to be honest. Too many optics nerds and bent-out-of-shape tree-hugger types for me; sort of the birding equivalent of Flowerhorn keepers or random-cichlid-crossbreeders here on MFK.

 

[The Masked Shadow]

I'm assuming those are American Flamingos on vacation from the Caribbean? They're likely eating a diet similar or identical to what they find in their regular environs, no?

I did a bit of Googling...thanks a lot, Shadow, as I had nothing better to do with my time ...and none of the news stories I found verified that they were American or Chilean flamingos; the latter are apparently established someplace in the U.S.? In those pics they seem to be Americans.

Are those birds "countable" by the AOU rules? Yes or no, still a cool thing to see in the wild.

I should probably hang around a birding forum or two, but I rarely visit them to be honest. Too many optics nerds and bent-out-of-shape tree-hugger types for me; sort of the birding equivalent of Flowerhorn keepers or random-cichlid-crossbreeders here on MFK.

Theyre American Flamingoes, one escapee and one very lost one. Theyve been here for 3 years now. Chilean Flamingoes have mostly white plumage with bright red wing parts. Also they have really funny knees

 

[The Masked Shadow]

The tiny gull in this photo is a Short-billed Gull. It is very small, and rare in the south of california, wintering along the Pacific coast and Eurasian forests. Funnily enough, rhe first picture shows the Short-billed next to a first winter Glaucous-winged Gull, another rare gull.

 

[jjohnwm]

The first time I heard of "Short-billed Gull" I launched myself out of my chair and lunged for my binoculars; at my age I'm not big into launching and lunging. A bird of this species was being seen in a nearby lakeshore town and my immediate reaction was "Holy crap! I've never even heard of that species! Must be some ultra-mega-rare vagrant from Australia or Indonesia or wherever!"

Then I googled it and was crestfallen to discover that the Mew Gull...of which I have seen many hundreds of specimens while working in B.C. a number of years ago, and also a handful in Ontario...had been split by the eggheads into Common Gull and...you know it!...Short-billed Gull. All my sightings had been of this latter "new" species.

So instead of the joy of a pleasant country drive and then an in-person examination of a beautiful rare bird...I was instead relegated to using white-out to amend my life list, which is still hand-scrawled on paper in a journal. The lumpers and splitters have been hard at work over the years, and my journal is getting fatter and crispier as the correction fluid builds up on it.

On top of that..."Mew Gull" is a cool bird name. "Short-billed Gull" is much more bland.

I'm surprised that either, let alone both, of those species are so uncommon in California. They were both quite common along the BC coast, I would have assumed the ranged south into surfer-dude country very regularly.

 

[tiger15]

I've seen flamingos in Patagonia, and was surprised they were resting in a cold lake where ice was still floating. I guess they are Chilean species that are cold hardy.

Here are pics of flamingos at the national aviary near Cartagena in Colombia. I guess they are tropical species. The are fed with floating pellets that look like like pellets I feed my cichlid.

 

[The Masked Shadow]

The first time I heard of "Short-billed Gull" I launched myself out of my chair and lunged for my binoculars; at my age I'm not big into launching and lunging. A bird of this species was being seen in a nearby lakeshore town and my immediate reaction was "Holy crap! I've never even heard of that species! Must be some ultra-mega-rare vagrant from Australia or Indonesia or wherever!"

Then I googled it and was crestfallen to discover that the Mew Gull...of which I have seen many hundreds of specimens while working in B.C. a number of years ago, and also a handful in Ontario...had been split by the eggheads into Common Gull and...you know it!...Short-billed Gull. All my sightings had been of this latter "new" species.

So instead of the joy of a pleasant country drive and then an in-person examination of a beautiful rare bird...I was instead relegated to using white-out to amend my life list, which is still hand-scrawled on paper in a journal. The lumpers and splitters have been hard at work over the years, and my journal is getting fatter and crispier as the correction fluid builds up on it.

On top of that..."Mew Gull" is a cool bird name. "Short-billed Gull" is much more bland.

I'm surprised that either, let alone both, of those species are so uncommon in California. They were both quite common along the BC coast, I would have assumed the ranged south into surfer-dude country very regularly.

It is relatively rare for me atleast. I havent seen one until then, but to be fair I never cared to look at gulls. I also seem to have stumped the local gull experts with this one:

Really no gull here has a black bill as an adult, so I’m thinking its a hybrid, im not sure.