[SBB] My Great Backyard Bird Count - with a few notables

["Michael Pollack" <[[email protected]]>]

Hi all,

I spent the late morning on Saturday tallying birds seen from my yard for
the Great Backyard Bird Count.  I've included my entire list below, but
there are a few notables that I want to highlight.

The most exciting for me was the reappearance of our mystery ORIOLE.
Because I am still not certain of the ID, I didn't submit the sighting in
the GBBC.  I believe that this is the same bird that I photographed on
1/17/06 in my yard (but no additional pictures this time).  The Oriole only
hung around for a minute at the most, and I did not hear it vocalize, which
I know would have been a "clincher".  This being the second sighting, I was
a little better informed and a bit more prepared to examine this bird.
While I can't claim to be certain, I believe this bird is a female Orchard
Oriole for the following reasons: The head shape appeared more rounded that
a Hooded Oriole's, which (to me) is more of a straight-line slope into the
base of the bill.  The overall size of the bird seemed smaller than a Hooded
Oriole, favoring the Orchard.  The coloring of the bird's underparts was a
bright, clean, lemon yellow which also favors the Orchard according to the
National Geographic Complete Birds of North America.  I studied the bill
size and shape carefully but that feature has really confounded me.  The
bill on this bird does not clearly match a variety of illustrations I've
reviewed of Hooded or Orchard Orioles to the exclusion of the other.  (Last
time I reported this bird, a couple of people suggested to me that it looked
like and Orchard with an overgrown upper mandible.)

A PINE SISKIN visited my thistle feeder -- my first sighting since last
year's irruption.  I also heard, and shortly thereafter spotted, a
SELASPHORUS HUMMINGBIRD feeding in the eucalyptus trees below my yard.  It
was a sizeable distance from me, but because it had almost no green
coloration on its back, I deemed it a RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD.

Michael Pollack
Cupertino, CA  95014
www.untamedimages.com

Checklist:
	Red-shouldered Hawk - 2
	Red-tailed Hawk - 1
	Mourning Dove - 1
	Anna's Hummingbird - 3
	Rufous Hummingbird - 1
	Nuttall's Woodpecker - 2
	Steller's Jay - 2
	Western Scrub-Jay - 1
	American Crow - 2
	Chestnut-backed Chickadee - 5
	Oak Titmouse - 1
	Bushtit - 16
	White-breasted Nuthatch - 2
	Bewick's Wren - 1
	Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 2
	American Robin - 7
	Yellow-rumped Warbler - 2
	Townsend's Warbler - 2
	Spotted Towhee - 1
	California Towhee - 2
	White-crowned Sparrow - 1
	Golden-crowned Sparrow - 10
	Dark-eyed Junco - 12
	Orchard Oriole - 0
	House Finch - 6
	Pine Siskin - 1
	Lesser Goldfinch - 7
	American Goldfinch - 8


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