California and Arizona old unidentified photos (1 Viewer)

D

Dreslike

Andreas M. B. Boe

• Mar 11, 2014

• #1

Hi there!

First time posting in here! I have started carring a lot for my lifelist lately and today i discovered some photos from a holiday to the US in 2005. I have no litterature for the area so I'm kinda lost in identifying them. Would anybody be so kind as to identify everything in the photos?

As far as I remember all photos are from CA, except the hummingbirds they are from AZ, Bryce Canyon as far as i remember... I don't know where the partridge is taken, but is it even wild?

Here is the link: http://imgur.com/a/fnBxi

My photography skills has improved since

Thanks in advance! |:d|

 

rbroadwell

Well-known member

• Mar 11, 2014

• #2

Looks like a curlew

 

D

Dreslike

Andreas M. B. Boe

• Mar 11, 2014

• #3

I kinda reached the conclusion that it was a Long-billed Curlew... there are 14 images, remember to scroll down.

 

F

fugl

Well-known member

• Mar 11, 2014

• #4

The partridge is a Chukar, an introduced game bird widely established in California and adjoining states

And welcome to BirdForum!

 

Larry Sweetland

Formerly 'Larry Wheatland'

• Mar 11, 2014

• #5

Western Scrub Jay for 6 and 7

 

nartreb

Speak softly and carry a long lens

• Mar 11, 2014

• #6

I should leave the gulls for others, especially as I'm unsure which are likely in California, but I'd say some Herring gulls and one Black-Backed. The one at left in the first photo is immature and not IDable with confidence by me, but could be Herring as well.

After that you've got a male European House Sparrow (edit: no, looks more like a chestnut-backed chickadee), then two photos of a scrub jay.

I'll leave the hummingbirds alone. Edit: and some kind of pelican stuck in the middle of the hummingbird photos. I think fugl is right that they're Brown Pelicans.

 

Last edited: Mar 11, 2014

F

fugl

Well-known member

• Mar 11, 2014

• #7

Also, in no particular order--Brown Pelican, Western Scrub-jay, Mountain? Chickadee, Northern Mockingbird. Agree with Long-billed Curlew for the shorebird

Edit
Oops--scratch the Mocker which is actually another Scrub-jay as pointed out by nartreb.

 

Last edited: Mar 11, 2014

nartreb

Speak softly and carry a long lens

• Mar 11, 2014

• #8

I don't see any mockingbird - those are definitely both scrub-jays.

 

Jeff Hopkins

Just another...observer

• Mar 11, 2014

• #9

I'm also staying away from the hummers.

Agree with LB Curlew, chukar, chestnut-backed chickadee, scrub jay, and brown pelican.

 

D

DarkFireFalcon

Well-known member

• Mar 11, 2014

• #10

In the order they currently appear, I see:

1. Long-billed Curlew
2-4. gull sp. Anything else would be speculating wildly. The very dark backed gull in the bottom of 4 might be a Western (Great Black-backed would be shockingly rare), and a few more could be as well, but from these photos, I'm not sure we can even rule out California Gull at an odd angle. Herring, California or Western could may account for the rest, but again, I don't think positive ID of any of the gulls is really attainable.
5. Looks like a Chestnut-backed Chickadee to me, with that reddish on the flanks. An exact location might help.
6. juvenile Western Scrub Jay
7. Western Scrub Jay
8. Chukar
9-12, 14. All that I can see well appear to be Black-chinned Hummingbirds, with the long looking bills and lack of any rufous on the flanks.
13. Brown Pelican

 

D

Dreslike

Andreas M. B. Boe

• Mar 11, 2014

• #11

Thanks for the help guys!

The chickadee was photographed somewhere in the northern California in a Redwood or Sequoia forest i think...
Just a quick question, I googled pelicans in California and found out that there is both Brown and White, what makes these a brown and not a white?

 

nartreb

Speak softly and carry a long lens

• Mar 12, 2014

• #12

White pelicans have mostly white plumage with dramatically black primary and secondary feathers (trailing half of the wing). That contrast should be visible, even in a distant, half-silhouetted photo like this, if these were White pelicans. It isn't, so these are more likely to be Brown pelicans, which though they also have dark primaries, have a less-contrasting dingy brown/grey coloration overall (with near-white head [and neck, depending on season]).

 

D

DarkFireFalcon

Well-known member

• Mar 12, 2014

• #13

Dreslike said:

Thanks for the help guys!

The chickadee was photographed somewhere in the northern California in a Redwood or Sequoia forest i think...

Click to expand...

Well, if you were in the coastal redwood forest, than Chestnut-backed would make sense, but if you were in Sierras, in Sequoia National Park, then Mountain would be the more likely possibility (though I still see it as too reddish for Mountain).