Cinnamon Teal - Anas cyanoptera, and Blue-winged Teal - A. discors

When visiting a favorite local patch for a walk one can't expect to see new or rare species very often, but we can take delight in seeing new features, plumage variations and behaviors as the seasons change. Nearing the end of our "winter" season the dabbling ducks have mostly formed pair bonds, and many will be leaving soon for breeding grounds. On February 19th we stopped at the Las Gallinas ponds in mid-afternoon and got some close looks at a Cinnamon Teal pair.

The male, as usual, grabbed the spotlight as the pair stopped along the shore of pond #3, mid-way along the berm between ponds 2 and 3. Note the large shoveler-like black bill, red iris, resplendent scapular and tertial feathers, plus bits of the blue wing patch and green speculum.

The male decided this was a good spot to preen, affording varied looks at some of his features:

He continued to preen the top of his left wing, exposing more of the powder blue wing patch located on the inner wing toward the leading edge, i.e. the coverts of the secondary feathers. Toward the trailing edge of the inner wing we see the iridescent green speculum. Both wing patch and speculum are seen better in flight. Also note the color of the crown, dark brown rather than cinnamon:

He then obliged with a wing stretch to show he deserves the cyanoptera part of the name ("blue wing"). The shingled feathers in front of and above the blue patch are the scapulars. Great look at the bill, too. And check out the foot, which includes gray webbing and really sharp toenails. One foot is stretched backward. His cryptic mate nearby ignores his showmanship:

Female dabbling ducks have simple plumage dominated by shades of brown, allowing them to blend with dried grasses as they incubate on the nest. To distinguish the females of the various dabbler species we rely mostly on details of the bill and face. The Cinnamon hen soon took the stage to allow close study. In the shot below note the bill, generous in size and trimmed with some orange at the edges. The glimpse of powder blue tells us she is one of the 3 blue-winged dabblers, Northern Shoveler, Cinnamon Teal and Blue-winged Teal (see end note). The bill shows she's not a Northern Shoveler. The plain face helps sometimes, as most dabbler females as a dark line through the eye, as in the Mallard, Green-winged Teal, et. al. The Blue-winged Teal looks very similar to our Cinnamon Teal hen, sharing a relatively plain face, similar bills and blue wing patch. Note the faint white eye arcs, and a bit of white at the base of the bill here:

A few years ago a pair of Blue-winged Teals spent some time on pond #1, and loafed near the shore with some Cinnamon Teals. Here's a decent shot of the female Blue-winged Teal to compare with the Cinnamon hen above. The bills may be similar, but the Bue-winged hen has a more noticeable eye line, more prominent white eye arcs, and more extensive white at the base of the bill, extending to the throat:

Her mate was on the nearby shore, loafing with a Cinnamon Teal. Note the pink glow on the side of the Blue-winged Teal's face below the crown - an iridescence similar to what we are sometimes lucky to see on the Northern Pintail male.

The Blue-winged male occasionally left the shore, affording a better look at the unmistakeable white crescent:

As you might guess, the Cinnamon and Blue-winged are close relatives. The top view of their wings is almost identical, and hybrids of the species are seen occasionally, such as this male Cinnamon x Blue-winged seen earlier this winter at Las Gallinas:

Endnote: Well, there are other dabbling ducks with a blue wing patch, including the rarely seen Garganey, Anas querquedula plus 3 other Shovelers (Australian, Red, and Cape).

The Sapsuckers - Genus Sphyrapicus

I've always been fascinated by the woodpeckers and allies. The recent sighting of a female Williamason's Sapsucker in Santa Rosa prompted me to review my experience with the sapsuckers, genus Sphyrapicus.

The woodpeckers are in the diverse order of Picaformes, which includes beautiful tropical families Jacamars, Puffbirds, Barbets, Honey-guides and Toucans. The woodpeckers comprise the family Picadae, made up of about 28 genera and over 210 species worldwide. Many are tropical, and the majority are New World. In the U.S. we have about 22 species in 5 genera [Sibley Guide to Bird Life], among which are 9 species in genus Picoides and 6 species in genus Melanerpes. Genus Sphyrapicus has the 4 sapsuckers, and our 2 Flickers are in Colaptes. The Pileated Woodpecker is our only representative of the genus Dryocopus.

Locally we have the Red-breasted Sapsucker, S. ruber, which occurs along the Pacific Coast from southern Alaska to California and Baja, but doesn't range very far to the east. Ours are usually the "southern" part of the cline, showing a bit less red on the head and face than those further north. First photo is a composite view of a male Red-breasted on a walnut tree in Volunteer Canyon, at ACR's Martin Griffin Preserve.

Here's another of the same bird, showing how neatly the holes have been drilled:

And one last male Red-breasted, taken at Lake Solano Park along the Putah River. Note the typical sapsucker white patch on the wing:

The Red-breasted Sapsucker, along with Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and the Red-naped Sapsucker made up a complex of closely related birds that were considered subspecies of the Yellow-Breasted until the 3 types were split and each was elevated to full species status in 1983. Some prefer to continue to think of those 3 as a "super-species", Sphyrapicus varius.

The Red-naped Sapsucker, S. nuchalis, has a rangemostly east of our coast, but is found here in small numbers each year. The male has more extensive red in the throat. This one was in oak woodlands north of Davis:

The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, S. varius, breeds widely across Canada and winters in the southern half of the U.S. from Texas to the east coast. This one on a palm tree in Tarpon Springs, Florida. Note the similarity to the Red-naped, but less extensive red areas.

Williamson's Sapsucker is the fourth member of the genus Sphyrapicus, having diverged from the others in the more distant past.related. Sapsuckers are related to the genus Melanerpes (Acorn, Red-headed, Lewis's, Gila, Golden-fronted and Red-bellied Woodpeckers). [BNA #663a,Walters et. al.] Here's a marginal shot of the female Williamson's Sapsucker in Santa Rosa, rather high in the tree:

The rapid drilling of the bird made for mostly blurred photos, as you can see from a short movie:

The male Williamson's Sapsucker look quite different from the female. We saw this one at the nest high on a campground tree at Yuba pass. Note the extensive black on the back. Unfortunately we can't see the yellow belly or the small red patch confined to the throat.

The first specimens of the female Williamson's Sapsucker were collected in 1849-1851 (John Bell). Cassin named the new species was Picus thyroideus. Common names used included Black-breasted Woodpecker and Brown-headed Woodpecker. In 1955, John Newberry collected a yellow-bellied black and white woodpecker and named it Williamson's Woodpecker, to honor Robert Stockton Williamson, the leader of an army survey team looking for a route for the railroad to go across the mountains. It wasn't until 1873 that these 2 woodpeckers (Brown-headed and Williamson's) were seen nesting as a pair and were determined to be the same species, albeit one with striking sexual dimorphism. Thus, the 2 species became one. Similar confusion attends the sapsucker' scientific name changes, with the genus changing from Picus to Melanerpes and finally to Sphyrapicus. (See Birds of North America Online, #289, Dobb's et. al.).

Ring-necked Duck - Aythya collaris

We often remark about the ill-chosen common name of the Ring-necked Duck, a bird that sports prominent rings on the bill, but not on the neck. Well, there are colored rings on the neck of the Ring-necked Duck, but they are seen mainly when the neck is extended, and even then the light has to be striking the black neck feathers at just the right angle to produce the broad maroon band on the neck, another example of "structural color". The female does not show any iridescence.

The photo here was taken in December at Lloyd Lake in Golden Gate Park (see below for directions). This small lake is favored by folks that bring kids to feed bread to the ducks, so it can be off-putting. That said, it's often a great spot to view Ring-necked Ducks in winter, along with Hooded Mergansers, Mallards, Scaups and gulls.

Sometimes only a portion of the ring can be seen, as here:

and another:

Structural Color in Bucephala, the Ox-headed Ducks

In the right light the back on a Lewis's Woodpecker shines with a dark green gloss, inspiring me to look more closely at the colors that are sometimes seen when viewing black or brown feathers on birds.

Some bird colors are produced by the pigments in the feathers, including melanins (blacks and browns) and caretenoids (oranges, reds, yellows). We see other colors in birds because of the microscopic structure of the feather, such as the blues of our jays, bluebirds and buntings. Most striking of all are the iridescent colors reflected back to us when light strikes the black feathers of some birds at just the right angle, such that the white light is broken by the feather's microstructure and certain wavelengths are selectively "reinforced" and reflected back as an "interference pattern", like the brilliant green we see on the black head of the male Mallard and the awesome ruby of a hummingbird's gorget, or in this case, the male Bufflehead.

The Bufflehead is a small sea duck in the tribe Mergini. The male Bufflehead with his bright black and white pattern can easily be distinguished at a distance. No so easy to see, and especially hard to capture in a photo, is the rainbow of iridescent colors produced when light strikes his head at just the right angle, as shown in this shot from Lloyd Lake in Golden Gate Park on January 7th. It's almost appears like a prism has split the light into a bufflehead rainbow. Maybe not the sharpest shot, but a colorful one.

A few years at Berkeley's Aquatic Park I spotted a male Bufflehead close enough for a good photo. Note how the array of spectral colors is similar, and how it includes a greater variety than average in black iridescent birds.

The Goldeneyes are close relatives of the Bufflehead, sharing the black-and-white color scheme. And as with the Bufflehead we can seen a color gloss or sheen on the head of the males if the light is just right. At Lake Solano Park (Putah Creek) Valley we sad a good number of Buffleheads and Goldeneyes upstream from the bridge across the creek. The distance (75-100') required that images be cropped, so not the sharpest, but the lighting was electric. The Barrow's Goldeneye male with brilliant his electric indigo sheen contrasted sharply with the emerald green flash on the Common Goldeneye as they swam together.

The Barrow's male is easy to identify, even if the white facial crescent is hidden. The white on his back is broken into a series of white lozenges, as compared with the white "piano keys" on the Common. The forehead usually appears much steeper than the Common's, and the downward pointing black spur at the shoulder is also distinctive. "Indigo" can mean different things to each of us, but is sometimes described as a color between blue and violet. More on Indigo. Some might call it a midnight blue, but whatever the name it was striking in this mid-morning light.

And another showing the white spots on the back of both Goldeneyes:

The Common Goldeneye male is equally distinctive, with the white ovoid cheek patch and larger white patches on the inner sections the wings (secondaries).

Lewis's Woodpecker - Melanerpes lewis

On our December trip to the Central Valley refuges we stopped by Lake Solano Park to see if the Lewis's Woodpeckers might still be there, and were not disappointed. We watched one particular bird at a granary tree. It would leave and find an acorn and bring it back to this snag. The broken top of the tree served as an anvil, on which the bird hammered to break open the acorn and extract the meat. These photos were taken over a 3-1/2 minute interval, during which time I also took a very poor quality video to try and show the activity.

Photo #1 shows the broad view of the top of the snag, with what looks like an acorn wedged in the hollow (smooth rounded bit that looks like a finger-tip). Note the green sheen of the back feathers, the impressive zygodactyl toes, and the use of the strong tail feathers to create a firm anchor to the tree. (Zygodactyl toe arrangement refers to the arrangement of the 4 toes of a bird in which the innermost toe has been rotated to point backwards, the 2 middle toes stay pointing forward, and the outermost toe backward, i.e. 2 toes forward and 2 backward, great for gripping tree bark. Seen in woodpeckers and other birds such as parrots.)

In photo #2 I think it is reaching for an acorn stashed earlier in a crevice. A shaky video was then attempted, which shows him extracting the acorn, placing it in the hollowed anvil portion of the snag, and then hammering at it to extract the mast: 

At this point I attempted a video: Lewis's Woodpecker video

Success! In Photo #3 the meat of the acorn has been extracted, after which the bird left to quickly cache the future meal in another portion of the dead tree and then back to open another acorn. The beautiful maroon color of the face is muted because of the overcast lighting.

The last, #4, shows how the the feet of the woodpecker fully released from the tree as it forcefully drove the bill downward, sort of "action and reaction" I guess.

I presume the Lewis's will remain in the Lake Solano Park area for another month or two, as those birds that elect to migrate will usually leave in late March/April, although most will not travel great distances. This year witnessed many more Lewis's Woodpecker sightings in Californnia's Bay Area than usual.

American Kestrel - Falco sparverius

Always fun to watch raptors in flight, but with my gear (scope + attached camera) it's hard to follow the action, much less attempt a photo. Hovering birds are an exception. As they look for mice below, like this female American Kestrel seen on a recent walk to Abbot's Lagoon, they sort of stay in one spot. Here I got off a few shots, and even with serious cropping they still show useful detail.

The female American Kestrel is easily distinguished from the male by the color of her tail and wings. The first shot shows the tail, fanned while hovering, with narrow bands of orange and black (the male has an orange tail with a black band near the tip).

 The wings of the female are seen better in the second shot, and show a similar orange and black barring like the tail colors.  

We can see the barring better when she is perched (the male has striking blue-gray wings), as in this shot from Las Gallinas some year back.

Another shot of the female Kestrel, also from Las Gallinas:

The male American Kestrel is equally striking. Took this one at County Park, Mono Lake, a while back. There are probably not many shots of a Kestrel on tufa!

The Kestrel is our smallest falcon, just a bit shorter than the fearsome Merlin, but much more slightly built. They Kestrel ranges widely across the U.S. and of course its range extends well south.

American Pipit - Anthus rubescens

Our walk at Abbott's Lagoon a few days back produced scores of American Pipits foraging on the sand near the lagoon's edge. As with many birds it works best if one just stands still in one spot and lets the bird approach, as moving towards it will cause it to flush. This one paused long enough for a photo, but usually they move along the sand in a constant search for prey items. I've noticed in the past that when the Pipit does pause for a bit it often stands near a plant or piece of debris on the sand.

Pipits usually forage in a loose group, looking mostly for insects, but will eat other fauna, and some seeds. Their busy foraging makes a good photo a challenge, as does the frequent bobbing of the tail. Note the streaked chest, warbler-like bill and pale throat. This one may be a juvenile bird, as the streaking on the breast is not heavy or well-defined. Here's another shot taken years ago along the coast. The streaking on the back and the pale legs suggest that it might be the asian subspecies:

The family Motacillidae consists of songbirds known as Wagtails and Pipits. The Wagtails tend to be more showy than the drab Pipits, but both pump their tails up and down much of the time, as seem in Spotted Sandpipers and others. Friends who travel a lot tell me that the pipits all look pretty much alike, which is to say it's difficult to identify the various taxa. This next shot is from one of my favorite local spots, the water treatment ponds of Las Gallinas, in San Rafael. Note how the bold streaking on the breast contrasts with the fainter streaking on the bird in the first photo:

There are some 65 species of Motacillids, distributed throughout the world. We have mainly the American Pipit, Anthus rubescens, while Sprague's Pipit is seen in the prairie states. The Red-throated Pipit appears here as a vagrant, as do at least 3 of the Wagtail species. The Water Pipit is a Eurasian species, closely related to the American Pipit, which was split from the Water Pipit not so long ago. So if you hear an old-timer call out "water pipit", you'll understand what is meant. We see the occasional Red-throated Pipit in the Bay Area, including spots such as the grassy areas of Crissey Field in S. F. and Arrowhead Marsh in Oakland. Key feature of the Red-throated is the bold streaking on the back and flanks. The red throat is a breeding plumage feature, but here you can see the suggestion of a red wash on the face: