June 15, 2010

Lots of Birds at Mangas Springs this Morning!

With birding friends due in from Louisiana Thursday, I decided to check out the Springs this morning.  It's been a good spot in March but didn't know what to expect today.  Loaded up the camera with the new Bush Hawk shoulder mount, and although the lighting was pretty poor (all at ISO 800) under all the lush green trees, managed to get a few acceptable pix of the literally hundreds to birds around...

The goldfinches seem really preoccupied with the water, and hardly noticed my presence.  A couple of house finches were much more bashful, but finally snapped one a quite a long distance.
I guess the treat was when a very careful Blue Grosbeak appeared, seemed like I waited forever for him to get comfortable enough to fly nearby, although in mostly shade.

The finally was this Western Kingbird, surprisingly orange-ish on the breast (no color alteration in editing) - may just be breeding plumage, if anyone has any better guess please leave a comment. 

Other birds of interest spotted, but not photographed were a couple of Yellow Finches, a Bullocks Oriole and my old friend the Vermilion Flycatcher!