Friday, December 25, 2015

Lopez Island Birds I

After all the birds of Paris that I have posted it might seem as if I don’t think there are birds of consequence to be seen elsewhere.

But the would not be true

I see birds everywhere.

And they are all consequential.

At least to me.

And I usually take pictures of them as best as I am able given how close they will let me come to them and in what sort of jumble of nature they have chosen to be when I have encountered them.

And if I have a camera with me.

In general (meaning non bird specific) some years ago I adopted a basic rule: it’s a bad idea to be on the streets of Paris without a camera.

(OK, it’s not that general; but it can be generally applied.)

Its general application came from an incident in Hyde Park in London.

I love that place and have not been able to be in London nearly enough times to get my fill of it.

But on one of the occasions that I was there, I had just entered, having passed the area where the soapbox orators have famously over the years plied their trade, when I heard an unbelievable racket coming from the air over my head.

In retrospect I have realized that it was a lot like the racket made by the Paris Parrots (and the same ones I have seen in Florence) only louder.

Immediately upon hearing the racket I saw its source: there were two really large mostly brilliant green parrots acrobatically gamboling about in the air not far from the soap box orators’ area.

“How odd” I thought.

The next thought was: “why don’t I have a camera?”

In the intervening years the implications of that question have been significant: I have never had anyone believe me that I saw some huge jungle birds flitting about on a crystal blue winter day in Hyde Park.

So the general rule is it’s a bad idea to be anywhere, if you are me, without a camera.

Due to the fact that I generally follow that rule I can post pictures of some North American birds whose pictures I took yesterday.

Because I had my camera with me yesterday when I encountered them.

There are nine images, three each of three types we have up here.

It is probably easy for anyone to name them so I am not going to label any of them.

That means any birders who might stray to this post can have the fun of impressing themselves by identifying the three types.

And just for fun, I am posting a tenth picture with two birds in it.

One will quickly notice that one of the two birds in this picture is different from the birds in the other nine images.

So anyone viewing this post can have the fun of naming that fourth sort of bird.

lopez golden crowned sparrow 122415 00000lopez house finch 122415 00004lopez junco 122415 00002

lopez golden crowned sparrow 122415 00003lopez house finch 122415 00005lopez junco 122415 00003

lopez golden crowned sparrow 122415 00005lopez house finch 122415 00008lopez junco 122415 00004

lopez house finches 122415 00000