Avian portraits

Egyptian Goose

Snowy Egret

Double-Crested Cormorant

Great Blue Heron

A bunch of bushtits

Finch invasion

This past year I have been observing some recently introduced bird species in my area: the Pin-Tailed Whydah and the Scaly-Breasted Munia (aka Spice Finch, aka Nutmeg Mannikin).

Male whydah

Female whydah

Two Munias

Just this week some little brown jobs have showed up-- which, according to a more experienced local birder, are juvenile whydahs! This species is a brood parasite, and their young are being raised by the Munias.

There has also been a Zebra Finch in my backyard:

Nestful of swallows

The same babies at the top of my previous post, one week later (the fourth is still in the nest, but hidden behind its siblings):

Miscellaneous juvenile avifauna

Barn Swallow nestlings

California Towhee

Egyptian Goose gosling

Black Phoebe

Western Bluebird fledgeling

Mockingbird fledgeling, just out of nest