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| Male Evening Grosbeak |
Evening Grosbeaks are considered a 'rare' bird in our area, and indeed, I had never seen one anywhere in the SF Bay Area before. I had seen Evening Grosbeaks only twice in past years, both times being up at Yuba Pass in the Sierras in the summer time. They are a spectacular bird to see, a bit bigger than a House Finch, but with a gigantic light yellowish-beige bill! The males have very dark brown, almost black, heads and upper necks, with a bright bright yellow super cilium, and bring undertail to match. The females, as with most birds are quite a bit toned-down in coloring being mostly shades of gray.
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| Female Evening Grosbeak |
I had a chance to go downtown on Thursday the 20th to check things out for myself. I parked at the corner of State and 3rd Streets and started walking towards the previously seen location. But, I didn't have to walk that far, as found birds in a tree with berries less than half a block away in front of 334 State Street (Village Kebab). I was immediately able to count 5 birds - 2 males and 3 females in the tree along with a Downy Woodpecker and a couple of Western Bluebirds. All the birds were very easily seen as there were only berries hanging on the leafless tree.
The sun angle was bad for photographs, and most of the tree was in the shade, so I cranked up the ISO to 2000! I won't even share how many photos I took... many, many! The birds were fairly close to me so I was able to get great in-focus almost picture-filling shots. And, the birds were very obliging, gorging themselves on the berries. And, they even vocalized! That was really a treat!
In the 20 or more minutes that I was at this location, at 1 pm in the afternoon, I only had one pair of men walk by and ask me what I was taking pictures of. When I told them what the birds were and that they are rare for this location, one of them pulled out his iPhone and took a photo. Then there was a question, "It must take a lot of patience to take photos, huh?" Well, "yes" I replied. But to tell you the truth, for me, it takes a lot less patience to take bird photos than it does to go (Christmas) shopping.
Finally, after some time, all the birds took off over the buildings. I continued up the street, around the corner, looking at all the trees with berries on them (about 1/3 of the street trees in downtown Los Altos are of this variety). I'm not sure if they are Chinese Pistache trees of California Pepper trees. On the corner where Starbucks is I had a conversation with the Salvation Army bell-ringing woman about birds. She had some knowledge and experience seeing some rare birds in the past.
I continued down Main Street and found 2 female Evening Grosbeaks down the block in a lot better sunlight. So, I took more photos at a lot less ISO's than before (400, 500, and 800). I also found a beautiful Myrtle's Yellow-rumped Warbler that I got some photos of.
You're never assured of finding a bird that has been reported. However, one thing IS for certain--you WILL find birds. Walk around with binoculars, keep your ears tuned, and always carry your camera!
More about Evening Grosbeaks here: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Evening_Grosbeak/id
BAM (23-Dec-2012)
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