Birdie of the Year
Immature female Common Cuckoo
Ramsey Park, Watsonville, Calfornia - 9/30/2012
Sweet mother of wafty feathers... I got a bird that normally a birder has to trek to the western Aleutian Islands to have a chance of viewing. For some crazy reason, a Common Cuckoo, believed to be an immature female, showed up in Watsonville, California. Traveled there with Don Pendelton, and along with some 50 plus other birders, we saw the little beauty. Wow. What next? Is an ostrich going to swim to some ocean-side park in Big Sur, from Kenya? Perhaps not, but my 3 ABA area lifers and dozen Hawaiian lifers for 2012 is is sweet.Lifer birds are listed in red
- Greater White-fronted Goose
- Snow Goose
- Ross's Goose
- Canada Goose
- Mute Swan
- Cackling Goose
- Tundra Swan
- Wood Duck
- Gadwall
- Eurasian Widgeon
- American Widgeon
- Mallard
- Cinnamon
- Northern Shoveler
- Northern Pintail
- Green-winged Teal
- Canvasback
- Ring-necked Duck
- Lesser Scaup
- Falcated Duck
- Surf Scoter
- Black Scoter
- Bufflehead
- Common Goldeneye
- Barrow's Goldeneye
- Common Merganser
- Ruddy Duck
- Ring-necked Pheasant
- Greater Sage-Grouse
- Wild Turkey
- Mountain Quail (Heard)
- California Quail
- Common Loon
- Pied-billed Grebe
- Horned Grebe
- Eared Grebe
- American White Pelican
- Brown Pelican
- Brandt's Cormorant
- Double-crested Cormorant
- Pelagic Cormorant
- American Bittern
- Great Blue Heron
- Great Egret
- Snowy Egret
- Cattle Egret
- Green Heron
- Black-crowned Night Heron
- White-faced Egret
- Turkey Vulture
- Osprey
- White-tailed Kite
- Bald Eagle
- Northern Harrier
- Sharp-shinned Hawk
- Cooper's Hawk
- Red-shouldered Hawk
- Red-tailed Hawk
- Rough-legged Hawk
- Ferruginous Hawk
- American Kestrel
- Prairie Falcon
- Clapper Rail
- Common Gallinule
- American Coot
- Sandhill Crane
- Black-bellied Plover
- Pacific Golden Plover
- Killdeer
- Black Oystercatcher
- Black-necked Stilt
- American Avocet
- Greater Yellowlegs
- Lesser Yellowslegs
- Willet
- Wandering Tattler
- Spotted Sandpiper
- Western Sandpiper
- Least Sandpiper
- Whimbrel
- Marbled Godwit
- Black Turnstone
- Sanderling
- Dunlin
- Long-billed Dowitcher
- Wilson's Snipe
- Red-necked Phalarope
- Heerman's Gull
- Franklin's Gull
- Mew Gull
- Ring-billed Gull
- California Gull
- Herring Gull
- Iceland Gull
- Slaty-backed Gull
- Western Gull
- Glaucous-winged Gull
- Caspian Tern
- Forster's Tern
- Black Skimmer
- Common Murre
- Rock Pigeon
- Band-tailed Pigeon
- Eurasian Collared-dove
- White-winged Dove
- Mourning Dove
- Common Ground-Dove
- Common Cuckoo
- Greater Roadrunner
- Western Screech Owl (yard bird!)
- Great Horned Owl
- Burrowing Owl
- Common Poorwill
- Vaux's Swift
- White-throated Swift
- Black-chinned Hummingbird
- Anna's Hummingbird
- Costa's Hummingbird
- Rufous Hummingbird
- Allen's Hummingbird
- Belted Kingfisher
- Lewis's Woodpecker
- Acorn Woodpecker
- Red-naped Sapsucker
- Red-breasted Sapsucker
- Nuttall's Woodpecker
- Downy Woodpecker
- Hairy Woodpecker
- Northern Flicker
- Olive-sided Flycatcher
- Western Wood-Pewee
- Pacific-slope Flycatcher
- Black Phoebe
- Say's Phoebe
- Ash-throated Flycatcher
- Brown-crested Flycatcher
- Western Kingbird
- Eastern Kingbird
- Loggerhead Shrike
- Warbling Vireo
- Stellar's Jay
- Western Scrub Jay
- Pinyon Jay
- Clark's Nutcracker
- Black-billed Magpie
- Yellow-billed Magpie
- American Crow
- Common Raven
- Horned Lark
- Tree Swallow
- Violet-Green Swallow
- Northern Rough-winged Swallow
- Cliff Swallow
- Barn Swallow
- Black-capped Chickadee
- Mountain Chickadee
- Chestnut-backed Chickadee
- Oak Titmouse
- Verdin
- Bushtit
- Red-breasted Nuthatch
- White-breasted Nuthatch
- Pygmy Nuthatch
- Brown Creeper
- Rock Wren
- Canyon Wren
- Bewick's Wren
- House Wren
- Marsh Wren
- Ruby-crowned Kinglet
- Western Bluebird
- Mountain Bluebird
- Hermit Thrush
- American Robin
- Northern Mockingbird
- Sage Thrasher
- European Starling
- Cedar Waxwing
- Phainopepla
- Yellow Warbler
- Common Yellowthroat
- Summer Tanager
- Western Tanager
- Yellow-rumped Warbler
- Townsend's Warbler
- Green-tailed Towhee
- Spotted Towhee
- California Towhee
- Chipping Sparrow
- Vesper Sparrow
- Lark Sparrow
- Sage Sparrow
- Savannah Sparrow
- Grasshopper Sparrow
- Song Sparrow
- Lincoln's Sparrow
- White-crowned Sparrow
- Golden-crowned Sparrow
- Dark Eyed Junco
- Black-headed Grosbeak
- Blue Grosbeak
- Red-winged Blackbird
- Tri-colored Blackbird
- Western Meadowlark
- Yellow-headed Blackbird
- Brewer's Blackbird
- Great-tailed Grackle
- Brown-headed Cowbird
- Hooded Oriole
- Bullock's Oriole
- Pine Grosbeak
- Cassin's Finch
- House Finch
- Red Crossbill
- Pine Siskin
- Lesser Goldfinch
- Lawrence's Goldfinch
- House Sparrow
Bonus Hawaiian Birdies: these birds are birds-of-the-year, and many were lifer birds for me, but don't count as being observed in the ABA area. These are 'birds of the planet' for me.I didn't include here species seen by me this past year in the ABA area, e.g. the Pacific Golden Plover.
- Spotted Dove
- Red-vented Bulbul
- Common Myna
- Saffron Finch
- Zebra Dove
- Yellow-billed Cardinal
- Northern Cardinal
- Yellow-fronted Canary
- Apapane
- Oma'o (Hawaiian Thrush)
- Nene (Hawaiian Goose)
- Java Rice Sparrow
- Erckel's Francolin
- Kaua'i 'Elepaio
- Anianiau
- Amakihi
- Koloa (Hawaiian Duck)
- I'o (Hawiian Hawk)
- Koa'e Kea (White-tailed Tropicbird)
- 'Iwa (Great Frigatebird)
- 'A (Red-footed Booby)
- Alae Ke'oke'o (Hawaiian Coot)
- Alae'ula (Hawaiian Gallinule)
- White Rumped Shama
- Red-crested Cardinal
I'iwi (heard only - RATS!)