Steve’s Birding photo blog

Since I had never seen a Sage Thrasher along the Carmel River, I decided to look for Matthew Dodder’s bird that he and his group found yesterday.  After a short search, it made itself conspicuous by making a short flight and landing on top of a shrub.  Then down to the trail where it would quickly run away from me.  My closest approach to the bird unfortunately was with the sun behind it, but that’s the way it goes.  An immature Merlin showed off its flying skills by picking off an unsuspecting bird.  I watched it as it ate and got a couple fair shots.

I also made a single stop in Pacific Grove today, visiting the famous bottlebrush at the corner of Acropolis and Shell.  The bush didn’t disappoint, as moments after walking up to it, a basic plumage Summer Tanager popped its head out.  I must have taken 50 photos of the bird, most of them horrible.  It sure didn’t want to have its picture taken today.  But I did manage a few respectable shots.

Finally, on my way home, I saw a very unexpected bird in PG, a Northern Goshawk!