California Avifauna

Each time I visit family in California, I seek out plants, flowers, animals and birds to photograph with my digital Sony point-and-shoot camera. This time, I tried to concentrate on birds.

These are the results of my most recent visit:

Blackbird

Hawk

Mockingbird

Hummingbird

Jay

Jay

Turkey

These photos were the best I could do this trip. Some of the birds were cooperative; some were not. I think I've ID'd them correctly; if not, please help me and comment below.

The hardest picture to get was the turkey. I've taken and posted a few in the past, but for some reason, they were darned elusive this last time. I did see several, but I was always driving and couldn't stop to photograph. One even crossed road in front of me and I missed it.

The picture posted above was taken across the driver's body as we sped downhill on a curving road, making it unsafe for the driver to slow down with other cars behind us.

Every time I had my camera out and turned on, I had absolutely no luck. It's like the turkeys sent out an memo and conspired to remain hidden when they saw my camera out and ready: "MEMO TO ALL CAMERON HILLS TURKEYS: Craig will be driving in our area between 10 and 11 a.m., and 4 and 5 p.m. Stay hidden and off the road."

Okay, so the turkey picture sucks. But hey, one takes what one can get.