Slam on the breaks; back up! There it is. A Merlin. Not only that, it is a Black Merlin Falco columbarius suckleyi . This dark and heavily...

It has been several years since the Sage Sparrow was split into the Sagebrush Sparrow ( Artemiseospiza nevadensis ) and the Bell's Sparr...

Where do the local pipits breed? Every winter there are pipits on local muddy lake shores and estuaries. They may be found in short-grass ar...

Bushtits on the coastal slope of San Diego County are darker and browner than elsewhere in their western US and SW Canada range. They are ty...

Most of the White-crowned Sparrows in San Diego are the pale-lored* and bright clean plumaged Gambel's form, Zonotrichia leucophrys gamb...

Migrant Savannah Sparrows winter in coastal wetlands. The darker Belding's form photographed here is a local resident in salt marshes of...

I spotted an obvious male Slate-colored Junco at Lake Cuyamaca on November 5th. It was feeding on some grain thrown on the ground at the bai...

In 1973 a half dozen forms of juncos, formerly all treated as separate species, were all lumped as one: and thereafter known as the Dark-eye...

In the 1980's the California population of Bell's Vireo (the Least Bell's Vireo) was down to only about 300 pairs. Two causes of...

After living here a year-and-a-half I am closing in on 300 bird species for San Diego County. If I lived a bit closer to downtown, and had m...

Sooty Fox Sparrow (possibly unalaschensis ). Lake Hodges, California. January 25, 2015. Greg Gillson. The Sooty Fox Sparrow is the least...

Getting my ducks in a row (okay, fine, geese). Front three geese, left to right: Taverner's Cackling Goose, Aleutian Cackling Goose, ...

Adult Gambel's White-crowned Sparrow. San Marcos, California. December 14, 2014. Greg Gillson. White-crowned Sparrows show subtle bu...