The White-throated Bee-Eater Revisited!

Length: 19-21 cm (7.5-8.3") + streamers up to 12 cm (4.7").

This photo of a White-throated Bee-Eater (Merops albicollis) was taken on the same day (Jan 6/07) and at the same location as the pictures in my earlier post (see "The White-throated Bee-Eater in Liberia!", on May 25, 2009). This individual has the very long central tail feathers characteristic of the species. (Sorry, this is the best shot I've got showing the tail streamers!)
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The White-throated Bee-Eater doesn't normally perch this close to the ground, but here sits this cute pair in the early morning sunshine (Jan 6/09), ever watchful for a passing bite of insect "breakfast"! (I don't think the automatic white balance on my little point-and-shoot camera was working very well when I digiscoped this shot, but I've tried to color-correct it the best I can!)

The Blue-cheeked Bee-Eater in Liberia!

Length: 24-26 cm (9.5-10.0") + streamers up to 10.5 cm (4.0").
. The Blue-cheeked Bee-Eater (Merops persicus) is an intra-African and palearctic migrant visitor (Dec-July) to coastal regions of Liberia (particularly from Monrovia westward). Most do not breed in Liberia. I found this species at several locations north of Monrovia between Fendel and Bentol; this individual was digiscoped at Bentol (Jan 20/09). The blue cheeks are barely visible and, like most of the other individuals I saw on my short January visit to Liberia, it lacks the long central tail streamers generally characteristic of this species. Perhaps the streamers tend to grow later in the dry season, just before the birds return northward to their desert-edge breeding grounds in Mauritania and elsewhere. However...
.I found this Blue-cheeked Bee-Eater 5 days earlier, further "doun the coast" at Buchanan (Jan 15/09). Though it was a considerable distance from me, on a power line over rank marshy vegetation, this digiscoped shot clearly shows the field characteristics, including the long central tail feathers!

In this photo taken at Bentol (Jan 20/09), the blue feathers--both above the eye and on the cheek below the eye--can be seen more clearly.

The White-throated Bee-Eater in Liberia!

Length: 19-21 cm (7.5-8.3") + streamers up to 12 cm (4.7").
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In January of 2007, when my wife Paula and I were in Liberia for a short two-week visit, we stopped by the old home place near Charlie Town in River Cess County where my family had once lived and where I had grown up.
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Sadly our house was gone, having been completely destroyed during the civil war; all that remained was this rather untidy "mound" of overgrown rubble, surrounded by a small clearing and then the secondary rain forest. Still, the air was filled with the familiar sights, sounds, and smells of a West African dry season, and these brought back a flood of pleasant childhood memories. For example...

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Resting silently on a leafless branch of the old “rubber tree” in the “front yard” was this watchful White-throated Bee-Eater (Merops albicollis). Periodically it would sally out to snatch an unwary insect from the air, then return to its perch to consume its snack and wait for another tidbit to come by. I figured I would have enough time to set up my tripod and camera to take a few digiscoped shots (Jan 06/07)!

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During the dry season, the White-throated Bee-Eater is an abundant non-breeding visitor to Liberia (and to the other rain forest and moist savanna zones of West Africa). During Liberia's rainy season (May-Oct), it migrates northward to the southern edge of the Sahara Desert where it breeds.

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The rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis), despite its tropical environment, is deciduous, dropping all its leaves for a brief week or two during the dry season. With only a few red leaves still clinging to this tree here and there, my view of the bee-eater was unobscured and taking these pictures was easy! (Natural rubber is a major export from Liberia, with several companies operating very large plantations of this tree.)

Perigrine Falcon on the California Coast!

Length: 38-51 cm (15-20"); females 13-20% larger than males.
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Ten days ago, my wife and I were on the West Coast for our daughter's graduation from USC at Los Angeles. We stayed in a nearby city on the coast, at a small motel just two blocks from the sea and within easy walking distance of where our daughter lives!
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On this trip to California I was not expecting to have a lot of time for birding (much less photography), but I had brought my optics along... just in case! The first morning, while we were strolling through a small park at the top of the sea cliffs and enjoying the vastness of the view of the Pacific Ocean below, a local jogger saw my scope and stopped to ask whether I was looking for the Peregrine Falcons (Falco peregrinus). What falcons? I had not heard that there were any in the area! That day I could not find them, but the next morning (May 16/09) I was out at the park again (you can be sure!)... and this time I was able to locate the pair without much difficulty!
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This Peregrine Falcon was perched near the top of the cliff, where I could easily get a photograph from the park sidewalk! After taking a series of shots, I thought I would risk moving in a bit closer with my tripod and digiscoping set-up. No problem! Apparently these raptors are quite used to the early-morning joggers and other passers-by who frequent the park!
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On a third visit to the cliffs, I learned from another birder that this pair had been introduced from farther down the California coast. Though this photo clearly shows the bird's long powerful talons, I am glad that the identification ring on its leg is not visible! Sure looks like a very wild bird, on a very inaccessible cliff, somewhere in a very faraway wilderness!