I visited a different part of Lake Turlock on a subsequent day and saw a new assortment of birds.Despite the amount of land, water, and food, birds can be very territorial, chasing off other birds and species. Often it’s small nimble birds dive-bombing larger birds, such as the photo of a Great Egret and a Blackbird. The smaller birds don’t need to be stronger, but simply be more annoying (as seen in a prior day of a Western Kingbird chasing off a Red-tailed Hawk).
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- Osprey
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- Mallard
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- Red-winged Blackbird
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- Red-winged Blackbird
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- Ring-billed Gull
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- Great Egret and Blackbird
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- Countryside
That’s it for this visit, but just enough light to compose a lit scene before leaving.
Bird Facts: Gulls and blackbirds can be tough to identify due to their ubiquity and cues that are hard to differentiate in isolation. The Ring-billed Gull is one of the easier gulls to identify due to its dark black ring and lack of a red dot on the bill, which most other gulls have. The Red-winged blackbird shows off its brilliant red colors when in flight. Keep an eye open for Tricolored Blackbirds, which show off a bright-red wing with a white stripe below. Unfortunately the species is threatened, unlike the common Red-winged blackbird, due to habitat loss.
