Black and Red Broadbill

In July 2023 we were on the island of Borneo in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, in Tanjung Puting NP on a klotok cruising up the Sekonyer River. Our guide Sam pointed out a beautiful red and black bird standing in a tree on the side of the river which flew further up the river. Sam told us it was a black and red broadbill. I did not have my camera available, partially because it was acting up after getting it wet on the island of Sumatra, and missed a good photo. I believe we had glimpses of one or two others, but not as good as this particular sighting. I keep track of the birds I see and rarely include birds I don't have a photo of, but this is one of the exceptions. The black and red broadbill is a member of the family Eurylaimidae, the Asian and Grauer's broadbills containing 10 species.  

Illustration of black and red broadbill, ssp. macrorhynchos, from Birds of the World. 

The black and red broadbill has a black head and breastband; greenish black upperparts; a maroon half-collar, rump and uppertail coverts; white edges on the scapulars that form a white line on the closed wing; a narrow orange line on the bend of the wing; a black tail with variable amounts of white; a bill with a turquoise-blue maxilla, a  yellow-orange mandible with a blue tip and edges; irises that are emerald green; and feet that are blue and sometimes tinged violet. It is a gorgeous bird. We saw the nominate ssp. macrorhynchos, found on Borneo, Sumatra and offshore islands from them. 

Range of the black and red broadbill from Birds of the World. 

Canyon Wren

I have many distinctive memories of hiking in canyons in Utah and Arizona, particularly as a boy, and hearing a very loud and haunting bird singing a series of cascading notes that echo throughout the canyon: Havasupai, Coyote Gulch, Organ Pipe Cactus NM and others. It is my favorite sound of canyon country.  I've wanted to see this miraculous bird and was very surprised when I learned it was a very small bird. I can only recall seeing it once, on March 12, 2008 in Estes Canyon in Organ Pipe Cactus NM in southern Arizona. I am very surprised to see its large range because I associate it with desert canyons. 

Canyon wren

It has a long thin beak, a square-tipped tail, is speckled, is chestnut colored which shades to gray at the head and has a white throat patch. 

This is an illustration of ssp. mexicanus from Birds of the World. There are about 8 ssp. and no discussion about where they are found, so I don't know if this is the ssp. I saw. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

Cactus Wren

On February 25, 2025 I was in Organ Pipe Cactus NM in southern Arizona with my son, Sam. We were at the small oasis outside the visitor center, the first time I was aware that the visitor center had one (I've been to Organ Pipe many times over the years). I sat on a bench nearby the two small warm springs and sat for several hours. One of the marvelous sightings was a pair of cactus wrens. In all the times I've visited Organ Pipe, this is the first time I've seen cactus wrens. There are seven generally recognized subspecies. Ssp. couesi is found in the southern U.S. in California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, as well as Sonora and Chihuahua, Mexico. It is larger than the nominate ssp. and has paler underparts. It is sometimes known as ssp. anthonyi. It is the state bird of Arizona and the largest wren in the U.S. It has brown plumage with black and white spots. The underparts are cinnamon-buff and the tail and flight feathers are barred in black and white. We also saw one in the Cabeza Prieta NWR, standing on a tall saguaro. I was driving and Sam got a photo. 

Illustration of ssp. bryanti from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

Warbling Vireo

The warbling vireo is olive-gray on the head and upperparts with white underparts; has brown eyes; a light face; white supercilium; thick blue-gray legs and a stout bill. Wikipedia treats the western and eastern warbling vireo as a single species and Birds of the World treats them as separate species. The western bird, which I saw at Big Morongo Canyon Preserve in Morongo Valley, California, is smaller and has a darker gray crown.  I posted it on iNaturalist and had one confirming identification. I am horrible at spotting small birds and even worse at photographing them, so this was a pretty successful photo for me. I have been working at getting better at small birds. 

Western Warbling Vireo 

Western Warbling Vireo illustration from Birds of the World.

Western Warbling Vireo range from Birds of the World. 

Jamaican Vireo

On February 17, 2023 I spent several hours at the Rocklands Bird Sanctuary on a hill above Montego Bay, Jamaica. I got one photo of a Jamaican vireo, a species endemic to Jamaica. It was from underneath, standing on a branch. I posted it on iNaturalist as a black-whiskered vireo and the top identifier of Jamaican vireos, guyincognito, disagreed and gave it the Jamaican vireo identification. 

Illustration from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher

I am learning how to find and photograph small birds. It has been very difficult for me. They are hard to see, they tend to be very quick, they are obscured by branches and leaves and their smaller size, along with those other factors, makes them hard to photograph. 

The blue-gray gnatcatcher is one of those kinds of birds. Males have blue-gray upperparts, white underparts, a slender dark bill, a long black tail edged in white and a white eye ring. Females are less blue. 

The first ones I photographed were at the IRWD (Irvine Water District) San Joaquin Marsh in Irvine, California on January 17, 2022. The first two photos are one bird and the third photo is a different bird. 

This could have been a decent photo, but the auto focus snagged the branch to the left which was closer to me, one of the hazards of photographing small birds. 

My best photos, taken at IRWD a year later, on January 7, 2023 - this and the following two photos. 

My last photo, taken on June 18, 2025, was taken near the Chilao Visitor Center in the San Gabriel Mountains above Los Angeles on June 18, 2025. 

Illustration of a male from Birds of the World

Illustration of a female from Birds of the World. I don't see any clear lines above the bill and eyes in my photos, but the first photos are pretty dark blue, so the first photos must be male and the others are females. 

Range from Birds of the World.

American Oystercatcher

We visited the coast of southern Texas in November 2021 during the Covid pandemic and spent some time in Aransas NWR. One of the wonderful activities we did was a Whooping Crane and Coastal Birding Tour with Rockport Birding and Kayak Adventures where we boated across Aransas Bay into the dredged shipping channel between Bludworth Island on the east and the peninsula which forms the eastern barrier for Dunham Bay. On the eastern end of the shipping of the channel where it was quite shallow we saw an American oystercatcher, a wonderfully fun looking bird. It has a long orange beak, yellow eyes with orange orbital rings, faded pink legs, a black head and neck, brown-black upper body and white lower body. 

Illustration from Birds of the World. 

They feed almost exclusively on shellfish and other marine invertebrates, including oysters, mussels, clams, limpets, sea urchins, starfish, crabs and worms. They look for mollusks with a partially opened shell, then jab their bill into the shell and sever the muscle that causes the shell to clamp shut. They also probe the sand for soft-shell or razor clams or carry loose shellfish out of the water and hammer at it. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

It is found on the Atlantic coast of North America from Massachusetts to northern Florida, the gulf coast, the Caribbean, and south to Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina. It is also found on the Pacific coast of California, Mexico, Central America, Peru and Chile.