Bird on a stick

Birded Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve this morning. The slough is one of the largest and last remaining coastal California wetlands, and is host to many birds. Highlights from our visit included Hooded Merganser, Osprey, and Common Goldeneye. It was a lovely trip.

The very bright sunlight (in January?!) made for unfavorable photography conditions, so the best pictures I got were of the taxidermied birds in the visitor's center. This one is a male Anna's Hummingbird, with throat feathers fanned out, as they would be during courtship or when staking territorial claims. The specimens they had on the display were actually some of the finest quality I've seen, with terrific attention to detail--and I've seen my fair share of stuffed birds, let me tell you.