Anyone know what kind of bird this is? I was sitting on a picnic table, waiting for my friend to arrive for our hike, when this beautiful yellow-breasted bird landed on a branch right above me. I wasn’t able to see what the bird looked like from the side or from above, so I don’t know any other markings. Glad I was looking up!
Photo taken April 16th, 2013
Lake Chabot Regional Park, Castro Valley, California
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hike.wander.wonder 
Lovely shot – I haven’t had much luck with birds yet. They just don’t want to stay still, how ruuuude! Nice work.
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Haha! They do move fast sometimes. 🙂
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I love all of the elements of this photo! So pretty…’up’ close…the sharp focus of the bird and the soft hues of the background. Very pretty!
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Thank you, Victoria. I wish I could have captured an image of the entire moment. The trees all around felt that way. 🙂
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Beautiful! 🙂
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Thank you. 🙂
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It’s such a difficult angle for identification! I could vote for Lesser Goldfinch as your first commenter did – the bill shape doesn’t look “goldfinchy” from this angle but perspective can throw good field marks off.
I had a friend who wanted to publish a book called, “Bird Butts I Have Known”, for help identifying birds when only getting underside glimpses. It would have been handy here 🙂
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Hahaha! Yes, that would be helpful in this case! When I got home, I immediately pulled out my Audubon Western Birds and Birds of San Francisco and the Bay Area books, but couldn’t identify it from what I saw. The birding books just don’t provide good booty shots!
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No they don’t – LOL!
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I’ve seen these birds at my feeder from time to time. I’ll be eager to keep checking back to see if you get more votes for Lesser Goldfinch or something else. I have the hardest time being definitive with the different species. i’m sure trying! 🙂
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Whatever it is, it’s a pretty bird. 🙂
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Beautiful photo!
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Thank you. 🙂
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Lesser goldfinch?
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I was wondering that, too. Could be!
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A type of tit? Reminded me of the unfortunate incident today when I was visiting a house, a bird looking like this had got into the porch through an empty window, panicked and crashed into a window. I don’t think it survived.
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😦 So sad you had to witness that. Windows are a serious hazard to birds.
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I bought decals for my windows to prevent this very thing. They’re shaped like leaves and apply with static cling. They are almost undetectable, but they are visible to birds. The reason they often hit the glass is because it appears to be sky. I don’t know if links are allowed in your comments, but here goes:
http://www.treehugger.com/natural-sciences/save-millions-of-birds-window-alert-invisible-ultraviolet-decals-warn-birds-about-deadly-windows.html
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I’ll have to buy some of those for our windows. Thanks!
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You’re welcome.
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Nice capture. Thanks for visiting and the like of my Weekly Photo Challenge post representing the Up.
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Thank you. To you, too!
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Thanks for dropping by and liking my photo. Would you tell me how to do a pingback? I put the link to the WordPress post in a comment on my blog but I don’t see my pingback in the post, so I’m guessing not. If you can tell me, I’d really appreciate it! 🙂
janet
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Not sure! Maybe pingbacks don’t work when put in comments?
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How did you get yours in?
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Hm… at the bottom of my post, I wrote “WordPress Photo Challenge: Up” and then highlighted it and added a link (using that little chain link symbol) to the WordPress page with the challenge.
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Ahh, that did it. Thanks so much!
janet
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You’re welcome! 🙂
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