A Lewis's Woodpecker at Stonewall Mine

There have been reports of this species from the past four to five months near Stonewall Mine in Cuyamaca Rancho State Park on eBird. Perhaps it is the same individual or individuals wintering here, or not. There's no way to tell for sure.

I decided that it would be nice to see one of these uncommon birds and get it on my year list, so I drove over to Stonewall Mine to try to find it. I saw one individual well, and a possible second bird near the first. The single bird that was easily observed was fly-catching from perches in one large pine, and at one point pecked in between the scales of two different Jeffrey Pine female cones. The literature reports low percentages of "seeds" in the diet of these birds, so I thought it would be interesting to show the imperfect images I captured of this behavior - taken from quite a distance away.

Here is an image of the pine, right in the middle of the frame:

Jeffrey Pine favored by Lewis's Woodpecker, late morning, Feb. 8, 2020

 Below are images of the bird pecking one pine cone, then flying to a second, and then perched over the second. The three most likely explanations for the behavior to me are either consumption of the pine seeds, or searching for/consumption of insects hiding in the cone. Consumption of sap seems much less likely as the literature indicates that sap is not a significant component of this species' diet.

Lewis's Woodpecker and pine cone.

Flying to second cone.

Perched over second cone.

These are beautiful birds and it's a treat to see them living their lives here in our local piny woods.

Birding Year Update as of January 31.

Being busy and starting up teaching again makes it harder to see birds, but I have managed to get out here and there, and have increased my year total SLIGHTLY.

It now stands at 129 (as of January 31).

On January 23, a day involving a trip to La Jolla and then later to Lindo Lake in Lakeside yielded species like Brandt's Cormorant, hard (for me) to find outside of La Jolla, and a Wandering Tattler - a nice bird to be sure!

Also other birds, including extremely common species were seen and photographed.

A few of those images below.

This Black Phoebe was belting out it repetitive calls from its perch near Sunny Jim Cave (and the highly photogenic pelicans  and cormorants) near La Jolla Cove.

Brown Pelican in breeding condition. This bird put on a nice show of preening, stretching and generally looking regal in the morning sun. La Jolla, California.

Doing its "pelican decoy" imitation. La Jolla, California.

Double-crested Cormorant. La Jolla, California.

I think this Western Gull is a one-legger. It looked very mellow at a comfortable distance from the attention-hogging pelicans. La Jolla, California.

At Lindo Lake, the Black-crowned Night Herons were hanging around on the south shore of the "primary" lake, as usual. Lindo Lake, Lakeside, California.

Many ducks were present on the shallow "lake" to the east of the main lake, including this male Northern Pintail. A small group were dabbling and loitering near shore in nice light before two women let their dogs off leash which scared the ducks to the middle of the lake. Lindo Lake, Lakeside, California.

Yes, a VERY common bird, but the lighting was too perfect (and this pose too irresistible). Rock Pigeon, Lindo Lake, Lakeside, California. 

I THINK that these are Red-masked Parakeets. Several small flocks flew over. Lindo Lake, Lakeside, California.

I only saw one Greater White-fronted Goose, although at least two are apparently regulars at the lake. Lindo Lake, Lakeside, California.