Copyright 2013 Deborah M Zajac. All Rights Reserved

My first Western Tanager Photograph! I’ve seen this bird before, but wasn’t able to capture a photograph of it that time. I’m very excited about this capture. This may be on of 5-6 Tanagers in this area that may be nesting here. If so it’s very rare. I read yesterday, “The Breeding Bird Atlas of Santa Clara County reports the species as an
“uncommon to rare breeder” in the Santa Cruz Mountains and the Diablo Range, with lowest altitude nests reported at 400-500 feet. Lake Almaden’s altitude is about 200 feet, so if nesting occurs, it would be at the lowest
altitude ever noted in the county. ” Tom Grey

I birded here yesterday with Dali, Tom Grey, and several others who like me were very excited to see these birds.

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 80-200mm| f8| 1/500s| ISO 1000| Manual Priority| Matrix Metering| Tripod