Guess Who's Coming to Dinner...

by J Drayman
(La Crescenta, CA USA)

This year our loquat tree is packed with the fruit. This AM a flash of color caught my eye through the window. Although various Orioles are common in the Los Angeles Foothills near the base of the San Gabriel Mountains, we have never had them in our canyon before.

Among the Bullocks and Hooded Orioles were some Tanagers and a Nuttall's Woodpecker munching away on the loquats.

One bird, the most brilliant colored one of the bunch is a mystery to me and thus far has eluded my camera lens. This fellow looks somewhat like an Oriole (at least to me and I'm no expert) in size and color with dark wings, yellowish-orange colorations and a very distinct patch of brilliant red across the top of his head, not a crest or plume or anything raised, just a marking of bright, bright red in a rectangular patch across the top of his head.

Any suggestions?