The San Diego Birding Festival has turned up numerous great “parking lot birds” over the years. A few years ago it was the Red-shouldered Hawk nesting in one of the big trees that shade the lot. For many years there was a Belted Kingfisher who lived under one of the Marina Village buildings built out over the water and frequently sat on the ships’ rigging in the Marina.

This year the excitement was a Summer Tanager, who sat in a big pine and flew out to catch bees that had a nest in the main Marina Village Conference Center sign. The Summer Tanager is a rare sight right in San Diego or anywhere along the Southern California Coast. It is more likely well in-land, behind the first range of mountains. In fact, range maps in the common guides do not show the Summer Tanager in San Diego at all. The Marina Village parking lot tanager was a treat for those attending the Birding Festival, and for local birders as well!

The Summer Tanager is not an easy bird to photograph at the best of times. The RED RED RED tends to overload digital sensors in any kind of exposure that will show the surroundings to advantage, and you end up losing detail in the breast feathers. This bird was tucked back in the shadows of the pine, with full sun on the pine, so it was especially difficult. Add the fact that it was too high up for anything less than the full 1200mm reach of the Canon SX50HS’ zoom, and you see the difficulty.

Still, I am satisfied with these shots. Canon SX50HS in Program with iContrast and Auto Shadow Fill. –1/3EV exposure compensation. 1200mm and 1800mm equivalent fields of view (1200 cropped slightly). ISO 800.

Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness…and to remove some purple fringing in the highlights behind the bird.