Got any bird pics?

[Cabezon]

Pied-billed grebes – cute, fluffy assassins. When we visit the Auto Route at Ridgefield NWR, it is quite common to see two or three pied-billed grebes hunting in the canal that parallels the two-way section of the gravel road that leads the hunting access. However, these birds can be skittish when your car approaches. They may turn away, dive, or try to swim ahead of the vehicle. On the other hand, they aren’t so upset that they will burst into flight and leave the canal; they have lunch to catch after all.
If you catch a pied-billed with its mouth full, it will ignore you to focus on more important matters – a meal. I drove up on such a bird that was engaged in a tussle with a large fish (relative to the small grebe). This bird had the black bill ring that individuals develop in the breeding season. When I first arrived, the bird had its bill across the cylindrical body of the fish


and it was thrashing it around in the water.

The bird repositioned its grip on the fish (which I later identified as a longnose dace) several times.


Several times, the grebe dropped the fish and then dove under the water to regrab it. I suspect that this battle had been going on for a while because the fish wasn’t resisting very much (and had several beak marks along its body), but the fish would bend its body from time to time. I was expecting the grebe to reposition the fish to a head-first orientation in order to swallow it.


Ultimately, I got bored waiting for the grebe to be confident that it had subdued the dace. It appeared to be playing with its food. I assume that the grebe eventually swallowed its lunch.
Steve

 

[SculpinSwinger]

Grebes are one of my favorites. I find it incredible that they can submerge straight down without diving. This often occurs when I am spotted, they slowly submerge them self under water and disappear. Thanks @Cabezon! great pictures.

 

[Cabezon]

The establishment of the National Wildlife Refuge system, such as Ridgefield NWR, has been a great boon to waterfowl (and waterfowl viewers). While the guns of autumn are now silent, there are still threats that keep the waterfowl wary. So, while most members of a flock of cackling geese will be head-down voraciously, noisily grazing on new grass shoots, a few members of the flock will be on guard to warn of any passing bald eagles.
If an eagle is spotted (or if it is a mistaken),

the tight flock will burst into flight

and noisily fly off for a safer field to continue their mowing activities.
In contrast, trumpeter swans are far less concerned by the presence of a bald eagle. A trumpeter swan is far heavier (15-30lbs.) than a bald eagle (8-12 lbs.) and has a far longer (6-10’ vs. 5-8’) wing span.

It doesn’t appear that their smaller cousins, the tundra swans, are intimidated by bald eagles either.

If I see either swan species in flight, it is in small groups of two or three that are simply shifting feeding areas or transitioning from a feeding area to a resting area.
While there are very little differences in the appearance of male and female swans and geese, the drakes of most ducks are gaudy: brightly colored feathers, distinctive elaborations, etc. Their mates are more cryptic. This makes sense as the duck drakes do not contribute to raising the young, only the hens. In geese where both parents participate in raising the young, the two sexes are similar in plumage. Certainly, a drake hooded merganser fits that pattern of distinctive plumage.

Ring-necked drakes may not be brightly colored, but their black pigmentation is a striking contract to their hens.


Gadwall drakes are more colorful than the hens, but far less elaborately. To me, the plumage of gadwall drake reminds me of a classy tuxedo, distinctive but understated.


Steve

 

[Gyrfalcon22]

Unfortunately, there is an extended goose season for 12 calendar days from Feb 10th to March 6th on Weds, Sat, and Sundays in some areas-happens to be where I live. This is when birds are migrating-all bird types, and it puts individual creatures that were not honed into how to handle situations to be suddenly vulnerable where they are unaware of the dangers of being too close to geese or being disturbed while trying to establish themselves for nesting or a peaceful migration through. In my opinion this is a very big oversight of the rules commission. The general seasons is long enough.

Great shots, Steve !

 

[RRSmith]

Fabulous images Steve - thanks as always for sharing! Are trumpeter swans common in Western Washington? They were very rare visitors to the Northern California portion of the Klamath Basin back when I was working (I saw them twice in 25 years). There has been an ongoing attempt to reestablish them in Oregon centered at Summer Lake Wildlife Area though I'm not sure what the current status is of that effort. I think most of the released birds have neck collars - have you seen any of these birds?

In regards to spring goose hunting, I didn't realize there was a spring season in Western Washington for geese. At one point, the Yukon Kuskokwin Delta Arctic geese populations (cacklers, white-fronts, black brant and emperor geese) were in steep decline due to harvest both on the breeding and wintering areas. Since the plan's implementation, all of the populations have recovered. I was on a couple of working groups with landowners that complained about crop depredation by spring staging geese. Late season hunting was one of the tools offered to address this issue. While spring depredation is a real issue in some areas, I suspect hunter opportunity also plays a role.

 

[Cabezon]

Fabulous images Steve - thanks as always for sharing! Are trumpeter swans common in Western Washington? They were very rare visitors to the Northern California portion of the Klamath Basin back when I was working (I saw them twice in 25 years). There has been an ongoing attempt to reestablish them in Oregon centered at Summer Lake Wildlife Area though I'm not sure what the current status is of that effort. I think most of the released birds have neck collars - have you seen any of these birds?

You are welcome. I would say that trumpeter swans are far more common than tundra swans, at least at the places that I visit, such as Capitol Lake, Ridgefield NWR and the Brady Loop (out by @Gyrfalcon22). There has even been a lone juvenile trumpeter swan at McLane Creek pond the last week or so. They are also found on the Samish Flats and on San Juan Island. The ratio of trumpeter's to tundra's appears to be about 4:1 from the counts on eBird. Interestingly, I have not seen them at Nisqually Wildlife Refuge. I have not seen any collared birds.
Steve

 

[Gyrfalcon22]

The trumpeter swans (locally coastal WA- as Steve points out), are by far the most common swan I see now and over the past 25+ years. Going back when I was first looking at the birds as a kid here at our farmlands there were no trumpeter swans, no peregrine falcons and bald eagles were a rare treat. We know the DDT effect and the miraculous recovery for the birds of prey. That would be mid to late 70's.


As more local city dwellers are showing up and parking cars on these rural roads and biking, pushing baby strollers, birdwatching and walking dogs as the weather warms up I run across some really panicked people who are a bit taken back by the shooting. They do not realize that shotguns do not have a long range but not sure that coincides with their planned peaceful excursions out in the country when the temps start turning up.

Sometimes you get a break and get both species close up and posed like a police line up.. Amazing birds !!

 

[Gyrfalcon22]

The Skagit has its amazing snow geese (and swans) with the splendid North Cascades and Mt Baker backdrop, but I'm not trading my (lucky) southern Olympic mountains vantage point with anyone. Ask Washington, Ellinor, Pershing, Stone and the Brothers how the views are (the peaks in background above).

@Cabezon I see a female Ruddy duck next to a swan in one of your shots. Do you see them often at Ridgefield ? I am just used to seeing those in eastern WA.

 

[Cabezon]

@Cabezon I see a female Ruddy duck next to a swan in one of your shots. Do you see them often at Ridgefield ? I am just used to seeing those in eastern WA.

I love your backyard @Gyrfalcon22.
The swans were photobombed by the ruddy duck hen. I do not see ruddy ducks commonly in Western WA in winter. I didn't notice the ruddy duck was there until I was going through the pictures. I have seen a few ruddy ducks at Capitol Lake last winter (along with canvasbacks, which I also do not typically see on the wet side).
Steve

 

[RRSmith]

I love all of these outstanding swan images! Now that I know how common trumpeters are in Western Washington, I'm going to have to look a little harder when I see them along the Oregon Coast. I'm sure the spring goose hunting in that part of Washington is for hunter opportunity and not depredation. I have mixed feelings about providing additional gunning opportunities in areas where families are out with baby strollers enjoying the nice weather.

I'll see if I can chase down where that Canada goose received it's jewelry.

Tundra swans are abundant during fall, winter and especially spring in the Klamath Basin. A sizable portion of the Pacific Flyway population winters in California's Central Valley. These images were taken in February a few years ago at Butte Valley Wildlife Area on the California side of the Klamath Basin.

 

[Gyrfalcon22]

I love your backyard @Gyrfalcon22.
The swans were photobombed by the ruddy duck hen. I do not see ruddy ducks commonly in Western WA in winter. I didn't notice the ruddy duck was there until I was going through the pictures. I have seen a few ruddy ducks at Capitol Lake last winter (along with canvasbacks, which I also do not typically see on the wet side).
Steve

Have yet to see a western WA Ruddy but don't go too far from my turf here and usually just west to the ocean. As some us have mentioned before, a favorite duck in Spring, eastside. Disney couldn't come up with a funnier duck. As a youth I would an occasional canvasback or redhead but been eons since I have seen them on the farm.
When I lived in downtown Olympia for years I never saw any canvasbacks at Capitol lake but do see them reported now.

 

[Cabezon]

Have yet to see a western WA Ruddy but don't go too far from my turf here and usually just west to the ocean. As some us have mentioned before, a favorite duck in Spring, eastside. Disney couldn't come up with a funnier duck. As a youth I would an occasional canvasback or redhead but been eons since I have seen them on the farm.
When I lived in downtown Olympia for years I never saw any canvasbacks at Capitol lake but do see them reported now.

Breeding ruddy ducks

and red-head ducks

are common at Chopaka. I have packed my camera/telephoto combo into my pontoon boat to try for some close-ups on the water.
Steve

 

[Gyrfalcon22]

The spring fishing in central and eastern WA is always a great thrill to add to birds we just don't see on this side but rarely or never. RF up to Banks. Driving back and forth on the backroads from Cheney was amazing. The lakes around Cheney were tubing heaven and it was heavy Ruddy action entertainment for sure !

 

[KFCDAVE]

 

[RRSmith]

Of all of the various species of birds I interacted with while gainfully employed, the Sandhill crane was and still is my favorite. Sandhill's have complex social behavior, are long lived (some marked pairs have been tracked for 40 years) and have been in the fossil record for 2 million years. They are just a way cool bird. I wrote an article for Outdoor California about a study we were doing in the 1990's - here's the online link if anyone wants to read more about them: https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=85247&inline (I'm not sure why the photos didn't turn out). We had both breeding pairs and migrating flocks of cranes on our wildlife areas in NE California. The greater Sandhill's were the local breeders while greater's, lesser's and Canadian sandhills migrated through in spring and fall. Here's a couple of images from a few years ago.

 

[Jim F.]

here's the online link if anyone wants to read more about them:

Very nice article!

 

[tkww]

Some raptors from the last month. A few weeks ago the snow pushed some Short-Eared Owls down into the area. I only had one chance to find them, near dark, so the photos were pretty horrible. But I got to check off a lifer and it was cool to seem the hunt the stubble fields with their unusual flight style.


One bird that I only see in the migration or winter seasons is the Merlin. I'd probably see them more if actively birded/got out of town more often. But fortunately for me this one showed up in the neighborhood.


This Cooper's showed up on the back fence. I had to shoot through the window and it took off before I could try getting outside.


A couple days ago I noticed all the ducks and geese were in the air, which correctly signaled a Baldie in the area. When the waterfowl leave for feeding or whatever normal reason, they usually fly together (by species) in a pretty consistent direction. But when they spook from an Eagle's presence they take off and fly in every direction, creating a kind of distinct visual chaos.

Soon enough the eagle showed up, carrying what resembled a a snake in one of its talons. Considering that it is February that doesn't seem likely but I still can't figure out what it was. It landed in a neighbor's tree, and after several minutes attracted the attention of the local corvids.






And a Sharpie that frequents the neighborhood.

 

[Jim F.]

Quite a group - nice!

 

[Cabezon]

There are some garter snakes up and about in Western Washington. I saw this one at Nisqually last Wednesday.


Steve

 

[Gyrfalcon22]

Last mid-February when we had a rare (for this part of the world) common crane mixed in with
sandhill cranes, I was shooting some video clips and when I watched them at a later time saw that a sandhill had grabbed a snake and took off in a trot to keep other cranes from trying to steal.

Really reptilian in manner was the sandhill's body language...well, of how I see dinosaurs portrayed in simulations. Quite early it seemed for snakes.