Jim F.
Still a Genuine Montana Fossil
Thanks, John! Very special!
Got any bird pics?
- Thread starter Wadin' Boot
- Start date
Gyrfalcon22
Life of the Party
A very loud Peregrine falcon got my attention today when I was trying to check out our freshly cut corn field for bear sign. A Bald eagle was the focus of the hot-headed falcon. Weather was crummy and Bald eagles are super tough to get exposed correctly with their white heads and dark bodies against light gray skies.
Not sure what the falcon was peeved about, but it takes very little for them to be that way. Cranky birds.
The eagle tried to shake the falcon-good luck with that ! It quickly hightailed it for a perch tree
Bottom: this is not what you want to see if you look back when you are flying. The fastest animal on the planet closing in! To make matters worse for the poor eagle, the old lady was watching and giving him hell from a tree nearby.. (my interpretation)
Not sure what the falcon was peeved about, but it takes very little for them to be that way. Cranky birds.
The eagle tried to shake the falcon-good luck with that ! It quickly hightailed it for a perch tree
Bottom: this is not what you want to see if you look back when you are flying. The fastest animal on the planet closing in! To make matters worse for the poor eagle, the old lady was watching and giving him hell from a tree nearby.. (my interpretation)
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Gyrfalcon22
Life of the Party
Blue roadrunner ! Well.. really glad the California scrub-jays have not run off all the Steller's jays. Taken for granted by most -me often included, the steller's are spectacular birds
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I really think that the atypical bird is a Pacific golden plover. The white spots on the feathers. especially on the side and on the wing feathers (see here), are distinctly different from the black-bellied plovers. For the definitive proof, you want to see their wing-pits. Black-bellied plovers have black pits.
Steve
Bajema
Life of the Party
Interesting. I was thinking if it wasn’t a Black-bellied, it would be an American Golden Plover. For context, an American and a Pacific Golden were seen with this flock yesterday (some photos of those individuals here: https://ebird.org/checklist/S120108145). The coloring of the Pacific seems to stand out a lot more than the bird in my photos. Also, I’m not sure the bird in my photos was as noticeably smaller, and the bill still feels a bit heavy for either of the Goldens.
I wonder how reliable bill size is; I suspect that there is overlap. Both of the golden plovers appear to have distinctive darker cap and white eye brow. And this bird has not developed that yet. I really don't think that it is a black-bellied but I wouldn't bet the mortgage on American vs. Pacific golden plover.
Steve
Bajema
Life of the Party
This is good input. I’ve got votes from two other birders that it is just a black-bellied, but I’m waiting on some others to weigh in. If it does turn out to be identifiable as one of the goldens, that would be cool as it would be a new bird for me.
Tumwater Falls at Brewery Park is a great place to salmon-watch. The falls mark the final transition of the Deschutes River from its origin in the Black Hills as its travels 50 miles to its Capital Lake (formerly and perhaps in future an estuary) and Puget Sound. But let’s talk about a year-round resident at the falls, the American dipper. American dippers are songbirds (though you wouldn’t confuse their loud bubbling song with sweet trills of a finch or canary). Acting more like a sandpiper, they live primarily along the edges of fast rivers. They are the size of a large sparrow or sandpiper.
Their plumage is a dark gray. I typically find them while fishing mountain rivers with rapids and fast flows.
Like spotted sandpipers that can inhabit the same habitat, dippers are known for rhythmically bobbing their bodies. Unusual for a song bird, dippers dive underwater into the river pools to pluck aquatic insect larvae off the rocks.
The falls are perfect habitat for this species with the right physical conditions, plenty of food, and vertical cliffs for nesting. There has been a resident pair here for years. We saw four birds during our visit, probably the resident pair and the two chicks they raised this summer.
During our visit, the birds were probing at the edges of pools, verballing interacting, and zooming up and down the canyon.
Steve
Their plumage is a dark gray. I typically find them while fishing mountain rivers with rapids and fast flows.
Like spotted sandpipers that can inhabit the same habitat, dippers are known for rhythmically bobbing their bodies. Unusual for a song bird, dippers dive underwater into the river pools to pluck aquatic insect larvae off the rocks.
The falls are perfect habitat for this species with the right physical conditions, plenty of food, and vertical cliffs for nesting. There has been a resident pair here for years. We saw four birds during our visit, probably the resident pair and the two chicks they raised this summer.
During our visit, the birds were probing at the edges of pools, verballing interacting, and zooming up and down the canyon.
Steve
Gyrfalcon22
Life of the Party
Things I really like about Dippers are you won't see one at a backyard feeder and you have to be near water and usually that often means stalking a coastal stream for cutthroat. Well..or hiking in the rainforest foothills in lush green beside a bubbly brook or a set of small foamy rapids.
Amphibian birds with no match in my mind. Nice shots, Steve !
Sidenote. I saw a dipper-like bird in the Dudh Kosi river coming off the big peaks in Solo Khumbu region in Nepal. I need to look that up !
edit: Brown Dipper.
Amphibian birds with no match in my mind. Nice shots, Steve !
Sidenote. I saw a dipper-like bird in the Dudh Kosi river coming off the big peaks in Solo Khumbu region in Nepal. I need to look that up !
edit: Brown Dipper.
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Three (tentative) woodys in the backyard:
Pileated:
Downy at about 200 yards:
Red bellied (This is the tentative, need a side or frontal shot):
Cheers
Pileated:
Downy at about 200 yards:
Red bellied (This is the tentative, need a side or frontal shot):
Cheers
I think the the middle bird is a red-bellied too.
Steve
@Cabezon, Thanks for the correction, you are absolutely correct. I had Downy on the brain, 'cause I'm sure I spotted one at much closer distance the other day, but he was very skittish and took off before I could get the camera, so when I spotted this guy at a distance, looking small, I got carried away. The banding/spotting is of course all wrong for a Downy, but I will get him (the Downy), just watch me.
cheers
Oh oh, are feeders cheating?
Maybe I need to start a new thread, "Visitors to the Feeder"
Cheers
Gyrfalcon22
Life of the Party
Not at all
Just when American dippers start showing up at feeders we know there is something seriously screwed up in the ecosystem.. and the end is near.
I love that you still have to wander out to find them-mostly in cool spots like @Cabezon found. Dippers, Coastal cutthroat..cased caddis or October caddis are all a nice combo for a late fall day on a small stream with fly rod in hand. My favorite ! I need to quit cleaning this farm and go fishing soon
I don't know what this was.
