I know, like, "TaDa. How'd ya like that one folks?" We caught that too.
Got any bird pics?
- Thread starter Wadin' Boot
- Start date
Big birds on weird poles series
BriGuy
Life of the Party
Tis the season. Our neighbor feeds the ducks in his back yard this time of year. We'll see a dozen or so wood ducks and mallards land high in the big maple behind our house. Once the coast is clear, and the food is out, they'll fly down into his yard to feast. Pretty strange to see ducks in trees (or perched on a fence). Definitely a WTF moment when we first saw them do that.
Occasionally, we'll see a big flock of 30 or so band tailed pigeons, too.
Occasionally, we'll see a big flock of 30 or so band tailed pigeons, too.
ThomasM
corvus ossifragus
Follow-up...
My daughter is in Tucson right now on a birding trip and spotted a Coppery-tailed Trogon at Madera Canyon. Her pics below. I hd no idea they nested in woodpecker holes.
Coach Potter
Life of the Party
Wow…those are cool!
ThomasM
corvus ossifragus
Was out this AM looking for landscape shots and saw heron fishing at low tide. After I got my normal shot, threw the 600 on and got a couple of the GBH despite the tough back lighting.
The other shot.
Heron Fishing At Low Tide
The other shot.
Heron Fishing At Low Tide
Coach Potter
Life of the Party
Was out this AM looking for landscape shots and saw heron fishing at low tide. After I got my normal shot, threw the 600 on and got a couple of the GBH despite the tough back lighting.
View attachment 183905
The other shot.
Holy cow!
Awesome pics, Rich!
Coach Potter
Life of the Party
Wow!
Quick question for the forum bird experts. I see round holes on the beaches that I assume are from the bills of oystercatchers. What type of food source are they foraging for? Thanks for your input.
SF
SF
Oystercatchers use their bills like chisels to remove limpets from rocks or cut the adductor muscle of an oyster or mussel. They don't typically use their bills to probe into the sediment like a whimbrel would.
On a beach, especially one with soft sediments, like sand or mud, there are several possible burrowing animals that produce round burrows. Like the rocky intertidal, there is clear zonation across the tide line reflecting how much exposure a species can tolerate.
At the high tide line, round holes about 1/4' in diameter, might have been produced by burrowing semi-terrestrial amphipods, such as beach hoppers (such as Megalorchestia californiana).
They are detritivores that feed on drift algae that wash up on the beach.
Below the high tide line, you can find smaller holes that are created by smaller burrowing polychaetes (sea worms). Lower down, you can find the fecal mounds of the lugworm, Abarenicola pacifica.
These worms are deposit feeders that produce U-shaped burrows. The head of the worm engulfs mouthfuls of sediment below the surface. That can produce dimples in the surface as the sand collapses into the gap.
The sand is processed quickly through the digestive tract, a quantity over quality approach. Periodically, the worm backs up in its U-shaped burrow and defecates on the surface.
If the area is wet, the fecal cast breaks down to an elevated mound with a round center.
The worms are at their most vulnerable when they back up to the surface. Flounders, staghorn sculpins, and possibly searun cutthroat trout may nip off a few of the anal segments, which the worm can regrow.
In the same zone and lower, you may find the large patches of the burrows of bay ghost shrimp and blue mud shrimp.
Steve
On a beach, especially one with soft sediments, like sand or mud, there are several possible burrowing animals that produce round burrows. Like the rocky intertidal, there is clear zonation across the tide line reflecting how much exposure a species can tolerate.
At the high tide line, round holes about 1/4' in diameter, might have been produced by burrowing semi-terrestrial amphipods, such as beach hoppers (such as Megalorchestia californiana).
They are detritivores that feed on drift algae that wash up on the beach.
Below the high tide line, you can find smaller holes that are created by smaller burrowing polychaetes (sea worms). Lower down, you can find the fecal mounds of the lugworm, Abarenicola pacifica.
These worms are deposit feeders that produce U-shaped burrows. The head of the worm engulfs mouthfuls of sediment below the surface. That can produce dimples in the surface as the sand collapses into the gap.
The sand is processed quickly through the digestive tract, a quantity over quality approach. Periodically, the worm backs up in its U-shaped burrow and defecates on the surface.
If the area is wet, the fecal cast breaks down to an elevated mound with a round center.
The worms are at their most vulnerable when they back up to the surface. Flounders, staghorn sculpins, and possibly searun cutthroat trout may nip off a few of the anal segments, which the worm can regrow.
In the same zone and lower, you may find the large patches of the burrows of bay ghost shrimp and blue mud shrimp.
Steve
Steve,
Great info. It’s likely whimbrel markings I’m seeing. I’ll take some pics of the holes next time I see some.
SF
Nisqually NWR: More soras. This has been a wonderful spring for seeing elusive marsh birds at Nisqually NWR. You know them; the birds that are uncommonly heard and even less commonly seen even though you know that they have to be there in the marsh. But this spring, sightings of American bitterns, Virginia rails, and soras have popped up quite frequently on eBird reports (and on my visits). On one late-morning trip a few weeks ago, I heard and then saw a sora right along the margin between the elevated dike and the freshwater marsh. It was probably the best opportunity for a clear view of sora that I’ve eve had in Washington.
It was foraging initially at the interface of the dried cattails and narrow channels.
It would pop into view, disappear under some green grass, and then materialize somewhere else along this margin. At one point, it swam from one clump to another.
At one point, it moved with its stubby tail elevated, revealing the snowy-white underside.
It was great to share this sighting with other passing birders. At one point, it thought that it had found a relatively secluded spot between two walls of dried cattails, sort of a valley, for a bath. It dunked itself into the water several times, engaged in some deep preening, and then dried out in this relatively secluded spot.
Steve
It was foraging initially at the interface of the dried cattails and narrow channels.
It would pop into view, disappear under some green grass, and then materialize somewhere else along this margin. At one point, it swam from one clump to another.
At one point, it moved with its stubby tail elevated, revealing the snowy-white underside.
It was great to share this sighting with other passing birders. At one point, it thought that it had found a relatively secluded spot between two walls of dried cattails, sort of a valley, for a bath. It dunked itself into the water several times, engaged in some deep preening, and then dried out in this relatively secluded spot.
Steve
tkww
Life of the Party
Yes, Wilson's.