Smokey Bear
El Duderino, if you’re not into the whole brevity
This was at the NASCAR race Saturday at PIR. I think the egret got a little too close to a nest.
Got any bird pics?
- Thread starter Wadin' Boot
- Start date
Smokey Bear
El Duderino, if you’re not into the whole brevity
I sent the picture to my wife. She said it looks like the egret got a tattoo. 
Just before the photo, the red winged blackbird landed on the back of the egret.
Just before the photo, the red winged blackbird landed on the back of the egret.
Red winged blackbird is spicy!I sent the picture to my wife. She said it looks like the egret got a tattoo.
Just before the photo, the red winged blackbird landed on the back of the egret.
We have a big fir stump that we had a spirit face carved one one side and a fish on the other. A guy from Allyn did the work. It is a rather old stump and the bugs and pileated have pretty much destroyed it. Time to bring it down. I'm sure that old fir did well for the birds.
Odd day bird wise on my daily walk.
I found a crow eating a dead flicker. Next block over, I find a dead crow.
SF
I found a crow eating a dead flicker. Next block over, I find a dead crow.
SF
Flickers revenge.
Unless I'm around, lol. Nice captures, Rich!
Nice, sharp pictures. Great selections of birds that are not common (song sparrow as exception) west of the Cascades.
Steve
My BIL Paul invited to join him late last week on Lopez Island to collect some tasty crustacean groceries.
We had two very successful mornings, limiting out on spot prawns both mornings (80 shrimp per person per day).
Thursday morning was a bit choppy due to wind waves traveling down the Strait of Juan de Fuca, but Friday was very calm. As we headed out to drop the two shrimp pots, we had encountered several bird balls.
So, while we were waiting an hour or so for our harvest to gather themselves into the traps, we motored back to where we had seen the bird balls earlier.
The fish finder detected lots of baitfish underneath the boat as we motored near an active bird ball. It appeared to me that the major originators of the bird balls were rhinoceros auklets. The ‘fourth puffin”, these birds forage on baitfish during the day and return to their burrows at dusk to feed their waiting chicks. There were several flocks of auklets just resting on the water.
But other rhinoceros auklets were actively diving and presumably responsible for forcing fish schools to the surface (though I have seen dogfish also drive baitfish to the surface in the San Juans). Of course, one of the most distinctive aspects of the morphology of rhinoceros auklets is the presence of a keratin “horn” in the breeding season (which is shed in the non-breeding season).
Recent research has indicated that the horn is florescent, like the bills of puffins. While there are no differences between males and females in the level of florescence, there are differences among individuals. I noticed in several pictures that the bird’s eyes were covered with nictitating membranes. The commonly-given reason for the presence of this membrane is to protect the eye from damage while swimming.
Possibly contributing to driving fish to the surface, there were one or two pelagic cormorants working the edges of the bird ball.
The most obvious birds in these feeding aggregations are the gulls, primarily adult glaucous-winged gulls.
There were also one or two juveniles in the mix.
So, what were the birds feeding on? There were no fish visible in the bills of the rhinoceros auklets, but I captured pictures of small sand lance in the bills of some of the glaucous-winged gulls.
And we saw a single Hermann’s gull in its striking breeding plumage. It was trying to fight for its share of the bounty. Interestingly, almost all Heermann’s gulls breed earlier in the late winter / spring on desolate rocky islands in the Sea of Cortez. The birds then disperse from there along the west coast.
We still had time to kill and slowly motored along the coast. I have seen tufted puffins here in the past, but none were visible today. And we had seen a few common murres in breeding condition the previous day, but none today. But as we circled a small island, we encountered three marbled murrelets in their all-dark breeding plumage. Very unusual for birds in the family Alcidae, they nest on the moss that has grown on branches of old Douglas fir trees near the coast. The logging of old-growth forests has been proposed as a major factor behind the dramatic decline in populations of marbled murrelets. It is classified as a species of greatest conservation need in Washington and threatened by the US. Fish & Wildlife Service. [Nope, they wouldn't turn around...]
Steve
We had two very successful mornings, limiting out on spot prawns both mornings (80 shrimp per person per day).
Thursday morning was a bit choppy due to wind waves traveling down the Strait of Juan de Fuca, but Friday was very calm. As we headed out to drop the two shrimp pots, we had encountered several bird balls.
So, while we were waiting an hour or so for our harvest to gather themselves into the traps, we motored back to where we had seen the bird balls earlier.
The fish finder detected lots of baitfish underneath the boat as we motored near an active bird ball. It appeared to me that the major originators of the bird balls were rhinoceros auklets. The ‘fourth puffin”, these birds forage on baitfish during the day and return to their burrows at dusk to feed their waiting chicks. There were several flocks of auklets just resting on the water.
But other rhinoceros auklets were actively diving and presumably responsible for forcing fish schools to the surface (though I have seen dogfish also drive baitfish to the surface in the San Juans). Of course, one of the most distinctive aspects of the morphology of rhinoceros auklets is the presence of a keratin “horn” in the breeding season (which is shed in the non-breeding season).
Recent research has indicated that the horn is florescent, like the bills of puffins. While there are no differences between males and females in the level of florescence, there are differences among individuals. I noticed in several pictures that the bird’s eyes were covered with nictitating membranes. The commonly-given reason for the presence of this membrane is to protect the eye from damage while swimming.
Possibly contributing to driving fish to the surface, there were one or two pelagic cormorants working the edges of the bird ball.
The most obvious birds in these feeding aggregations are the gulls, primarily adult glaucous-winged gulls.
There were also one or two juveniles in the mix.
So, what were the birds feeding on? There were no fish visible in the bills of the rhinoceros auklets, but I captured pictures of small sand lance in the bills of some of the glaucous-winged gulls.
And we saw a single Hermann’s gull in its striking breeding plumage. It was trying to fight for its share of the bounty. Interestingly, almost all Heermann’s gulls breed earlier in the late winter / spring on desolate rocky islands in the Sea of Cortez. The birds then disperse from there along the west coast.
We still had time to kill and slowly motored along the coast. I have seen tufted puffins here in the past, but none were visible today. And we had seen a few common murres in breeding condition the previous day, but none today. But as we circled a small island, we encountered three marbled murrelets in their all-dark breeding plumage. Very unusual for birds in the family Alcidae, they nest on the moss that has grown on branches of old Douglas fir trees near the coast. The logging of old-growth forests has been proposed as a major factor behind the dramatic decline in populations of marbled murrelets. It is classified as a species of greatest conservation need in Washington and threatened by the US. Fish & Wildlife Service. [Nope, they wouldn't turn around...]
Steve
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G_Smolt
Legend
Here's an interesting behavior, and one I can honestly say I haven't seen...
This Stellar's Jay just finished piggin' out on the suet feeder on the back deck then flew a dozen feet over to one of the spruces, where it appeared to pass the hell out and flop onto the bough. Beak open, feathers all ruffled...I though I might have been watching a bird's last breaths, but after a 10 minute power nap and a bit of a bask in the sun, he was back up and annoying as ever.
This Stellar's Jay just finished piggin' out on the suet feeder on the back deck then flew a dozen feet over to one of the spruces, where it appeared to pass the hell out and flop onto the bough. Beak open, feathers all ruffled...I though I might have been watching a bird's last breaths, but after a 10 minute power nap and a bit of a bask in the sun, he was back up and annoying as ever.
Just like the typical post-Thanksgiving stupor... [Never heard of this behavior before. Seems risky with the possibility of a passing Cooper's hawk.]
Steve
This morning, there are 4 in my front yard in Central Tacoma.
I have posted about Bickleton in the past, but need to say it again. If you are at all into birds and are in the Prosser/Yakima or Goldendale area with some time the "Bluebird Capital of the World" is worth a short trip. On Sunday afternoon we went over and slow drove about ten miles of dirt road and saw about 100 Mountain Bluebirds, a few Western Bluebirds, Western Meadowlarks, mule deer, chipmunks, squirrels, Kestrels, Bullock's Orioles and other assorted birds. Lots of relatively undisturbed Sage-Steppe habitat and many wildflowers. The cafes in town are neat as well.
Ridgefield NWR, June 5, 2024: Close your eyes. I am going to transport you to a special habitat. With just two "love" songs, I bet you can predict where we are - a freshwater marsh. What were the two sounds that capture this habitat? I would argue that the deep croak of a bullfrog male would be one characteristic sound.
And a second would be the distinctive trill of a male red-winged blackbird.
Ridgefield NWR has lots of the latter and on a trip last week, I encountered one of the former. This is a bit of surprise considering the large number of great blue herons and great egrets that stalk the edges of the canals and ponds for such a desirable morsel.
But if I spent more time in the freshwater marshes from Eastern Washington east to the Mississippi River, I might would like add a third sound in the mix, the coarse buzz song of a male yellow-headed blackbird.
While the occasional yellow-headed blackbird may wander into the Puget Sound basin, they really don’t make it west of the flatlands of Eastern Washington.
But there a number of yellow-headed blackbirds at Ridgefield NWR. Yes, they are outnumbered by the red-winged blackbirds, but they are more aggressive. Both species have the same breeding strategy – male establishes a territory, one or more females build nests in the territory, neither the male or female is particularly “faithful” (lots of fooling around…). There were several male yellow-headed blackbirds stalking the verge of the gravel road. One found a spicy carpenter ant for a snack.
Another picked up a newly-emerged damselfly.
There were also a few females, one of whom had also found a damselfly to feed her chicks.
As expected, most of the water birds have dispersed to more northerly locales. But I have read reports of one or two sandhill cranes in the refuge. I encountered a pair of gadwalls in one of the canals
and a hen wood duck with several ducklings.
The grasses along the Auto Route have grown tall, blocking some sight lines into the marsh. But the grasses also provide perches / food for finches and sparrows, such as this male house finch
And this lesser goldfinch.
I also was fortunate to catch a male common yellowthroat in the open.
Steve
And a second would be the distinctive trill of a male red-winged blackbird.
Ridgefield NWR has lots of the latter and on a trip last week, I encountered one of the former. This is a bit of surprise considering the large number of great blue herons and great egrets that stalk the edges of the canals and ponds for such a desirable morsel.
But if I spent more time in the freshwater marshes from Eastern Washington east to the Mississippi River, I might would like add a third sound in the mix, the coarse buzz song of a male yellow-headed blackbird.
While the occasional yellow-headed blackbird may wander into the Puget Sound basin, they really don’t make it west of the flatlands of Eastern Washington.
But there a number of yellow-headed blackbirds at Ridgefield NWR. Yes, they are outnumbered by the red-winged blackbirds, but they are more aggressive. Both species have the same breeding strategy – male establishes a territory, one or more females build nests in the territory, neither the male or female is particularly “faithful” (lots of fooling around…). There were several male yellow-headed blackbirds stalking the verge of the gravel road. One found a spicy carpenter ant for a snack.
Another picked up a newly-emerged damselfly.
There were also a few females, one of whom had also found a damselfly to feed her chicks.
As expected, most of the water birds have dispersed to more northerly locales. But I have read reports of one or two sandhill cranes in the refuge. I encountered a pair of gadwalls in one of the canals
and a hen wood duck with several ducklings.
The grasses along the Auto Route have grown tall, blocking some sight lines into the marsh. But the grasses also provide perches / food for finches and sparrows, such as this male house finch
And this lesser goldfinch.
I also was fortunate to catch a male common yellowthroat in the open.Steve
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