Notes From the Road: Bald Eagle at the Mima Mounds Natural Area Preserve

It's summer as of yesterday, and so of course Geotripper and Mrs. Geotripper are on the road to parts unknown. We'll meet in a few days with our students and explore British Columbia and the Olympic Peninsula along with other fascinating locales. On the one hand, that means a chance to see some new birds, but on the other, blogging is likely to be spotty.

It didn't take us long to see a bird that is only occasionally seen in our region, but is relatively common in the Pacific Northwest: the Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus). It was flying above the prairies of the Mima Mounds Natural Area Preserve, a fascinating place with an interesting geologic story, soon to appear over at Geotripper.

More bird reports are expected to follow!

The Eye of the Bufflehead (or not)

Buffleheads (Bucephala albeola) are beautiful little diving ducks that I don't get to see all that often. They aren't all that rare, but the lack of really favorable habitat nearby (large lakes and marshlands) means they are all that common. So my pictures (when I can get them) tend to be far afield.

This time I was up north in Washington for the holidays. On my morning walks along the shores of Lake Washington I had some good views of a variety of shorebirds and the Buffleheads were close, but once again because of the dreary weather I didn't get their eyes.

All the guides to photographing birds say that catching the reflection of the eyes makes the picture, but Buffleheads have black eyes on a pure black face. One other feature that can challenge Bufflehead photographers is catching the iridescence of the feathers around the face. But one really needs sunlight for that. So the challenge remains for me. One of these days....

Buffleheads are among the smallest of the ducks, and they typically dive when they are foraging for food, spending a great deal of time underwater (that's an additional challenge in photography). They spend very little time on land other than nesting or leading nestlings from one body of water to another. They nest in the hollows of trees excavated by other birds, especially Northern Flickers.

A Spectacular Duck: Hooded Mergansers at Lake Washington

I'm sure they've been around in the distance these last few years. They are not rare birds, but for some strange reason I never saw a Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus) until late 2017 when I saw a few females in the distance on the Siuslaw River in Oregon. I saw no more until last November and December during my holiday travels, when I made seven separate sightings.

I saw them first on the Siuslaw River in Florence (again), but they were off in the distance and I wasn't able to get much in the way of pictures. But when we arrived in the Seattle area I had a chance to walk along the shores of Lake Washington each morning while we were there. And there was a flock of them that didn't scurry away while I walked past on the walkway. I finally got some half-decent shots.

There is a huge contrast between males and females of the species. The males are the ones with the big white spots behind the eyes. As can be seen, the feathers can be raised to form a very prominent crest. The females are a little more drab, but they can raise their feathers to form a crest the same way.

This was a female Common Merganser hanging out with the others

The Hooded Mergansers are rather famous for having precocious chicks. The ducks nest in hollows in trees up to 50 feet above the ground, and within 24 hours of hatching the chicks jump out of the nest, falling to the forest floor. At that point they gather and follow mom to the nearest body of water.

Close Encounters of the Ring-billed Gull Kind

I absolutely love a good zoom lens. At times it allows me to identify an obscure bird from a quarter mile away, but there are other times when it allows a certain intimacy with a different species. Ring-billed Gulls (Larus delawarensis) are very common in human environments, choosing garbage dumps and parks as their habitat. As a result, they don't fear humans and will make a close approach. That's when the zoom lens brings out some bit of the personality of the bird.

I was on our holiday journey in the Seattle area, at Gene Coulon Park on the shore of Lake Washington when I came across this individual on the pier. It didn't move as I walked by, so I took it as an invitation to snap a few close shots. It was disappointed though...I didn't have any food with me.

Hairy Woodpecker in the Hoh Rainforest of Olympic National Park

There's this problem with rainforests and birding. Quite a few bird species can be found there, but the green stuff gets in the way. On a given morning walk in my home territory on the Tuolumne River I'll see twenty or more species, because there are large open areas and shrubs and spindly trees for perching. But in the rainforest, in this case the Hoh Rainforest of Olympic National Park, I saw a mere five species. I heard a great many more, but they weren't making themselves visible and I'm not good at bird calls yet. Three of the five were familiar species, a robin, a crow, and a junco, but the other two are rare or nonexistent on my home turf of the Central Valley, a Canada Jay, and a Hairy Woodpecker (Picoides villosus).

Hairy Woodpeckers are found across North America, and I would have a fair chance of spying one in the Sierra Nevada or Coast Ranges back home, but this one on a barren snag in the midst of all the green stuff happens to be the first I've ever seen. Most of the Hairy Woodpeckers are sharply defined black and white colors, but eBird points out that there are regional variations in the species, and that those found in the Pacific Northwest look "coffee-stained". I guess that's appropriate enough...

We Aren't the Only Ones to Give Up Living in Caves: Barn Swallows in Southwest Washington

Barn Swallows (Hirundo rustica) are one of the most widespread species on the planet, with a range that includes North America and Eurasia in the summer season, and Africa and South America in the winter season. Only Antarctica (for obvious reasons) and Australia lack large permanent populations. I see them often at home, but on our recent trip to the Pacific Northwest we saw them at many of our stops, but at Willapa National Wildlife Refuge in Washington State one cooperated with photography efforsts by landing on a parking lot sign.

There were also a number of them resting on the entrance station at Cape Disappointment State Park in the southwest corner of the state.

Barn Swallows are one of those species that have altered their behavior in response to human activity. Their natural tendency is to nest in caves, but with the expansion of barns and other human habitations throughout their native environment, they now almost exclusively build their nests in human structures.

It will be a sad enough day when they disappear from our region in the fall, but it's nice to know that they will be back next year.

Bald Eagles at Cape Disappointment State Park in Washington

A unique viewpoint of a Bald Eagle at Cape Disappointment, WA. Photo by Mrs. Geotripper

We don't see Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) all that often in the Central Valley. They're around, but usually over the wetlands and reservoirs where we spend less time. They are more abundant far to the north since, more or less by definition, there are more wetlands and coastlines. So we get inordinately excited when we get to see them.

We spent a couple of weeks in the Pacific Northwest, and saw them in a few places. We spent a night at Cape Disappointment State Park in Washington, and saw our first eagle in the pines along the shoreline of the Columbia close to the river's mouth.

The next morning we set forth in the unending search for coffee and food, and went out on the beach at Seaview, just a few miles up the coast from Cape Disappointment. There were a lot of large dark-colored birds gathered on the beach with this eagle just down the shoreline a bit. The birds turned out to be Turkey Vultures working on some kind of carrion, and the eagle had either finished with its share, or was waiting for a chance at the mess, but was outnumbered by vultures.

I've been reading how Bald Eagles are a major nuisance in parts of Alaska, especially Dutch Harbor where the fishing boats dock. Some people have even been injured when they have gotten between an eagle and some kind of food source. But here in the lower 48 states, they are less populous and more fun to observe.

Wilson's Warbler at the Willapa National Wildlife Refuge in Washington State

You go to blog with the picture you have---not the picture you might want or wish to have a later time (extra credit if you recognize the political allusion I just made). I'm home from another epic trip, this time to some cooler climes across the Pacific Northwest. As a bird-watching trip, results were mixed. At any one place I didn't see the twenty or so species I regularly see in my excursions on the Tuolumne River, which at home I attribute to my knowing where specific birds like to hang out. But over the two weeks I added ten birds to my life list, and some of them were quite interesting.

One of our campsites was at Cape Disappointment State Park, and we hit the road headed to Olympic National Park. Almost immediately we passed the signs pointing to the Willapa National Wildlife Refuge and we decided to see what there was to see. The small visitor center includes a unique nature trail that includes nature-related artistic sculptures. It was a nice break. I was watching for birds, noting several Song Sparrows and White-crowned Sparrows, but in the shadows of an alder I caught sight of a yellow bird that I didn't immediately recognize. It was darting through the underbrush so quickly that I only got this single shot. I checked the guidebooks and asked at the visitor center, and we figured out it was a Wilson's Warbler (Cardellina pusilla). These warblers are seen at home (other birders have even seen them on the Tuolumne River Parkway Trail), but it's a bit more difficult because we have to catch them as they pass through on their migration in spring and fall. I have yet to see any back home.

Dark-eyed Junco in Washington State

We have Dark-eyed Juncos (Junco hyemalis) back home in California, but I don't see them all that often. This is probably because they are more of a forest bird, and the eBird reports show them to be abundant in the foothills and highlands of our local mountains. On the other hand, if one travels to the Pacific Northwest like I did this week, the forests come right down to sea level, and the Juncos are far more readily seen.

They are certainly common. Some estimates put their North American population at more than 600 million, and as many as that may be, it is just half what their population was half a century ago. We've not done a stellar job of preserving bird habitats in this country.

Wood Ducks on the Tuolumne River (But I had to go to Washington to see the babies)

I've had some marvelous views of Wood Ducks (Aix sponsa) of late on the Tuolumne River Parkway Trail. There are several pairs that have spent time up in the trees, and others that have been creeping about in the underbrush. I've seen as many as six in a day (unless they've been flying up or downstream to fool me). And I was especially pleased to the get the shot above, the clearest and most colorful that I've ever taken.

The one thing I haven't seen is Wood Duck ducklings. I don't know if they haven't bred yet, or if they are keeping their chicks well-hidden from predators, but I haven't seen any young ones. That changed today, but I had to travel all the way to Washington to see them. Lake Washington is a huge glacial lake that borders the east side of Seattle, and it is an urban nightmare. On the other hand, the local cities have put together a really nice nature trail that runs along the lower 17 miles of the Cedar River, on the of the main rivers that feeds into Lake Washington. I was exploring a short portion of that trail today, and the bird sightings were unremarkable, just three species, but one of the species was Wood Duck, and their were a fair number of them, mainly a pair of Wood Ducks, and a Mom with her ducklings making their way through a small swamp adjacent to the river. They were constantly moving, but finally settled for a nap on a floating log that was growing a bit of grass.

Brown Creeper in Renton Washington

Here's a little bird which has never appeared on these pages before. It is a Brown Creeper (Certhia Americana) that I saw during my holiday travels in Renton, Washington. Lest you think I was out tramping through the snowbound forest to get my pictures, well, actually I was stepping onto the back porch to get a drink from an ice chest, and saw this little guy making his way up the trunk of a pine in the backyard of my relative's house.

Brown Creepers live across North America from Mexico to southern Alaska. They make their living creeping (isn't that a surprise) up tree trunks searching the crevices for insects, which is exactly what this one was doing.

Christmas Crows in Issaquah

It's almost alliterative, Christmas Crows in Issaquah, but that's the best I can do! I'm snowed in at a hotel in Issaquah, Washington, and these American Crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos) were the first birds we could see this morning. The Crow (making its first appearance today on this blog!) is ubiquitous across the United States and Canada.

The crows are intelligent and resourceful, and I have little doubt that they will take over after humans annihilate themselves. I wish them well!

From all of us at Geotripper's California Birds, we wish you a happy holiday, a merry Christmas, and a wonderful new year!

A Red-breasted Sapsucker in Washington for Christmas

Merry Christmas all! I didn't really expect to have a Christmas bird today, but later on in the afternoon I walked to a park in Renton, just south of Seattle, Washington. I heard a drumming in the pines over my head, and was lucky enough to spot a Red-breasted Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus ruber) high above. I got a couple of shots before it disappeared.

The Red-breasted Sapsucker is a bird of the West Coast, ranging from Southern California to Alaska, but never ranging farther east than the Sierra or the Cascades. They prefer the lower elevations of coniferous forests. The "sapsucker" name refers to their practice of drilling a linear series of holes in tree trucks that starts sap running. The birds then can consume the sap itself (by lapping it up, not sucking) or feeding on the bugs that become trapped in the sap.

It was a pleasant Christmas surprise to see a new bird, the third new bird seen on this trip!

Very Small, Very Tough, and Fearless: Golden-crowned Kinglet below Mt. St. Helens, Washington

I was privileged to catch sight of some Golden-crowned Kinglets (Regulus satrapa) today. We were at Silver Lake in Washington state. The lake was formed by mudflows from nearby Mt. St. Helens thousands of years ago.

The sense of privilege comes from the fact that I've never seen any before, and because their preferred habitat is way up in the canopy of conifer forests, where they search for bugs. In these winter days, the bugs are less prevalent, so these kinglets had come down to the pavement in the parking lot for the Mt. St. Helens Visitor Center, looking for seeds or bugs on the ground.

Fearless? Yes, they danced around the pavement less than 10 feet away from me. Frenetic? Yes! They never stopped moving while I was watching them and trying to get a few photographs. I took 30 shots or more, and only four or five came out at all. Look below to see an average shot...

A real-life Angry Bird?

Tough? Yes. It is the beginning of winter, and these birds weren't messing around with migration to warmer climes. According to the Cornell Ornithology website, they can survive temperatures of -40 degrees, sometimes huddling together for warmth. It's amazing that they don't freeze; they're barely bigger than hummingbirds!

Very small, very tough, and fearless. But also quite beautiful!

Barn Swallows on the Oregon-Washington Coast

There are several birds that I see often but have a hard time capturing in a photograph. The Steller's Jays in the last post are an example. Today we visit with another, the Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica). They are common around the irrigation canals around my home, and they are indeed abundant all over the country (in summer; in winter they are found all over South America). But they don't stay still! They swoop and soar all over the place, and only occasionally stop to rest.

I finally caught a few taking a break during my summer vacation along the Pacific Northwest coast. Several were perched on the roof of a house in Florence, Oregon, and a few days later I found another building a nest in the eaves of the restaurant at Kalaloch Resort on the coast of Washington in Olympic National Park.

The birds are great aerial acrobats, chasing myriad numbers of bugs in the air. Their flying ability also shows in their extensive migrations from South America to North America and back again. They are also adaptable. They once built nests primarily in caves, but fewer do so now. They've taken over eaves and bridges wherever humans develop a landscape.

They are beautiful colorful birds, at least when they sit still long enough for you to get a good look!