Birds - Birdspotting

Spotted some pretty cool birds last week. Bald Eagle, Wood Ducks & Spotted Towhee at Vancouver Lake Regional Park. Cedar Waxwing, Golden Crown Sparrow & Hairy Woodpecker in our backyard. The biggest surprise though was a Puffin & Rooster in our backyard covered with snow 😯 😂

Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)

Wood Duck (Aix sponsa)

Spotted Towhee (Pipilo maculatus)

Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum)

Golden-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia atricapilla)

Hairy Woodpecker (Leuconotopicus villosus)

Puffin (metal sculpture)

Rooster (metal sculpture)

Birds - Bewick's Wren

Bewick's Wren (Thryomanes bewickii)

Spotted this Bewick's wren (Thryomanes bewickii) on our backyard bird feeder. Bewick's are pretty active & normally I only catch glimpses of them foraging for bugs in the bushes. But this guy was pretty bold & got close enough for me to photograph with my phone. Last pic is him dive bombing me 😂

Bewick's Wren (Thryomanes bewickii)

Bewick's Wren (Thryomanes bewickii)

Bewick's Wren (Thryomanes bewickii)

Birds - Anna's Hummingbird

Anna's Hummingbird (Calypte anna)

It's truly amazing how Anna's hummingbirds are able to survive the cold winters here in the PNW. This guy stayed busy guarding our two feeders from at least two other Anna's. I'm thinking we may need to put up a few more feeders 🤔

Birds - Tree Swallow

Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor)

Found these Tree Swallows at my new favorite birding spot, Shillapoo Wildlife Recreation Area in SW Washington. Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) occur from Alaska east through southern Nunavut to Newfoundland and south to California, northern Arizona, Texas, and Georgia. Fun fact: A group of tree swallows are known as a "stand" of swallows. 

Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor)

Birds - Redhead

Redhead (Aythya americana)

Just recently discovered a really cool birding spot near Vancouver Lake called Shillapoo Wildlife Recreation Area. It's an ephemeral wetland area that, right now has an amazing amount of waterfowl and song birds. This week I was able to add a Redhead duck to my life list. Redhead (Aythya americana) are not common here in the PNW and would normally be found in their northern or inland breeding grounds this time of year. It looked like there were some younger Redhead with the adults so it's not clear what they were up to.

Birds - Common Yellowthroat

Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas) male 

As the name suggests, Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas) are a common warbler found in practically every marsh, reed-bed and patch of cattails from coast to coast. Despite that, I feel lucky to have photographed this male and female hiding in the grass at Shillapoo Wildlife Refuge Area. According to allaboutbirds.org, Common Yellowthroats are easy to find during spring and summer in much of North America. Just visit open habitats such as marshes, wetland edges, and brushy fields and listen for the male’s wichety-wichety-wichety song. If you don’t spot one after a while, try making a “pishing” sound; yellowthroats are inquisitive birds and often pop into the open to see who’s making the sound.

Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas) female

Road Trip - Seaside, OR

Tillamock Head, Seaside, OR 

Took a drive to the coast to get away from the heat and breathe a little salt air. Seaside, OR is about 90 minutes west of Vancouver, WA and has some nice wide open beaches that are great for walking and as we discovered on this day (June 26), clamming. 

Tillamock Head, Seaside, OR 

Clamming season here closes from July 15 - September 30 but the best time to do it is at low tide which might have explained why there were clammers everywhere. 

Clammers and Glaucous-Winged Gull

I don't usually pay much attention to seagulls because they're kind of hard to ID. Luckily that didn't deter me this time and I was able to photograph and add Glaucous-winged Gull (Larus glaucescens) to my life list.

Glaucous-winged Gull

These gulls are common year-round from coastal Alaska to NW Washington. In the winter, they can be found all along the Pacific Coast and rarely stray far from the coast.

Birds - House Wren

House Wren (Troglodytes aedon)

I’ve seen a lot of House Wren (Troglodytes aedon) at Vancouver Lake Park but this is the first time I’ve seen one with a nest hole full of babies. I must have taken at least 100 photos before I was able to get this one with the momma and her babies with their mouths wide open.

House Wren (Troglodytes aedon) nest with mother and babies

Birds - Red -Breasted Sapsucker

Red Breasted Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus ruber)

Discovered two nest cavities with Red-breasted Sapsuckers (Sphyrapicus ruber) on the west Vancouver Lake Park trail. Both had babies that could be heard from several hundred feet away. I lucked out with the above photo and caught the momma giving stink-eye to her baby who was sticking its head out begging for food right after she just got done feeding it. Sapsuckers get their name from eating sap in holes they drill in trees. They also eat insects attracted to the sap and sometimes catch insects in flight and eat seeds and berries.

Red-Breasted Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus ruber)

Birds - Audubon Warbler

A delightful flock of Audubon Warbler (Setophaga coronata ssp auduboni) swarmed through our yard today. This is kind of an unusual bird for our backyard, and is especially unusual in a flock. Audubon Warbler are supposedly a year-round resident here in the Pacific Northwest but, as far as I've seen, they are most common here during Spring and Fall migration.

Audubon Warblers are the western version of the Yellow-rumped Warbler. Warblers in general are a variable group of small perching birds that are small, vocal and insectivorous. Due to the difficulty in identifying Warblers, they are many times referred to as LBJ's (Little Brown Jobs).

Winter Solstice - Haiku

In the Northern Hemisphere, Winter solstice 2019 was at 8:19 PM on Saturday, December 21. I love Winter Solstice because it means days are getting longer and hopefully sunny weather is only a few months away. One of my favorite birds is the American Robin because they stay here in the PNW throughout the winter and don’t seem to be affected by the long, dark winter days. Following is a haiku to celebrate Winter Solstice and the American Robin

The Winter Solstice 

Like the song of a robin 

Tonic for the blues

Days getting longer

After the Winter Solstice

Brightens my spirit

First day of winter 

Brought sunshine and long shadows 

Summer is coming

Frenchman's Bar - Bicycle Ride

Frenchman's Bar Regional Park

One of my favorite bike rides is a 14 mile round trip ride to Frenchman’s Bar Regional Park.The Park is a 120 acre Regional Park located on the Columbia River about 8 miles west of downtown Vancouver, WA. The park was established in 1997 and is a great place for picnicking, swimming, volleyball and bird watching. Large ships are commonly visible right off shore headed for ports in Portland or Vancouver. Today’s ride was rewarded with several flocks of sandhill cranes, large cargo ship and beautiful sunset.

Birds - Golden Crown Kinglets

Spotted these Golden-Crowned Kinglets (Regulus satrapa) at my favorite birding place, Vancouver Lake Regional Park, Washington.  According to Wikipedia, they are one of the smallest passerines found throughout much of North America. Photographed with a Sony RX10IV on October 28, 2019.

Birds - Barred Owl

Had a close encounter of the best kind with a Barred Owl (Strix varia) on a walk at Vancouver Lake Regional Park. I often wonder how many times I've walked by birds like this without a clue due to their excellent camouflage.

Barred Owls are fairly common in woodlands throughout eastern and northwestern US and Canada. In recent decades Barred Owl have expanded their range in northwestern US where it now competes with endangered Spotted Owl. 

Ridgefield NWR, SW Washington

Took advantage of probably the second sunny day this year and visited Ridgefield NWR (National Wildlife Refuge). The trumpeter swan were gone since our last visit in early March but there still were quite a few canada geese and cackling geese. northern shoveler were very common.

We also saw a fair number of mallard, bufflehead, ring-neck duck, great egret, great blue heron, pied-billed grebe, red-winged blackbird and a few beautiful cinnamon teal.

Western painted turtles were quite numerous along the banks of the sloughs and perched on top of logs. Other than people, the only mammal we saw was a solitary nutria.

Great Egret

Great Blue Heron

Northern Shoveler

Ring-Necked Duck

Bufflehead

Red-Winged Blackbird

Bird Feeder Report

There's been lots of activity at the feeder this week. We've been seeing alot of northern flicker feeding on the suet in our custom cage bird feeder. We've also been seeing alot of bush tits who come through in huge flocks of about 30 at a time and totally swarm the suet. Dark eyed junco have been quite common hopping around on the ground and on the feeders.

Townsend Warbler with flock of Bushtit

We've also had the pleasure of seeing Townsend's warbler on the feeder pecking at the suet and picking up seed on the tray below the feeder. Anna's hummingbird have been very common all winter at the hummingbird feeder.

Anna's Hummingbird feeding from hummingbird feeder

Luckily it's been a warm winter compared to most. So the Anna's aren't having too hard of a time this winter.

Ridgefield NWR, SW Washington

Ridgefield NWR (National Wildlife Refuge) is by far one of my favorite birding spots. The refuge is located in Southwest Washington state and, 

while it's not exactly teaming with birds this time of year, it's still a great place to bring in the new year. The weather was a little chilly with lows around 25 deg. F. which made great fun watching geese and ducks skid across the frozen lakes and puddles.  

Saw a fair number of trumpeter swan, canada geese, cackling geese and miscellaneous ducks including mallard, pintail, bufflehead and northern shoveler.

 Also saw lots of nutria which look alot like Beaver with rat tails.  Nutria were originally introduced to the U.S. for their fur but have become an invasive pest due to their burrowing behavior. 

Normally, there wouldn't be too many people this time of year but there were a  surprising number  considering it was a cold, winter weekday.