A Face Only a Mother Could Love...

We've had at least one family of California quail around for a couple of months.  I've counted at least seven or eight but the quail are exceptionally difficult to count because they blend almost perfectly with the ground and they're very active.  However it's a blessing that the family has apparently maintained its numbers so well.  The quail are able to fly when they are very young and at this stage they are probably quite proficient at getting quickly to the trees in times of danger. 

While I was out this afternoon I also caught a Spotted towhee which had apparently just enjoyed a bath and a sub-adult Song Sparrow. 

Photos from a Short Trip to the Olympic Peninsula

We just returned from a short trip to the Olympic Peninsula.  My original goal was to photograph the Sooty grouse, which was apparently known as the Blue grouse when I last photographed it using a camera with much less resolution than I now have.  The birds were near the end of the road on Hurricane Ridge.  This year a volunteer at the desk told me they were very rare... he had seen only one all season.  I secretly scoffed at his assessment... on my last trip the grouse had been as numerous as chickens in a barnyard.  It turned out he was right... I saw not a single grouse despite a long walk through the same area. 

So I didn't meet my goal but I wasn't disappointed in some of my other discoveries.  I found a couple of nice White-crowned sparrows near the Keystone ferry terminal and numerous Rhinoceros Auklets off a pier in Port Townsend. 

I'm still wrestling with using Adobe Lightroom but seem to be making progress.  I think I can improve on the auklet processing but need a little advice.  I'm still trying to come to terms with the cataloging and labeling aspects of the software.  The camera (Nikon D300S) and lens (Nikon 200-400mm) are operating beautifully and I'm constantly amazed at the quality of the camera/lens combination. 

Refining Habitat

I spent some time today refining the yard habitat and also taking photos.  I've had a problem for the past several weeks with Rock pigeons (the proper name for the common old pigeons you see on buildings) eating the food out of my hanging platform feeder.  The pigeons got started in my yard when a neighbor moved and quit broadcasting cheap bird food around the back yard.  The pigeons noticed the activity in my yard and moved right in. 

Normally it wouldn't be a problem because of the type of feeders I use (which tend to exclude non-clinging birds such as pigeons.  However I like to see the Black-headed grosbeaks in the yard so I hang a single platform feeder.  The pigeons, until this morning, could easily access that feeder.  I modified the feeder by threading a heavy wire through the three chains that hang the feeder... about 5-6" above the feeding platform.  The pigeons now can't land on the feeder and I've had no more problems all day.  And incidentally, I had two male grosbeaks and one female grosbeak on or around the feeder at one time today. 

I also made a very small feeding area immediately adjacent to my manufactured brush pile where birds (towhees, Song sparrows and the now resident chipmunk) can access food without exposing themselves to cats or other predators. 

I'm still not happy with the exact location of my bird bath by the brush pile so I need to do some repositioning with it. 

On the photography end of today's activities I photographed the California quail family (two adults and five chicks) and a sub-adult American robin eating berries from the Oregon grape bush near the house.  I got photos of several other birds that I'm not going to mention now. 

Multi-Dementional Strides!

First I want to apologize to anyone out there who has been expecting new posts.  Purchase of a MUCH-upgraded camera and attempting to make the transition from jpg to raw images have delayed me from updating the website.  I just last evening downloaded a trial subscription to Adobe Lightroom and this morning managed to process some raw images and convert them to jpg.  So much for the technical aspects of the website... on to nature! 

Our 'manufactures brush pile continues to cough up interesting wildlife.  The California quail, now with chicks, are finding it a safe place to hang out and feed.  For the first time in many weeks we've had visits from a White-crowned sparrow and a Song sparrow.  However the biggest brushpile news is the chipmunk (the first we've had on the property) that has apparently taken up residence there in the past few days.  We first saw the chipmunk in the rock pile by the pond where it has a very secure 'cave' for safety.  However it's not content with either of those two places and at least occasionally travels to another birdbath/rockpile in the yard.  This hasn't escaped the notice of the cats and we're having to monitor them much more closely. 

I've got a backlog of raw photos to process but I'm going to post a couple of Rufous hummingbird shots I took with my new 200-400mm lens on Monday.  I'll try to post a few more photos soon.