Notice of Major Change!

Some of you might have noticed that I haven't updated this blog for some time.  For the reason why, visit the following site: 

wingsoverskagit.com

Time to spread wings and fly, fly away!  

Back Under the Apple Tree

I've chronicled my experiences with the Pileated woodpecker in my last post.  However the weather has been so good that I've now made four trip to the apple tree for photos... but only today did I see another Pileated woodpecker.  Unfortunately, after waiting a long time on a cold morning the female of the pair finally showed up in late morning.  She's much more cautious than the male and after a brief foray around the center of the tree she flew away, not to return while I was there.  I did get one photo of her atop a power pole but I'll dispense with displaying that photo.

However after being at the apple tree only a short time on Saturday morning I realized that there were one or more Varied thrushes in the tree.  My patience finally paid off and I was able to get some great photos of the bird eating apples.

 

 

There was also a good turnout of Spotted towhees...

 

 

There were also a substantial number of Golden-crowned sparrows in and under the apple tree... 

And in addition to the deer waiting below for apples to be dislodged, one of the Eastern Gray squirrels took a more direct approach.  

Piliated Woodpecker

A friend has been telling me for months that she had one or more Piliated woodpeckers visiting an apple tree beside the alley at the rear of her house.  I had been somewhat reluctant to photograph there because the alley was fairly narrow, a dead-end and the houses rather close together and close to the alley.  When the forecast rain didn't arrive on Tuesday and Wednesday dawned with partly cloudy skies I decided to try for the woodpecker.

The first thing I discovered when I walked up the alley was that she hadn't warned me about her two guard dogs... about ankle high but very loud and very active.  They were behind a fence and I managed to put a hedgerow between us and they finally quieted.  I sat for just about exactly an hour (with a nature photographer's patience) and watched American robins, European starlings, Dark-eyed juncos, a male House finch and a Northern flicker visit the apple tree.  I watched as the flicker dropped two apples to the ground.  There might have been other species, but I was facing the sun and the apple tree was horribly backlit.

After sitting in the middle of the alley for about an hour a buck finally strolled across the alley not ten feet from me and started eating the apples the flicker had just caused to fall.  It wasn't long after that I heard a nagging call.  I turned and saw a Piliated woodpecker fly from the forest behind me, over my head, past the apple tree and land on the top of a power pole, obviously eying the situation.  It didn't take long for it to fly back to the apple tree and land in the middle where I had no hope for a photograph, but it gradually made its way over to my side of the tree... where most of the apples seemed to be. 

The lighting was still terrible (I would have been shooting almost directly into the sun) but since I was so close to the apple tree I could move just a few feet down the alley and get much better lighting, and the woodpecker seemed oblivious to my presence.  And while I was maneuvering for a good angle on the first woodpecker (a male) a second Piliated woodpecker flew in, but it stayed on the far side of the apple tree and I never got a good look at it.  I might presume that the second woodpecker was a female. 

So I obtained a lot of Piliated woodpecker photos, a few deer photos, and later on the far (eastern) side of March's Point I got a few photos of a Bald eagle, possibly the same one I had photographed last week but there was at least one more in the area and possibly yet another.

Whoops... it lost its grip here and almost fell out of the tree!  Good recovery! 

The Bald eagle on March's Point... 

On Friday, Nov 2, 2012 the weather was again trying to be nice.  I set off in the early afternoon with some good intermittent sun, but it didn't last long.  The weather continued to deteriorat all afternoon until it began sprinkling by about 6pm and the precipitation got increasingly heavier after that.  But by that time I already had some photos in the bag!

First up, a Red-tailed hawk... probably the same one I photographed (and I think posted) last week.  I drove past the hawk, turned around to make another pass but it was now on the wrong side of the car.  So I turned around again and when I got back to the area where it had been it was gone.  I looked around but didn't see it so again turned around.  On my way back to my main route I glanced to the side of the road and there, just into the field, was the hawk on the ground and it was obvious it had some prey.  I took several shots but another car came along, swung wide around me and slowed to see what I was photographing.  This was too much for the hawk and it flew, and as it did I took photos of it in flight.  In processing my photos I could see that it was carrying a rather fat field mouse.

This may be my best photo of a flying hawk!  

 I encountered another American kestrel (this was in addition to the one I mentioned in a prior post), and this one flew to a power line and was in the process of landing when I took this photo... 

I went back to a bush thicket near the Swinomish Channel where I've gone for my last several outings and took photos of this Fox sparrow... 

this Golden-crowned sparrow...

... and this Song sparrow eating berries.  

 

 I next made my way over to Fir Island where I found our winter crop of Snow geese... thousands of them.  I took a lot of photos of them flying.  Unfortunately the weather had deteriorated to the point that the sun was no longer shining, but the white of the geese's feathers provided enough light for photos of them flying. 

Administrative Comments (No birds!)

As owner of this blog I have access to statistics concerning the number of visits and/or page views for my blog.  It's fairly confusing but one of the things that interests me is where my viewers are supposedly located.

I'm provided with a microscopic map with darker areas that signify greater readership.  Most are in the continental US as you would expect, but Alaska is also painted as containing heavier usage.  Sarah, if it's you I want you to understand that no wildlife has been harmed as a result of my trophy hunting! 

I have at least one viewer from India, and it is probably a very nice young lady I met on a plane flight a year or two ago.  She was in this country patiently waiting for a green card and I gave her my blog information.  I sincerely hope that she's obtained both the green card and a job by now and I wish her the best of luck! 

It also appears that I have one or more viewers in Canada, Mexico, Britain and France.  A large area that used to constitute the USSR also seems to be included... whether this is just Russia or includes several of the '... stans' I can't be sure because of my lack of current geographic knowledge and the microscopic size of the map that's provided.  It also seems that I have one or more viewers in Peru!

So I want you remotely-located viewers to know that I appreciate your support and it's of more than a little interest to me that you would follow a birding blog that relates to an area so far away.  And if I've left anyone out, my apologies... it's a very small map with which I'm dealing! 

Another Out-of-Yard Excursion

There was no rain again on Thursday (11/1/2012) so I was able to get out with the camera in the afternoon.  I retraced the same route as my last posting, but there was little or no wind blowing so I saw a lot more birds.


The first bird I came across was another grebe, this one I think a Horned grebe as evidenced by the light-colored bill tip and the relatively flat top of the head.  This bird (actually one of a pair) was only a few hundred yards from the location where I shot the Western grebe shown in my last post. 

 

 My next bird of consequence was a prize indeed... a Northern Shrike.   This bird was near the northern end of Channel Drive.  While I've seen at least one other in that greater area, I encounter most of these on Fir Island. 

Here is what is probably a male Spotted towhee, a very fine specimen...

In the same set of bushes were many American robins, a flock of Pine siskins, a Song sparrow, at least one Ruby-crowned kinglet that narrowly avoided having its picture taken, and a couple of Black-capped chickadees, one of which is pictured below...

Finally, I encountered this Golden-crowned sparrow in a bush at the side of the road at about minimum focal distance...

After my 'official' birding trip had ended I headed over to La Conner and encountered an American kestrel on a relatively low power line and the bird let me stop almost under it for photos.  For a kestrel this is very unusual... they are usually very sensitive to any slowing of a vehicle anywhere in their vicinity.  (No photo included.) 

Out of the Yard

I haven’t updated my blog in the last couple of weeks due to the lack of any kind of weather that facilitates photography.  I finally caught a break Monday (10/29/2012) afternoon so I headed out with my camera and managed to come home with a few photos. 

I should explain that at this time of year things are in transition, and rather than see photos of birds in the yard I’ll be transitioning to birds I can find around the greater area.  Often my best photographic opportunities in the winter are of shorebirds along the shoreline and in farm fields, and of raptors which unfortunately are mainly relegated to the power poles along the roads.  (What I wouldn’t give for a few well-placed Texas trees up here!)  And since the weather is more photographer-unfriendly, you can expect that I won’t post to my blog as often… but when I do, I may post more than once in a relatively short period of time. 

So first the yard news.  We’ve had our first pair of Varied thrush (last week) and our first occurrence of a Mourning dove on the ground.  It’s only our second sighting of a Mourning dove in our yard and the first one never came down to the ground.  We have at least one Anna’s hummingbird (a male).  Last week we had a little intra-species rivalry around the yard with two female Northern flickers and two male Downy woodpeckers.  I haven’t seen any Red crossbills or kinglets in a couple of weeks.  However we now have a very full complement of Dark-eyed juncos (Oregon race) in the yard.  I’m still hoping to have a Slate-colored junco before the winter is over. 

On to today’s photos.  The Bald eagle pictured at the top of this post was one of several around the March Point Road.  

The Red-tailed hawk pictured above was off the La Conner Road a short distance and the European starling below was actually at the Farmhouse.  The starlings can be difficult to photograph due to light reflect8ing off their feathers, but in this case the lighting was just right. 

I encountered this Western grebe (below) on my second trip around the March Point Road.  This bird seemed almost unaware of me and I was able to get to within about twenty feet of it while it was preening.  

As I mentioned in my last blog, it appears that winter weather is finally with us.  To me that means winter photography with all its limitations, starting with slower shutter speeds and, (a hard swallow!), higher ISOs.  However it's not all bad... for the most part I won't have to contend with shadows from foliage, beaks and the birds' own faces.  And winter provides a break from the summer birds and provides the opportunity to photograph whole new classes of winter visitors.  It's one of those with which I'll begin.

Saturday, on my way home from breakfast out I spied my first winter loon (presumably a Common loon) in the local yacht basin.  I hustled home, grabbed my camera and arrived in time for some photos.  Unfortunately it was raining during much of this photography session, but not enough to make a disastrous difference.  And this was the first time I had the opportunity to use a lens rest that I designed and constructed for the passenger side of my car a couple of months ago.  (It worked very well!)

I was a considerable distance from the loon and had to settle for photos that will not look good when blown up, but I obtained some interesting photos.  I tried again for photos today and found the loon again, but was at least as far away and it never quit raining and blowing for the entire hour or more I tracked the bird.  But for better or worse, here are a few photos...

When I first photographed the loon it had just surfaced with a fish... one that I would have thought would have more or less sufficed for a day's worth of food.  As a matter of fact, the loon spent the next hour or so preening. 

And just to give you an idea of the capabilities of the camera (Nikon D300S) and lens (Nikon 200-400mm f4.0) with which I'm working.  The image below is the original image as recorded on my camera.  As you can see, the photo above discards probably more than 90% of the recorded image.  That I can recover as good an image as I have seems truly remarkable!  

 

If you have the patience, after much preening the loons will usually stretch their wings which can provide a really interesting photo... unfortunately at a too-slow shutter speed.   

I think it's really onto me now!  

And now that you've been sated with loon photos, here's a Killdeer I encountered on the way out of the marina area.  These birds are usually quite easy to photograph when using a car as a blind.  

Beginning of Winter Weather Yard Birds

I spent a little time in the yard last week despite the overcast weather.  I had a great opportunity to photograph one or more Golden-crowned kinglets but found in processing the photos that many of the photos weren't especially sharp.  I seem to be having some minor focus problems with my lens/camera but in some photos it seems to operate just fine.  It may be a function of the overcast and lack of light, depriving the camera of some of the contrast it uses to perfect the focus.

With that little explanation behind me, on to the photos...

As I already mentioned, one of the few photos of a Golden-crowned kinglet I thought was salvageable.  I hate to miss these opportunities because this is a beautiful bird and photographic opportunities don't happen that often. 

This is one of an ever-increasing number of Dark-eyed juncos (Oregon race) that frequent the yard.  I'm hoping that a little later in the year we'll have a member of the Slate-colored race show up as it has for the past five years.  And I wouldn't mind if it brought the rest of its family!   (Note the detail in this photo compared with the detail in the photo above despite being taken from approximately the same distance and at the same focal length.) 

What at first appears as a cute little 'innocent' at one of the bird baths.  This is a juvenile Red crossbill... 

but it like's its space when taking a bath, as evidenced by it's posture towards this Pine siskin!  

Red Crossbills and a Special Red-Breasted Nuthatch

Monday, October 8, 2012 was another good day for photographing birds in the yard.  My wife retrieved me for a look at a Stellar's jay, a very rare visitor, but by the time I got to the yard the bird was gone and I never saw it return. 

Some of you may be getting tired of seeing Red crossbill photos, but I'm not getting tired of taking them!  The old adage, "Make hay while the sun shines" would seem to have more than a little applicability to the situation at hand.  I'm only getting about an hour a day of direct sunlight on the watercourse as fall progresses.

Here we have an adult female Red crossbill... 

And an adult male Red crossbill... 

And an adult male House finch for comparison...

 These Red crossbills are juveniles in different stages of development.  The first may be a female while the second two photos are apparently of males, and may actually be the same bird. 

And finally, an unremarkable photo of a remarkable bird.  This is the Red-breasted nuthatch that landed on the end of my lens while I was photographing other birds in the yard!!! 

On Friday, 10/8/2012 my wife hosted her women’s discussion group in the morning which offered me the opportunity to go birding for the day.  I made my first stop at the development on the NW part of the island where I’ve obtained some sparrow and American goldfinch photos recently and managed to obtain even more.  

Incidentally, a couple of weeks ago while photographing at this location I had the opportunity to 'disassemble' some thistle heads, the seeds of which are one of the goldfinches' favorite foods.  I was surprised by how small the seed was in the heads... much smaller than the niger that many people purchase in the bird store.  And knowing that the birds have to pull out the fluff in the head to get at the seeds, it reminds me of the old celery analogy.  It seems like the calories/nutrition you obtain isn't worth the effort to eat it!  

After spending considerable time at the development I meandered my way over to Fir Island where I eventually encountered a couple of small groves of trees that were hosting at least a dozen Yellow-rumped warblers, apparently of both races.  I say apparently because at this time of year you’re dealing not only with the two races which are quite similar, but also with differences in the sexes, the fact that the birds’ breeding plumage is in transition and the fact that some of the birds are going to be juveniles.  It can make for some challenging identifications.  

I'll call this first warbler an Audubon's race (there is actually more yellow on the throat than it appears in this photo... 

And this is probably a Myrtle's race... or not!  

I spent about half an hour photographing the warblers and then left the area to have some lunch.  When I returned to the same area about an hour later there was not a bird to be found in either grove of trees.  Apparently I had been fortunate in encountering a small group of migrants. 

This encounter brought to mind another of my birding perplexities.  For about three years there was a small grove of trees with underbrush in the middle of a marina parking lot near me.  For two to three falls in a row this area hosted a significant number of Yellow-rumped warblers over about three weeks of the fall migration.  However the Yellow-rumped warbler is a rare visitor to my yard, but I’m only located a few hundred yards (‘as the warbler flies’) from the marina parking lot and would seem to have better habitat. 

On the other hand, on Sunday, October 7, 2012 I estimate that I had at least 20 Pine siskins in the yard.  And periodically they would all fly down to the watercourse for drinking and bathing.  They were much more brazen than usual, and at least a couple of times I sprayed them with a hose using a diffuser nozzle and they seemed to love it.  It’s been a dry couple of months and I guess they welcomed the ‘rain’.  

Since I didn't photograph in the yard on 10/7, I've 'borrowed' this photo of a Pine siskin from a 10/1 session...