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.)