Hermit Thrust et al

During the week of Christmas my wife and I traveled to New Mexico and birded the Bosque del Apache NWR south of Socorro and the Randall-Davies Audubon Center on the outskirts of Santa Fe. I had intended to publish some of the photos I took while on the trip but I had such a remarkable day on Monday, 1/3 that I’m postponing posting the New Mexico photos in favor of showing some that I took in the neighborhood.

As a little preamble the area had its annual Christmas Bird Count (for 2010) on 1/2/2011. I had a lackluster day but during the course of the count I encountered a holly tree full of berries… and American robins. We’ve had a several day run of clear (but cold) weather and I returned the day after the count to photograph the robins eating the holly berries. I probably took at least 20 photos of a robin in the holly tree. 

While I was monitoring the holly bush I noted what I thought was a Fox sparrow about 30 feet away. Not having taken any Fox sparrow photos with my new camera I decided to shift my focus (no pun intended). After changing my position in my car I looked up to see what I thought was the Fox sparrow only about a dozen feet from me. What luck… I didn’t even have to move the car!

I began taking photos of the new bird but as I got further into the task I realized that the new bird didn’t look exactly like a Fox sparrow… and I realized that it was a Hermit’s thrush, a bird I have seen in the PacNW only a handful of times, and even then not in photographable situations. I took probably 20 photos of the Hermit thrush in full light and only about ten feet from the car!

I then realized that there was yet another bird in the area where I had seen what I originally thought was a Fox sparrow, and upon closer examination I realized that this second bird was indeed a Fox sparrow! At this point I moved the car forward about 20 feet and began trying to photograph the Fox sparrow, but it proved elusive. However it was soon joined by the Hermit’s thrush and I was able to view (but not photograph) the two birds virtually side by side!

As more time passed I photographed a male House finch and a Song sparrow at the same location, but missed (due to hyperactivity on the part of my potential subjects) a Bewick’s wren and a Ruby-crowned kinglet… with its crown showing. It was a great morning… but stay tuned for photos from New Mexico!

Killdeer and Northern Harrier on Whidbey Island

This is a record... two posts in the same day, but since it's been awhile since I last posted any photos I thought I should get up some from the day's production. 

I drove down to Whidbey Island today with the objective of photographing some quackers in a pond.  Unfortunately the pond area was being visited by people celebrating the first good weather day we've had in weeks so the waterfowl were on the far side of the pond... too far for photos.  I'm making a mental note to return on a week day and in the morning when the light is more favorable. 

However on my way to the pond I happened on a pair of Killdeer and a male Northern Harrier.  You can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.  

Tree Trimming

We had a company trim some of the trees in our yard this past week.  They used two basket-lift trucks often operating at the same time, chain saws and a large commercial chipper whose noise emissions must approach those of a jet engine.  (I saw one crew member throw a 'log' at least 4" in diameter in the chipper and it just ate it whole!)  While part of the crew was cutting limbs in the treetops other crew members were using a chainsaw on smaller trees or gathering the slash below and running it through the chipper.  The conditions could pretty much be described as mayhem during much of the time the company was here. 

Our resident female Downy woodpecker had decided it was time for a meal and was not going to be detered.  At first she hung around on a pine tree waiting to get to the suet feeder, but she finally gave up on that and flew to the feeders closer to the house... slightly farther from all the noise and activity.  There she accessed the peanut feeder and watched as people paraded by.  It was difficult for me to believe that she would put up with all the noise and activity, but I've found the Downy woodpeckers to be extremely tolerant of people. 

One of the crew members was trimming a couple of limbs away from the house (they use no hand tools, only chain saws) and a Red-breasted nuthatch approached to within about four feet of him to see what was going on.  Meanwhile a chickadee continued to feed on one of the peanut feeders that was only about ten feet away. 

This past week we continue to have visits by the California quail (either nine or ten).  We've seen two Varied thrushes in the yard at the same time, a Brown creeper and we finally had a Fox sparrow show up.  We continue to have Golden-crowned sparrows in the yard and for the first time this winter I saw one that actually had some faded gold on its crown... probably a male. 

And for you gardners out there, we have two varieties of spinach planted and both survived temperatures down to about 20-degrees and at least 24 hours of snow! 

Inclement weather (overcast and cold) have discouraged me from taking any photographs, but there might be some forthcoming as I plan to travel to Whidbey Island today and the weather early this morning looks promising.