Observations of the passing seasons |
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2003 - April - March - February - January - Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge visit, March 2001
- Insiders' Guide to the Olympic Peninsula - Creeping with Utah Nature Study Society - Tidepool - Association for the Study of Literature and Environment
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What a miserable day to drive from Longview to Gold Beach. Natalie and I made the trip today in pouring rain, arriving in Gold Beach around 5:30 p.m. Along the way we tallied the number of Red-tailed Hawks and American Kestrels we saw along our route south on Interstate 5 and then west along the Umpqua River to Reedsport, Ore., before heading south on U.S. 101. I total, counting two Red-tailed Hawks we saw in the rain and along the flooded roads on Dike Access Road near Woodland, we saw 14 Red-tails and 13 American Kestrel. Other birds were scarce. It was not even a day fit for birds. We rushed down to Ruston Way to check out a bird that Natalie saw on her drive home from work, but it turned out the bird was the same hybrid goose we saw on her birthday down near the grainary. Since we were out to watch birds though, we drove the rest of Ruston Way to see what waterfowl was around. One of the birds was the Hooded Merganser in the shot above. Other birds included: Near the grainary:
Ruston Way near Ferdinand:
Natalie's parents are in town tonight to spend the evening before Natalie's birthday here before we go with Jana and Jason to eat dim sum in Renton tomorrow. We were on our way back home from shopping in the Proctor area of Tacoma when I stopped near Mason Gulch to snap a shot of the moon rising over Commencement Bay. To get the photo I set the digital camera on one of the posts for the railing that rims the road at the top of the gulch and then carefully took the shot, being careful not to move the camera.
Every morning the crows and gulls gather around the back yard at the next door neighbor's house, presumably to feed on the dog food put out for their dog Sierra. This morning I snapped a shot of a couple of the crows against the background of the coastal clouds that soon gave way to fog.
She's back in the wild! This morning the House Finch we have been nursing back to health inside the house was being so active that I decided it was time to try letting it loose again. This time there was no hesitation. I opened the bird cage door and put it close to the open window in hopes that it would fly out, and sure enough it didn't waste any time flying out the window and joining others of its kind in the snowball bush. After a minute or two I couldn't even pick it out from the crowd of other House Finches. Later this afternoon I went shopping for Natalie's upcoming birthday, and on the way home from downtown Tacoma I stopped with M at the new Thea's Park at the head of the Thea Foss Waterway, where I took the photo of Mt. Rainier above...
It was a dark day, but I was still able to set up the spotting scope inside the house and to snap a few digital photos of the Bushtits that hang upside down on and feed at the suet feeder that hangs in the snowball bush just south of the house.... I should have known better, but this morning when it seemed that our House Finch was being more active I figured it would be worth trying to let it loose to see if it could fly after a few hours of recuperating indoors. I opened the window in the breakfast nook and gingerly retrieved the finch from the cage, then let go of it out the window. It flew somewhat better than yesterday, but not enough to let it try to fend for itself against the hawks that hunt in our yard. I was able to go outside and catch the poor little gal as she tried to scurry away from me on the ground. We'll leave her in the cage for another day or two and try all of this again...
Natalie and I are in the bird rescue business today. This afternoon I noticed what I thought looked like a Pine Siskin that was having trouble flying in the yard. It would climb to the top of a twig and then launch into the air only to flap to the ground time after time. I planned to leave the bird to fend for itself, but when I told Natalie about it when she arrived home then the rescue instinct took over. Now the bird, which we later determined to be a female House Finch, is sitting in an old bird cage on the kitchen table. We'll keep it for a while and then try to set it loose...
We were in a winter birding wonderland today, as we headed north to the Skagit Flats and Samish Flats areas near Anacortes in the northwestern corner of Washington for more bird photos and research for Birding Washington. Unlike last year when we were nearly blown off the planet while watching Snow Geese and other birds in this area during a winter trip, today it was calm and overcast - perfect conditions for photography! Without a doubt the highlight of today was seeing thousands of Snow Geese in a farm field off Boe Road near Stanwood. The photo above shows a wave of geese rising into the air one after another as an immature Bald Eagle flew overhead to spook the whole flock. I was amazed how close we were able to get to these geese, as we pulled to the side of the one-lane road and stood just 25 feet or less from the closest birds. Meanwhile, as we watched and I recorded the sounds of the Snow Geese on my small microcassette tape recorder, back behind us a Harlan's Hawk (dark morph Red-tailed Hawk) sat in a tree at the edge of another field, while a Peregrine Falcon made a pass over a small flock of Dunlin that had gathered in a puddle and sent them moving across the road in an undulating wave of wingbeats. The peregrine didn't catch anything on this pass though. It wasn't until I set up the spotting scope that I could see another Red-tailed Hawk sitting in a small tree behind the flock of Snow Geese. The geese knew better than to be worried about the hawk though. It wasn't about to snack on a goose... After finishing our birding in this spot we went north to Fir Island, made a stop at Anacortes Telescope where I bought new Pentax binoculars that are going to be a huge improvement over my Bushnells I have been using for the last couple of years, and then headed north some more to see if we could find the Short-eared Owls that hunt in the winter over the marshlands at the foot of Samish Island. We arrived at the wildlife area to first see a Prairie Falcon sitting on a telephone poll and then to see a dozen or more Northern Harrier hunting over the fields inside the dikes that hold the saltwater bay out of this area of reclaimed tideflats. After running into our friend Diane from the Tahoma Audubon Society, we were able to watch a single Short-eared Owl hunting along the inner edges of the dike, while Brant flew up off the bay beyond the dike. What an excellent and full day of birding!
Fog dominated this day, with fog horns sounding all day long as I worked at home. I was surprised this afternoon though when Natalie came home from work that the fog remained hovering over Commencement Bay and up into Mason Gulch while it was bright and sunny just a few blocks away at home. We were heading out to do some shopping this afternoon, so I drove around looking for the best spot to get a view looking out over the blanket of fog that covered the bay. Wouldn't you know that the best view was just about five blocks from home, at the head of Mason Gulch. It can't quite be made out in this shot, but in the distance the white bump of Mt. Baker juts into the sky above the fog.
I stepped outside this evening to snap a shot of the dramatic white cloud formations against a bright blue sky. Sometimes I am amazed at how stark the line can be between the edge of the clouds and the background of the sky...
Natalie and I kicked off the new year by driving down to the Grays Harbor area in the pouring rain, all for a chance to see a rare bird called a Ruff that was hanging out in a farm field near the tiny town of Satsop. We found the bird with no problem and I managed to get a few photos despite the fact that it rained a couple of inches during the day in this soggy part of Washington state. To get the photos I used our Nikon CoolPix 950 digital camera shot through our Swift spotting scope, and I drapped a blanket over my head to keep rain off the camera and scope while trying to focus on the Ruff in some pretty horrible light conditions. I am amazed that the photos came out as well as they did... |
