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Old Blogger archives

Week Forty-three, January 7-13, 2002

Sunday, January 13, 2002

We just stayed around home today and relaxed after our running around yesterday. And being home gave me a chance to wander out to the garden in the cool, cloudy weather and inspect what is going on with the weeds. Much of our front garden beds need some serious weeding to prepare for the spring planting season ahead, but there is still plenty of time for that. There are some signs of vegetable life in the garden though. I took today's photo of one of the many garlic shoots that have pushed up through the soil in search of winter light. Surely shoots from late winter and early spring bulbs cannot be far behind!

Saturday, January 12, 2002

Now the fact that Natalie and I are embarking on another book project feels real. Today was our first research trip taken specifically to get photos and gather information for Birding Washington, and what a day to get started! We left home with the wind gusting to around 37 mph and although it wasn't blowing so hard when we first arrived at the Hood Canal Bridge and headed up the peninsula toward Marrowstone Island, Fort Flagler and Port Townsend, it was soon howling in that part of the Olympic Peninsula as well.

Our research took us to Marrowstone Island and to Fort Flagler State Park, where we spent about 10-15 minutes dealing with the gusts to get a couple of photos looking northwest toward Port Townsend, but as we walked back to the car we watched about 20 shorebirds, dunlin, streak past on the wind. We drove to another vantage point and watched the birds in the waters nearby for a while before breaking out the spotting scope, and once we had the scope out we could see a group of 50-60 shorebirds hanging out at the end of a narrow sand spit. The temptation was too great...we had to get out there and see what photos we could take!

And that is how our research trip turned into a full-fledged birding trip. Natalie and I watched as a couple navigated their way out onto the spit and took photos of the shorebirds, and I had to try my hand at it as well, so we hoofed it across the field and onto the sand, winding between driftwood logs as the sea spray rose off the heavy surf. The reward - dunlin and sanderling! The shot above was taken looking west as the dunlin moved back and forth over the narrow end of the sand spit, some 50-75 feet away from me.

The best shots of the day were not taken. I snapped the photo of four sanderling wandering the edge of the surf toward us and then cursed our Nikon digital camera for being so slow to load high resolution images to the CompactFlash card. Why? The sanderling kept coming even closer, and at one point they were no more than five feet from Natalie and I. Despite the frustration of not getting the photo, it was a great sight to see these birds up so close!

Since we were in the neighborhood, we had to drive into Port Townsend and stop by The Imprint Bookstore. And aside from getting some nice compliments about our other book, Insiders' Guide to the Olympic Peninsula, which was nicely displayed in the book store, we had a nice late lunch and then checked our car (it started leaking coolant on our trip - probably from a bad hose) before heading back to Tacoma.

What a fantastic way to kick off a new book project!

Friday, January 11, 2002

There is so much light in the bottom of Puget Gulch now that I cannot imagine that the darkness will return with the emergence of new leaves on the trees, bushes and all of the peak season greenery in the spring and summer. But taking a walk in the gulch this afternoon reminded me that winter has its benefits. Birds are so much easier to hear and locate with my binoculars without all of those leaves in the way, and despite the general grayness of everything this time of year, some of the smallest and most colorful birds we get in this area are out for those who are willing to spend some time looking for them.

During today's walk I spent time watching a flock of either kinglets or bushtits high in the canopy of the trees overhead. Each time a military jet passed over or when the wind blew just right, then the chattering birds would flock and swoop over the gulch, barely above the tree canopy, moving in one wave almost like shorebirds. Then all in one motion they would settle in the tops of one or two trees and flutter about, picking insects from the branches for a few minutes before repeating the performance. I will have to go back to the gulch with our spotting scope to identify these birds.

Meanwhile, down along the trailside, I got a good look at a ruby-crowned kinglet. I think this is the first time I have been able to view one of these tiny birds so close and clearly. And, as it worked through the underbrush, I noticed that even though it is still January that life is returning to the undergrowth in the gulch. Small green buds and the beginnings of leaves are emerging from the salmonberry bushes, and although it is early, it isn't a surprise since this has been such an unbelievably warm winter so far.

Today's photo shows some evidence of that winter growth, as new leaves emerge from the sedges in the wetlands along the Puget Gulch trail.

Thursday, January 10, 2002

An extremely sore neck kept me from bird watching or even getting outside much today, but I did wander out briefly to snap a photo of the pink flowers blooming on the outer edge of the same bush along our northern property line that always seems to hold so many house finches, black-capped chickadees and dark-eyed juncos. The birds were mostly in hiding today though.

Wednesday, January 9, 2002

I am not a happy camper tonight. Since shortly after taking my long mountain bike ride on New Years Day I have been battling a sore upper back and neck, and today I decided to take advantage of the sunny morning and ride my road bike over to visit M rather than driving. The ride was great, but when I got there my back and neck tightened up horribly. I stretched and worked it out a bit and got to feeling good enough that I could bike back home, and the ride home was great, but tonight my neck is tight as can be and I cannot turn to the side as easily as normal.

While on my bike jaunts I carried the camera and took a few photos - one of Mt. Rainier in the morning that didn't turn out all that great and then a series of shots of the Olympic Mountains taken from the pedestrian bridge over Highway 16, looking past the Narrows Bridge to the west. I also took a shot looking north from the head of Mason Gulch. I spent some time scanning the power poles and small trees along the highway trying to see the red-tailed hawk, but for the second day in a row I couldn't locate it.

Tuesday, January 8, 2002

Today's photo is a first. This morning's rainbow is the first I can remember seeing to the west of our house. I took the photo of the rainbow with our across-the-street neighbor's house in the foreground after the sun broke through the misty clouds to the east. Most of the rainbows we see here take place in the afternoon and evening hours, when the sun starts sinking into the western sky and below the cloud line. And, with the sun in the west, all of those rainbows are to the east of our house.

After the rainbow faded, the sun continued to spotlight the bushes in the front yard, highlighting house sparrows and chickadees at the top of the bushes. With this kind of bright light, I snapped another shot of the smaller birds.

Later today I drove over to visit M and tried to find the red-tailed hawk along the border of Highway 16, but it was nowhere to be seen. Even after I returned on the way home I couldn't locate the hawk.

Monday, January 7, 2002

My timing was right on the mark to catch a glimpse of a sharp-shinned hawk in the neighborhood. I wandered out this afternoon as the light was failing to snap a photo in the front yard, and after trying to take a closeup shot of the blooms on the rosemary plant at the southwest corner of the house, I looked across the street and saw a hawk climbing skyward. It took too long to get the camera up to my face and focused to get a good closeup photo, but I did track the hawk across the sky and snapped the shot above.

It is pretty easy just from this profile shot to see that the bird in question is a small hawk, and the angle of its wings has sharp-tailed hawk written all over it. That combined with the knowledge I picked up taking the winter birding class at the local Audubon chapter in recent months leads me to say that it is most likely a sharpie.

It is great having this growing bird knowledge and to be better able to recognize and identify the birds I see around me. There is still a lot to learn...

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