Arcata. That is all. And a funny binocular story. And more identification woes... (#276-277)

A cut inland, through the Redwoods and 400 kilometres later (or since we're in the USA, 247 miles), we're back to the ocean's edge. The visitor centres have been great handing out one-page maps pointing out the major natural areas. Arcata was pointed out as a great spot for birding. So far we haven't really been birding a lot, just an hour here and there. After all, this trip was never planned as a birding trip, and not timed with any migration or anything, so any sightings were just luck.

Well let me tell you just how lucky we got.

THIS.

Matt took a little path off the main trail to the edge and I followed. We looked down the shore and saw a bunch of grey bumps that I thought were rocks. But Matt was taking pictures.

Because they were birds. ALL OF THEM. 

I started to pinch myself around this point.We sort of just stumbled on shorebird heaven. My previous shorebird excursions have been a little frustrating. The birds are so far away that you need a behemoth of a scope and still they can be hard to identify.

#276: Willet; Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary; California; August 2013
#277: Marbled Godwit; Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary; California; August 2013

Willets with Marbled godwits

Marbled Godwit

Willet. Note grey legs! Think it might be the only shorebird with grey legs that I can think of, except whimbrel---makes my life easy :)

Another willet, with dowitchers

This last image leads me to the next section. I could have either one or two life birds in addition to these...long-billed and short-billed dowitchers. There's enough resolution in these pics (the originals, at least) that I might spend some more time on this, but I've already spent hours it feels, comparing illustrations and reading articles and ripping my hair out and wondering if am slowly going crazy123456switch. I think, if they have to write super lengthy articles about distinguishing the two, I shouldn't feel so bad about not being able to tell them apart. On the upside, I'm getting a little better with my bird anatomy (I didn't actually now where a tertial was until...oh, five minutes ago....blush). It's all tertials an juveniles and breeding and worn breeding and tiger stripes and spring and fall and winter and how is fall in August anyway and on and on and none of it seems to be helping. Next time, I'll just make sure that I....listen!

These resources seem pretty good:

New advances in the field of identification of dowitchers

Identification of Dowitchers in the Pacific Northwest

Dowitchers in flight

Apparently wider black bars on the tail tan wide is a surefire sign of a long-billed, EXCEPT on the West Coast. BAH.

Marbled godwits with dowitcher

Marbled godwit with dowitchers

Size comparison!

Least Sandpiper

The snowy egret was also there, and this time I managed a shot where it was lifting its feet out of the water so you can see its awesome yellow feet! This is one thing that makes it really stand apart from the egrets at home (plus the obvious size difference!)

Snowy Egret

 I love how the GBH stands over the other little shorebirds; I call him the Godfather. For sure if he could talk he'd have an Italian accent.

There was also a marshy/forest walk but it was a little bit quieter. This little sparrow stopped and said hello.

Song? I THINK....

Hawks. Hawks. Hawk. I believe we saw these on the road. I don't know if I could count the hours I've spent poring over my bird guides trying to sort these hawks out. I think there's only one consistent thing in this post.....

I'm most inclined to think red-shouldered hawk (http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birding/red-shouldered-hawk/), although there isn't an obvious red part on the shoulder. But the tail is striped and not the giveaway red of a red-tailed hawk. Out of range for Broad winged and doesn't have dark breast of rough-legged, but that would be my second choice.

Check out the spidey web on the bottom left! Red-shouldered again? maybe? sigh....how much longer until I sort this out? :(

So here's another little anecdote. I decided to buy Matt (ahem...) binoculars for his birthday in August. Of course I left this to just a few days before we had to leave. So the first step was researching which ones to get. He had mentions Monarchs and I think he was already sold on the Nikon brand (obviously!) but I wanted to do some thorough research before throwing the cash down. I got some great input from a Facebook group (Eagle Optics Ranfer line came highly recommended).

I made my way to Focus Scientific in Ottawa. They closed at 6 so I had to really give it once I got out of work. I figured out the bus route and was making good time. I got off at Westgate Mall but didn't see the sign for the store or its listing in the directory. I then realized that I was quite off and assumed the store was in the mall but it was way back down the road, and there was no bus going in the other direction. I had a huge bag, and it was a typically warm August Day, and I silly stupid office shoes on (which were quite cute but not good for much else). I walked 20-30 minutes back in the other direction and ended up with a spectacularly painful blister. I must have been a sore sight limping down the street. And I bet I have scars to show for this story.

There was a really confusing intersection I had to cross to get to the store on the other side of the road. Some really nice and helpful guy helped me out. He showed me pics he had taken of some celestial body with a telescope mounted on his camera, and I wondered, "is it possible there is someone nerdier than me?" I was so surprised how different the binos looked/felt. Picking one was easier than I thought. Some of them just felt wrong and were easy to eliminate. Focus Scientific did not carry the Ranger line but I didn't have time to locate them somewhere else to try them out. I felt good about the Monarchs so that's what I picked up. (HEY SANTA I'M STILL WAITING FOR THAT SCOPE). As I was paying, a cyclist got hit by a car in that weird intersection right in front o the store window. The whole thing was just crazy.

So this is where it gets to the good part! I wanted to give the binos to Matt on the plane, which meant I had to bring a bigger carry-on on the plane, and had to hide it in my bag. As I approached the CATSA scanner, I signaled to one of the officers and tried to explain discreetly that I had a present in my bag for the next man in line and if he needs to search my bag could he please do it somewhere where that guy down the line wouldn't see? I wasn't sure if this would raise more suspicion but I was waved right through after my bag was scanned. I decided not to wait until we were on the plane because the stupid airline didn't even give us seats together and we had a bit of a wait. So he opened them up and we watched the gulls waddling around on the tarmac and I thought for sure the guard were watching us because of all the antics we were up to.

It was such a good move getting the binoculars for the trip. In fact Matt had a hard time getting them out of my hands. I liked looking through them so much sometimes I forgot to put them down....

I have no idea if my experience at Arcata was typical but it was pretty awesome. So if you are out that way, I'd recommend it!


I'd also like to give a shout-out to Dwayne over at Nerdy for Birdy for his input on the mysterious hummingbird in my previous post. I love getting feedback! His comment led me to the Cornell page on Allen's Hummingbirds (I think that is a real possibility and I hadn't even thought of it) which led me to the ebird sightings range map, which is AWESOME because I could choose a species, choose a date range (August 2013) and zoom right in to where we were (Garberville).

With this tool, it's easy to get a sense if a certain bird is in the area at a given time. Of course you are relying on other birders to submit sightings and to do so accurately, but definitely interesting results:

Anna's
Rufous
Allen's

All this to say it could probably be any of the three of them. :P

Still have a few more posts to go and I'm moving through them rapid fire, so come back (real) soon!

Mud flat march--Bodega Bay (#273-275)

We headed north out of SF, stopping for a bit in Sausalito, but mostly wanting to get over the coast. The plan was to avoid the 101 at all costs, but we heard from the car ahead of us that a big truck was blocking Highway 1 heading north. Since Hwy 1 is one lane each way with no shoulder, that meant nobody was going anywhere. So I sadly accepted that Point Reyes would not be happening (honestly, we wouldn't have had time to appreciate anyway--ideally you would want a full day there from what I hear). The 101 was slow going to, but we managed to cut over to the coast past the accident. This meant cutting through some farming country.

Red-tailed, I think

There was just a bit of sunlight left by the time we saw water at Bodega Bay...and I'd read somewhere that this was a great spot for birding. We limited ourselves to an hour and set out. It was pretty grey and little foggy--something we got really used later on in Oregon.

This area had a bit of trail before coming to a bridge and then some mud flats beside the trail. The first section was really active with lots of little birds eating seed pods on some plant that I'm not sure what it is. They were quick little things, darting around, making my job as a photographer quite difficult.

#273: Bushtit; Bodega Bay, California; August 2013

While not as numerous as the bushtits, I did see my first black phoebes too.

#274: Black Phoebe; Bodega Bay, California; August 2013

Juvenile black phoebe. Looks similar to American Redstart

In the mud flats we were treated to a few different elegant herons. I immediately though of the Great Egrets we have at home, and these were the same.

However, there were also much smaller white egrets. I was so happy to get a shot of the two of them side by side for comparison! The snowy egret was awesome--it's hard to describe how their feathers move in the air, but they are so graceful and elegant.

Then I got another shot with a Great Blue--the Great Egrets are similar in size.

Great Blues are majestic birds, no matter how many times you see them!

On the way out I spotted another birdie perched in the bush, and so glad I took a closer look. Check out the eyebrows on this guy!

#275: Western Scrub Jay; Bodega Bay, California; August 2013

Hmm. Super dark song sparrow maybe?

Eventually it was getting late and we still had a long way to go that day. Unfortunately it got dark and we missed seeing some of the coast because it was night, but what we saw was so spectacular. Eventually we made it to the Redwood forest where we stayed for the night. The people we stayed with (an amazing couple in their 80s with an awful lot of stories and an off the grid house surrounded by forest and their own garden) had a hummingbird feeder. Matt got up before me (as always) and caught a feeder visitor. Sadly I don't think I saw any of these. Darn it, I need to start getting up earlier! Our host said that only Ana's were around but now that' I'm looking at the book, it really seems to be a Rufous Hummingbird. I don't feel confident contradicting someone who sees them all the time, but I'm pretty certain. Anyone want to confirm?

While the redwoods were wonderful in their own way, they were pretty quiet bird-wise. Or at least we didn't see many. Maybe because the tree tops are soooooooooo high up.

Stay tuned...

I DID IT! the great one (99), the one that almost was, the one that was (100), and more (101-103)

Well, on Friday, I saw some crows as I usually do and decided it was probably time to photograph these birds to hit 99! So I did, and here ya go. I was hoping to include crows and ravens in the same post, but I guess it didn't work out that way!

#99: American Crow; Jacques Cartier Park, Gatineau; September 24, 2010

Later on in the day, we saw this beautiful hawk and there was a tentative celebration, since I really wasn't sure on the ID. I didn't feel comfortable calling this 100 in case I was wrong. But I really think it's a Broad-Winged Hawk. And then I got to thinking about hawks, and I started to doubt #31. Still unsure...but I'm well over 100 now so no worries!

Look at his pants!

There's this stormwater pond on Eagleson right in the middle of housing developments where a GBH is always hanging out. Well, we drove by the pond, and instead of a heron, saw 2 cormorants and a great egret! I thought it was a bizarre place for it, but it was much closer than the other ones I've seen at so I could get a better picture!

Then I looked over to this grate over to the side and saw the Great Blue in front of it, and in front of it, another heron....but not a Great Blue! At first I thought for sure it was a bittern, but after looking into it, I think it was actually a juvenile Black-Crowned Night Heron, which was perfect since I had seen one before at Mud Lake but it was super far away.

This is it!
#100: Black-Crowned Night Heron; Eagleson at Bridgestone, September 25, 2010

I headed over to the other side of the street, and there was a little shore bird in the pond there. I was kind of amazed at all the birds in this pond off Eagleson in the middle of Kanata. I guess anything can happen during migration. Anyways, I saw this guy, and there was no looking back....at 100 and apparently I wasn't going to get out of stopping there!!

#101: Lesser Yellowlegs; Eagleson at Bridgestone, September 25, 2010
He was doing these crazy jerky little movements and making noises...it was kind of funny so I took a video! I'll share it when I upload it.

Oh wait, geez, I guess I'm not done. Saw this one on the weekend too. I was looking for herons/bitterns/etc. in a pond when I heard an unfamiliar bird in the trees. Walked towards it not expecting to see anything. Sorry for the crap pic.

#102: Eastern Towhee; near Godfrey; September 26, 2010.

And finally...been trying to get these guys for ages. There were 6 of them eating a deer carcass on the side of the road. This silly turkey ended up costing me $10 since I forgot my lens cap on the hood of the car and drove off without it!
#103: Turkey Vulture; somewhere between Kingston and Ottawa (ha!); September 26, 2010

OK, so it might seem like I kind of glossed over a major milestone here. But don't you worry, the next post will include some pondering and reflection on a year seven months of birding.

YAY!!!!!!!!

a quick trip to Shirley's Bay (78-80)

I'd read several reports that there were some Great Egrets at Shirley's Bay, and wasn't sure if I had missed them or not but I went over there to check it out after work. Ok, I have been on the dyke at DND before but today it was TEEMING with birds...in the bay, on the dyke and in the woods. I definitely wish I had more time, and it was also not the best time since the sun was setting across the bay so all the shorebirds were backlit. I'm definitely heading back sometime soon in the early morning.

First off, I found the egrets! There were 6 that I saw. One was quite close but I wasn't sneaky enough and scared it off to the other side of the bay where the rest of them were. No worries though! I hope I get to see them again, but hopefully closer.

#78: Great Egret; Shirley's Bay; July 21, 2010

I also caught a belted kingfisher, which I have been having a hard time getting goos shots off. The money shot is still out there, but this one will definitely do for now.

#79: Belted Kingfisher; Shirley's Bay; July 21, 2010

On the way out, this bird was singing so loud, and the song is SO familiar that you feel like an idiot not being able to name the bird.
#80 (aka eighty, eight-zero, 4/5, 80% there!!!): Wood Thrush; Shirley's Bay; July 21, 2010
(not too sure why this pic went all pixelly on me...I'll have to try and fix it...)

Ok, so there were SO many birds there that I think if I had stayed long enough I might have been able to come close to filling out my 100. But I will have to go back and hope it's as busy. There were lots and lots of shorebirds but my 300mm is just not going to cut it--most of the people I have seen there use spotting scopes, and the birds scare off so easily so you really can't get close.

**For anyone thinking of birding in this area, please remember to call the range control office (613-991-5740 ) to get permission to enter the dyke area! This will ensure that birders continue to have access. Plus, you don't want to get shot at, do you?