First lifer of the year (#280)

I wanted to get out birding this weekend, but it wasn't until there was only about an hour left of sunlight left that I was ready to go. I already had it in mind that I wanted to look for the Barrow's Goldeneyes but hadn't mentioned it, so I had to laugh when I asked Matt where he wanted to go and he said "I was thinking of looking for the Barrow's Goldeneyes." Seriously, in what normal couple does this conversation happen?

"Barrow's goldeneyes."
"Yeah, that's just what I was thinking."

So we thought we'd pass through snowy territory on the way (which, by the way, is pretty much anywhere in Ottawa right now). The first spotting was on a tall hydro pole way out in the middle of the field--so far out you probably wouldn't see it, but I knew to look from the last time. Just around the bend, there were a bunch of parked cars, and no surprise, a perched snowy nearby.

The key to spotting a snowy owl? Look for a whole bunch of parked cars and expensive optics. 

I watched from the car and was extremely pleased with the behavior of the birders/photographers at this particular location--everyone was respecting property boundaries, keeping distance, being quiet and no flying rodents. The only thing that eventually flushed the owl was the behemoth snowplow that came down the street.

So we headed to our intended destination--one of few locations of open water in Ottawa. The patch of water in the Jock River is only about 100 metres long, so it didn't take long to find the five ducks bobbing about. They took off out of the water but only flew to the beginning of the patch of water, and they were busy ducking and diving and preening and generally being ducks, surfing the current backwards. It didn't seem to bother them at all that the water must be totally frigid! There were two female Barrow's, one male Barrow's and two male common goldeneyes. It's always pretty exciting to get a life bird on home turf--it doesn't happen so often anymore!

#280: Barrow's Goldeneye; January 2014; Ottawa, Ontario

I do worry what these ducks are going to do when the river freezes over! It's only going to get worse here before it gets better. It seems that -30 Celsius is the new normal in Ottawa.

Male Barrow's wit Common. Neat to see side-by-side!

At this point it was quite dark and shots were getting blurry even with the tripod, so we headed home. I spotted two more stories, one of which we practically drove right under, but didn't notice until the last minute. Not shy at all, these ones...

All in all, a life bird and four snowies in about an hour--not bad at all!

Back at Point Bob

Here's the final post from out West. After a few weeks on the road, it was good to finally relax on the beach, kayak and paddleboard in the ocean, play games, bike around the point and catch up with West Coast friends and family. The birds around there start to feel familiar too: there are always a few herons in the tide pools, the kingfisher hunting at dinnertime and hanging out at the breakwater, an eagle eating up fish leftovers on the beach, hummingbirds at the top of the hill.

This year was finally my year to see the orcas! A mom and her baby. The curse is over!

Remember this pic? Oops. It's actually from the Point. Somehow it got mixed in with pics from way earlier in the trip. It's a rufous :)

These birds are a little less familiar--I can't recall seeing them on the Point before and I almost missed them, they blended in so well with the seaweed. Of course we didn't take the camera and so this meant kayaking back to get it! Black Oystercatchers.

Anyone who knows me knows I'm anything but a morning person. I was sleeping soundly while Matt was out snaping pics of this eagle in front of the cabin who'd found something good on the beach, in that quiet time before the beachwalkers and dogs emerge and take over the sandbars.

Oh hai.

got something good here.

what?

goh!

going for a walk

thirsty bird

who's the fairest bird of them all?

I am, of course. what were you going to say?

I've got swagger, after all.

not to be confused with a sandpiper

Get me from my good side.

YOLO

hey paparazzi. have you had enough yet?

see ya! I've got take-out.

New Year Birding: Off to a Great Start!

New Year's Day was gorgeous--clear and blue--although a little chilly with the windchill at about -25. But a day off is a day off and not something to waste, as it's rare these days that I have much sunlight to play with. So I was really looking forward to having the camera (and my birding partner) back and hitting the trails.

Shannon, Brent, Violet and Donovan joined us (I'm secretly creating a birding army) and provided lots of extra sets of eyes to spot the winged ones. Apparently they weren't scared off by their first experience with us.

With the temperature it was, it was pretty quiet on Old Quarry Trail. But eventually we were swarmed by chickadees looking for lunch, and everyone was happy to oblige. Even a red-breasted nuthatch came to eat out of our hands. Violet's mittens were black so the birds couldn't see the seeds very well..she found she had better luck putting the seeds on her head...

We did the entire loop and saw just chickadees, a single nuthatch, three deer and a porcupine. Back by the cars though, I spotted a flash of red and a great black body. Everyone was a little mesmerized by the Pileated, even though we'd all seen them before. This individual was not at all concerned by our presence and really went at the tree, taking massive chunks off. The evidence of his destruction lay all around the base.  Soon after we noticed a brown creeper that reaped rewards from the pileated's work---he hopped around the pile on the ground investigating. Eventually two downy woodpeckers landed on the tree and there was a pileated, a creeper, two downies and then an American crow all on one tree! If I only I could have got a shot of all of them in the same frame.

I headed to yoga in the aft, but had just enough sunlight left to hear out one more time. I hadn't had a chance to look for any of the snowies so I thought we'd have a quick look. Within 15 minutes we'd found two, one really far off and another a little closer, still a little far for a great shot.

We observed for a bit before moving on, and just around the corner a bunch of little birds took off, but resettled and they turned out to be precious little horned larks!

umph. I'm so mad!

I have to say it was a pretty wonderful new year's day. We decided to keep a year list, and it stands at 8 so far. Best of birding in 2014 to all! I can't wait to see what this year has in store :)

Happy new year!

Another year gone by, and I guess it's something of a tradition for me to write a new year's post! In 2013 one of Matt's goals was to find 50 new life birds, and I thought he was crazy. Well, he did it! (I think I fell just short, but wasn't really counting anyway). A trip to Hawaii, the West Coast and Arizona probably didn't hurt!

So that brings me to resolutions. I used to hate them but recently have embraced them in that they help me have direction and keep me on track. So I have a few birding goals for this year. Not resolutions per se, but things to work on:

1. Bird topography. After several years of birding I still can't tell a primary from a tertial (ok, as of two days ago I can). But knowing ALL of the parts of the bird should help me with tricky identifications. Sibley has some neat quizzes you can do covering all parts of the bird.
2. Bird calls. I am really, really bad at this. I plan to pay a little more attention to bird sounds and try to remember at least some of them. 
3. Shorebirds! I will do my best not to miss migration and start figuring these out!
4. Local birding. I'm becoming notorious for doing most of my birding away from home. I want to rediscover my local area. That's starting today! And I want to make sure I don't miss spring migration!
5. Target bird for the year? Just one: Tufted titmouse, because it's so cute, and I should be some places in their range. 

What about you? Have you made any birding resolutions, are do have goals you are working towards?

In other bits of randomness, someone posted this on Facebook the other day and I laughed because I thought, I would actually really love to play that!

If you don't get purchase the game, you can always play this alternative online: 
Cornell Bird Trivia Game. But then you don't get to play with someone else.

Also my in-laws gave me a cute little stuffed owl and a necklace with an owl on it at Christmas. Am I becoming the crazy bird lady already? :P
 
Happy birding in the New Year! I'm heading out today...can't wait to see what's out there!

Let plovers nest in peace! Save the snowy plovers.... (#278-279)

We are nearing the end of the journey (well, it kept going, but the birding slowed down a bit as we hit urban centres and finally arrived at our ultimate destination). We stayed in a log cabin in the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area, and hit the dunes in the morning. I wasn't sure what to expect, but had seen some images of this unique area. I was a little annoyed by the gazillion dune buggies---I just don't get it!

The dunes are a long area of the Oregon Coast and we accessed them near Coos Bay. We did the long walk down the dunes (knowing it would be a fun climb back up again). When we came back up again, two rangers had set up a little table and had information on the dunes and ...birds! The one ranger was a university student and so helpful--I asked her what birds I could be seeing at that time and what I might have missed and she mentioned that there were western snowy plovers around. These tiny birds are threatened and long sections of the beach have been roped off, as well as signs and warnings indicating that motorized vehicles are not allowed in the beach during certain times (it's a bit odd...everybody drives their trucks on the beach there). Dogs are also a huge threat, scaring the birds away from their nest and wasting precious energy. Apparently, there were as few as 28 nesting birds in 1992 but they are now up to at least 231--a step in the right direction, for sure! She pointed me to a location where we might see them.

We drove there and walked a long ways down the shore not really seeing anything. First of all, it was really foggy and you couldn't really see all that far, and secondly because there were no birds! And also no people. It's crazy how much shoreline there is, and how few people are on it. Just at some at the main stops, but there are just not enough people to fill up all that beach, plus it's really too cold to do any sunbathing or swimming, so everyone just walks the beach and checks out the rocks and beachcombs generally.

Knowing chances would be really slim of seeing this bird anywhere else, we walked all the way down the beach as far as we could, at least 30 minutes. Finally, Matt yells my name quite urgently and laughs--pointing out this bird that is so tiny...so tiny this little bird weighs only 1.4 oz--scurrying along the beach. Scurrying, stopping in its tracks, scurrying some more. So sweet. And so white and fluffy. That tiny little bird totally won my heart.

You can check out this site for more information on the snowy plover and conservation efforts at http://www.westernsnowyplover.org/. I'd recommend you read up on this special little bird.

#278: Snowy Plover, Oregon Dunes, August 2013
I swear little snowy you are not just a number to me!

Check out the teeny tiny bands on its legs

After we noticed the plover, we started to see a few other birds, including some gnarly terns nearby, a few gulls eating dead crabs on the beach and a small sandpiper, that I almost thought was another plover.

Gull with Caspian Terns

Western sandpiper

Our last section before heading into Portland was Seaside to Astoria. We spent an extra day there than we had planned, hanging out with some amazing Warm Showers/Couchsurfing people we had met, relaxing, cooking, going to a karaoke bar, and for me at least, shooting the hummingbirds through the kitchen window. :)

Yes. It's sticking it's tongue out. At me?

I headed back to the archives for a better look and I'm glad I didn't delete this shot because this is the confirmation I need that these were rufous humingbirds :)

#278: Rufous Hummingbird; Seaside, Oregon, August 2013

Little bird playing peekabo shows the white tips of his tail. YES!

Another angle

On that note--more developments on the redwoods hummingbirds. here's proof that Matt did see Anna's. I went back and found this among the pics from that day....but none of them turned out, sadly--either super over or underexposed. But I think we can safely agree that the previous posted bird wasn't an Anna's and this one is--they are pretty clearly different!

You can find friends anywhere. I love that these experiences are so short but so intense.

I love you Oregon.

This was on all the cars in OR. I think I know why.

It's nice taking a while before doing these posts after a trip (I'm justifying my slacker habits here) because it's been nice to revisit the trip. I think just one more west coast post to come. It will be a familiar bird but a funny one. See you soon :)

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!