Ernie and Burt

Actually, Ernie did not show. And neither did Bert, but I did spend time with Burt (Road) twice last month. Mid May I took a Sunday afternoon two weeks in a row to go just east of town to a dirt road which is all but closed due to a bridge over Fairchild's Creek which has been condemned and never replaced.  The quiet lane passes through a mix of settings including the creek, low scrubby growth, open farmer's field, and then some hardwood forest.

Down by the creek, a couple Yellow-rumped Warblers were flitting around collecting bugs.  I believe this one is a 1st year male.

1st year male Yellow-rumped Warbler

As I walked along an Indigo Bunting scolded me and then sung from the tops of the trees, keeping out of view for pictures.  I heard lots of protest from blackbirds in the distance and wondered if I might find an owl on my own. But soon after, the reason for the noise flew over - a Red-tailed Hawk with some Red-winged Blackbird pursuers on the attack.

Red-winged Blackbirds repelling a Red-tailed Hawk

Across the bare farm field, some deer stood watching me and then finally trotted into the bush.  I decided to follow and hiked around in the woods in that direction.  At one point, both a deer and I spooked each other as I came around a clump of trees... it must have been bedded down in the long grass and jumped out to flee, scaring me as well.

White-tailed Deer

On the way back, I passed along side an open scrubby area full of lower bushes and tangles of still dead raspberry stalks and I thought I'd see if I could raise some sing of life from some perfect habitat for Common Yellowthroats.  I use it sparingly, but resorted to playing bird calls from my phone with Sibley's Bird app [link].  Immediately I got the reaction I expected with the chattering scold to warn the interloper.  It was accompanied by lots of posing, tail up and head down and forward ready to attack.

male Common Yellowthroat

aggression pose of the Common Yellowthroat

The little guy was so intent on seeing who the offending visitor was, it was hardly even aware of me and came quite close.  Almost two close to keep up with with the camera to take a picture.

male Common Yellowthroat

The activity brought out the female as well and I got a pretty good shot.  It was early enough in the season that I'm thinking she was likely not nesting yet and maybe thought the new male was worth checking out.  Most of the time she would stay low to the ground and skitter through the tangled undergrowth, just giving glimpses of a view.

female Common Yellowthroat

As I stood up to leave the pair in peace, I noticed a raccoon sleeping up in tree not are into the bush bordering the Yellowthroat's territory.  However, it seemed to look odd and not quite right. I realize they can look quite strange while wedged into a crook in the treed, but this one looked some how very large in the body, and with quite a thin and matted head.  I'm not sure if it's pregnant (seems late), sick (would seem to match the strangely thin looking face and flat head hair).  Not surprisingly, when I returned on my next Sunday visit, it was no longer there.

Racoon (pregnant, sick, awkward?)

A few Turkey Vultures flew overhead and swooped quite low and fast over me.

Turkey Vulture

On my first trip, a Indigo Bunting was passing back and forth between two trees, singing its song to ensure everyone knew where it had claimed home to be.  I didn't get any great shots.  But my second Sunday outing was much better finding a second bird not very far away in a clump of isolated trees in the field. I was surprised their territories would be that close. I could actually see the other Bunting flying around along the lane way a short distance away still visiting the same trees.

Indigo Bunting ruffled by the wind.

Again, I thought I'd try the bird calls briefly and saw for the first time the phenomenon I had saw and shared [link] in a previous post of a video showing the wing wage warning.  The next two pictures show it clearly.

Indigo Bunting wing warning.

Indigo Bunting wing warning, more pronounced.

A bright and brilliantly coloured bird!

Indigo Bunting

Heading back to the car, as usual later than I should be because of the one more picture delay, my eye caught the tips of two big ears just barely poking out of the grass behind where the Common Yellowthroats put of their show for me the previous week.  In the picture below, the female White-tailed Deer I had spotted had already noticed me and was trying to figure whether she needed to get up from her comfortable spot.

White-tailed Deer doe.

Decision is made and the white flag was lifted and soon she bounded into cover, and then proceeded to let me know she was not impressed at all with a long series of surprisingly loud snorts. I didn't see any other activity and was half hoping I'd see some fawns come out of the grass somewhere with those warning sounds.  If they were there, I saw nothing.

White-tailed Deer doe.

On the way back, I spotted a Blue Jay busy making a nest, busily carrying and arranging twigs in a big, old Sugar Maple.

Blue Jay nest building

Just before getting back to where I left my car, I was delayed even further with a Eastern Bluebird who also wanted its picture taken, though shyly as it would not let me get too close.

Eastern Bluebird

I'm getting really far behind here on posts...Lots of chores around the house this spring so the picture editing and posting does not happen as often. I've not been out birding in a while either. Hopefully I can change both "problems" a bit soon.

Till then...
Keep enjoying HIS handiwork!

Washington State

We headed west in late April to visit family; Holly's sister and my brother and the respective (and respected) "out-laws" both live less than 30 minutes from each other in beautiful state of Washington.  Holly had assisted with a medical emergency on the flight for our recent Costa Rica trip so we received a discount voucher to fly again with Delta.  Combining that with an amazing ticket sale, we eagerly snapped up the tickets and arranged the visit.  Our youngest is under two and could fly free, so we took her along too.

The morning after arriving, everyone else had plans so I took the morning to morning to walk up into a hill behind where we were staying.  Along the way, a marshy area was full of Red-winged Blackbirds wooing mates.

female Red-winged Blackbird

male Red-winged Blackbird

As I walked towards the base of the hill, there were a few black birds in the newly leafed trees.  I almost overlooked them assuming by their size and squeaky call that they were just starlings, but good thing I checked closer. With bright yellow eyes and a slight blue and green iridescence, they were a new find and became life bird #195: Brewer's Blackbirds.

Brewer's Blackbird

As I climbed the steep road (I'm sure the grade was about 12 percent or more) a Red-tailed hawk broke the silence with it's falling, piercing call.  It circled all around the area and I got quite a few shots.  Unfortunately, I had mistakenly kept the shutter speed too low and I forgot to check.  I only got a couple salvageable shots.

soaring Red-tailed Hawk

It later perched in a dead snag and watched me for a short while.  The cliff between us was too steep and I couldn't find out how much closer it would have allowed me.

Red-tailed Hawk

Soon, a much larger form glided in from the distance and guaranteed that I'd see at least one example of the States' national bird - an adult Bald Eagle.  This was soon after my hawk shots and I still hadn't adjusted my camera settings, so I settle for a rather unclear picture of the majestic bird!

Bald Eagle

Near the top of the hill there are a number of beautiful homes and an Anna's Humming bird was zipping around between feeders and flowering bushes.  It was way up on a cliff with really bad lighting, but the cropped picture is clear enough to show it's bright purple throat. Another lifer.

Anna's Hummingbird

I wandered around on the uninhabited side of the hill a bit, not seeing much in the uncharacteristically warm 27 deg C (80 deg F) high temp of the day.  I sure was enjoying the warm weather, knowing that back home it was a cold, raining week.  Here was the view from the hillside.... great!

A typical Washington view.

At the top of the hill, I varied from the recommended route my sister-in-law had given me and found an old dirt lane which seemed to head in the general direction of "home".  It wasn't labelled with any signs of any sort so I thought with large camera lens in hand, I could plead the innocence of being a bird nerd if anyone complained about trespassing. The mix of large mature deciduous and coniferous trees shaded and soon I was hearing lots of bird songs I didn't recognize.  Unfortunately I saw none of them close enough to find out what they were.  Further down the lane, a number of trees were full of Yellow-rumped Warblers.  They were very busy feeding on also bugs enjoying the warm weather. Unfortunately, the thick trees meant low light and I couldn't get any good pictures. Even if the birds would perch in a sunlit spot, it would only be for a few seconds, too short to get a picture.

As I made my way down the trail, a vehicle came down the lane and stopped, asking for my reason of being down where I was.  The camera proved its worth and seemed to set the two slightly rough looking guys at rest.  Actually, the one guy seemed to take an interest, and offered that he knew of a large nest down in the bush, wondering if I'd like to see it.  I took him up on the offer and followed them around the bend to where a large, rambling but quite neglected house sat on the hillside completely isolated from everything else.  I was told it was about eight apartments, likely housing some less than wealthy folks who called it home.  After waiting for my guide to return from the house, he returned with a large machete in hand, casually noting to me that he could understand that I might find it a bit unnerving to have someone, in the middle of "nowhere", offer to take me for a walk into the bush while wielding a machete.  But I wasn't too worry, he assured me.  And I didn't.

The machete was to cut back the blackberry bushes which smother the hillside.  It wasn't really needed though as I followed him along a trail he obviously had traveled lately a number of times.  He mentioned that that morning they had been setting up a trail cam in an area on the opposite side of the hill where they had found what they think was Bob Cat scat.  That would be amazing to see in the wild!

Sure enough, soon we approached the edge of cliff which was part of an already steep section of the hillside and the objecting cries of two Red-tailed Hawks let us know we were not welcome.  In a tree reaching from below the cliff's edge was a large nest.  Inside I could see at least one egg, and what I believe were two fluffy white chicks.

Red-tailed Hawk nest with chicks and egg.

We sat in the midst of the brambles and hoped to hide ourselves enough with the hopes that the adults would return to the nest, but we were only fooling ourselves given their amazing eye sight.  We enjoyed the sight for a few minutes, and then left them in peace.  I'd have loved to stay longer, but the parents were obviously agitated (though we weren't terribly close) and it made me wish I had an instant pop up blind in my pocket to use.  Such an amazing viewing angle, and a blind would have been so easy to set up there to allow the adults to return un-alarmed.  But I was glad to enjoy the experience!

I thanked my willing friend and continued down the hill, only to be startled by an equally startled mule deer that had been resting in the underbrush right side the lane.  However, it didn't take off far, and let me approach quite closely.

Mule Deer

Once I got too close, it moved just into the brush and then stared at me from there.  Either it felt safer behind the leaves or had some illusion that I couldn't see it anymore, but I was able to get close enough to get the next picture zoomed all the way back (granted, still at 150mm).

Mule Deer - close.

Soon we both tired of the stare down and we both calmly went separate ways.  That was one of my more enjoyable hikes I had.

But I had run out of time as we were supposed to be heading out for a outing with the family.  We went to a great lookout where you could see great views of Mount Baker and it was even clear enough to see Mount Rainier in the distance.

Mount Baker

Mount Rainier way in the distance (blue through the afternoon haze)

My beautiful travel-mate!

Bald Eagle

The following days were filled with lots of family visiting and touristy outings - great times!  Thanks a lot to both our brother and sister's families for all the things they did with and for us!

One outing was to Deception Pass where we walked along shore of the very calm Pacific Ocean.  One of the first sights was of Surf Scoters, albeit at a distance from water's edge. Another bird to add to the list with a not so great picture but still good enough for evidence.

Surf Scoters

As we walked along the stoney beach, a group of younger Thayer's Gulls were preening on a rocky outcrop. Yet another new bird.

Thayer's Gulls

Further along we passed some sandy cliffs and a humming bird was busy meandering through the dangling grasses, roots and leaves from the cliff edge.  I'm not sure what it was doing or looking for there.  I'm pretty sure it was a female Rufous Hummingbird.

female Rufous Hummingbird

There were lots of Pigeon Guillemots swimming in the fast waters approaching the two big Deception Pass bridges.  Again, none were venturing close for a great picture, but you can see clearly enough in the photo below its distinct bright red legs and white eye ring.  This bird is from the Puffin family and lives only in the Pacific Ocean.

Pigeon Guillemot

A little further along a female Harlequin Duck was diving and searching for food a lot closer to shore than the other birds.  I was able to sneak up between dives for a few pictures before it got uncomfortable with the closeness and moved on.

female Harlequin Duck

On the way back to the car, we were met by a White-crowned Sparrow perched on a piece of driftwood, singing its heart out.  It was quite tolerant of me and I could get some nice closeups.

White-crowned Sparrow

It was a great trip out to Washington. We had lots of visiting time with our brother and sister and their families, had a great get-together with all my cousins living in that area, and enjoyed the great hospitality of everyone out there.  My only regret is not being able to do an outing with my Uncle Gord who had planned to take me out exploring at a couple great sites.  He has a very bad back, and the night before had to cancel because his back had suddenly gone out again.  He had hoped to take me to a site where there are approximately 600 heron nests.  That would have been a sight to see.  Next visit hopefully I can fit that in.

The trip did have a rather sad moment.  We visited the Seattle zoo with my brother and sister-in-law and their cute daughter.  Holly was taking pictures of their raptor show and handed the camera to me for a turn, with an off hand comment that she wasn't sure, but it didn't seem to be taking pictures any more.... much to my chagrin I confirmed it was so.  The shutter was stuck.  It had done that a few months back, and at that time a careful but firm bump had reset it. Not to be repeated and we were sans-camera for the rest of the trip.  More to come on that in a future post... 

Well, I added eight life birds to my list that trip, letting me crack the 200 mark at 202.  But more fun was enjoying the visits with the family and seeing their stomping grounds. Who knows when the next visit that way will be, but next time hopefully it will be with all the kids along... I'm know my brother will be pleased with that thought!

Until next time...

Keep enjoying HIS handiwork!

The Brackets of the Day

The same day I was able to to to Bronte to see the Red-Necked Grebes, I went into work early to stop by the Osprey nest which I pass on my way to and from work every day.  I also stopped on my way home at a storm water management pond behind the Walmart in Waterdown.  These to little stops bracketed the more exciting Red-Necked Grebe visit, but I lest these poor birds feel left out, I'll dedicate a post to them too.

The Osprey nest is atop a cell tower northeast of the Highway 6 and 403 interchange south of Waterdown (here). You can easily access it by the parking lot of the City View Motel off of Plains Road.

Osprey nest atop the cell tower.

Although not a scenic setting, they are still amazing, huge raptors and I should probably try a few more stops this summer with an early departure time for work allowing a morning to try and capture a shot of one of them returning with a fish.  Osprey are known for how they carry their catch in a head forward position for aerodynamics.

Osprey

It preened for quite a while atop a nearby TV antenna, and then flew off towards Cootes Paradise.  I waited for a while, but never saw it return, and I had to head for work.

Osprey leaves for breakfast.

But while waiting, I was treated with the sweet song of a very vocal Yellow Warbler.  Not hard to find these bright birds in the morning sun!  And I took full advantage of the morning sunlight which I seldom get.  As I've mentioned before, most of my outings are at lunch time which often means harsh lighting conditions.  This lighting didn't dissapoint!

Yellow Warbler singing.

Yellow Warbler portrait.

I've stopped here before last year trying to see the Osprey, and also saw the Yellow Warbler in exactly the same location.  There is a small strip of trees and scrub against the slope to Highway 6 and it must like this location as it seems to return here.

Yellow Warbler singing away.

Yellow Warbler... still singing.

Although quite common, this little warbler is such an enjoyable sight and holds a special place as it's one of the first birds I saw when I started this little hobby.

On the way home that same day, I stopped by the SWM pond behind the Walmart and Rona (here).  I'd heard of other birders from Hamilton stopping in here and thought since I drive within 2 minutes of this location every way to and from work, I'd try it out.  There wasn't too much visible in my quick time there.

A bright flash of blue caught my eye as I descended down the gravel path.  A Silvery Blue Butterfly.  The blue interior was only visible when it flew, staying inconspicuous when resting with its wings closed.

Silvery Blue Butterfly

Of course, for a location like this there would be something wrong if there weren't a number of Red-Winged Blackbirds.  I saw this one quite nimbly fly out and catch a dragonfly.

Red-Winged Blackbird with dragonfly catch.

Red-Winged Blackbird portrait.

As I walked around the trails in the pond basin, I suddenly heard a loud, squeaky call from the bull rushes.  As I approached, a Green Heron flushed out and flew over to another section of the pond.  I approached slowly and wondered why it wasn't retreating further into the protection of the greenery. It had landed on an abandoned Swan nest which had one egg sitting lonely and unattended.

Green Heron

Green Heron stalking

It was soon evident why the Green Heron had not been paying attention to me - it was preoccupied with a frog it suddenly lunged for and caught it.  You can just see the legs in the shot below before it went down the hatch.  After that, the heron suddenly noticed me again, and winged off into forest cover beyond to let the wriggling frog settle into its stomach away from me.

Green Heron downing a frog.

I should probably try that location again soon and see what else there is to see with a little more time to spend.
Keep enjoying His handiwork!