Barnacle Geese breed in the Arctic islands in the North Atlantic. They will occasionally find themselves off course in the United States. A couple of weeks ago, a pair of them were reported at a lake that is about 20 minutes away from me in Brodheadsville, Pennsylvania. I went after them the day after the initial report during my lunch hour. I had just enough time to drive to the lake, spend about five minutes with the birds and head back home. The lake is private and fenced, so there is no trespassing unless you are a member. I was lucky though – the geese were grazing on the shoreline close to the fence. I was able to see them from the small parking area.
I went up closer to the fence and took a few more photos. The rare birds were very cooperative!
Oh, and did I mention that they were life birds? What a great view!
This species has showed up in a few places within hours of me. There is no evidence that they were escaped birds. This pair seems to be moving with the migrant Canada Geese who may spend the entire winter here, as long as the lake does not freeze.
Last month, my friend, Jon, and I made a trip to Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in search of waterfowl. American Coots were very common, but most of them were too far for photographs. Neither of us had good photos of this bird in our archives so we were determined to change that. We had a couple of Coots tease us up close, while grasses were in-between us and them; others were close, but back-lit.
As we were leaving the refuge, Jon pulled the car over to put his camera away. He pulled up at the opening of a small pond. I looked out my window and saw a Coot right below me.
American Coot taken from the car window
A Coot up close? CHECK! The sun was behind us? CHECK! We carefully got out of the car and Jon made his way to the passenger side. We snapped away at the bird for ten minutes while it foraged through the vegetation before leaving it.
Fun fact about Coots: When you see that black bird with a big white bill bobbing in the water, do not confuse it for a duck. Coots are more closely related to rails and cranes than they are to ducks! Just because it look looks like a duck (almost…) and acts like a duck, doesn’t mean it’s a duck!
Last Friday, my friend Jon and I headed out to the New Jersey coast to find waterfowl, shorebirds and our main target bird – snowy owls. There have been early reports of the owls in the eastern United States and we wanted to see if we could find one. Last year, we got our Snowy fix in November and wanted to try to do the same this year.
Recent Snowy Owl Reports recorded on eBird
We decided to chase a bird who was spotted on Long Beach Island. Neither of us are familiar with this part of the island so we did not know what to expect. We parked the car and walked for a couple of miles on the sand. Every step we took was another that we would have to take on the way back. I started to feel discouraged and wanted to turn around a few times, but Jon was confident that we could find the owl. As we approached the very southern tip of the island, we saw two other photographers who passed us earlier on. They had their sights on something! It turns out that they were after the same target bird – the Owl was on the edge of the dunes.
The bird was looking around for a meal and flew a couple of times to different spots. We watched her make attempts at some smaller birds.
She landed up high on a pole, with the sunset behind her.
We went over to the other side to get what little light we had behind us and snapped away at this beautiful bird.
In total, we walked over five miles in the sand to find this bird. She did not make it easy to get to her, but once we found her she certainly was cooperative!
My most frequent hawk yard bird is not the more common Red-tailed Hawk – it is a bird that I did not see often when I was in New York, the Red-shouldered Hawk. Since they were difficult to see in New York, I did not have this as a yard bird at my old house… not even a flyover.
Last November, while at my new house in Pennsylvania, I was surprised with a beautiful adult right outside my window. This was on my birthday – a great gift from nature! After that, I would see or hear this bird often and I am pretty sure they ended up nesting in the neighborhood.
Adult Red-shouldered Hawk
Lately, I have been getting multiple visits from a young Red-shouldered Hawk. I wonder if this bird is one of the offspring.
A visit during my Project FeederWatch count
At the end of October and again a couple of days later, I saw this hawk grab a snake. The first time, it was right behind my house so I had a few photo ops. Despite the high angle, I am still happy with the photos!
Look closely – the snake is wrapping around the hawk’s leg
The snake was still alive and wrapping around the hawk’s leg.
The hawk works at killing and untangling the snake
It eventually gave up and the hawk left with its meal.
Finally, the snake gives up
The hawk picked up its catch and flew off
I have to admit that I was a little confused as to the identification of the younger bird. Some friends on Facebook helped me with the ID and gave me good information on how to ID the juvenile. This Sunday, I went to a hawk banding and they caught a Red-shoulder that looked just like my bird. I knew what the bird was as soon as I saw it in the net and it was really nice to see the details up close. The following photos are from the banding and not from my yard.
Red-shouldered Hawk in hand
Details in the wing
A close-up that I only wish I could get in my yard
I’ve mentioned this before – Black Skimmers are one of my favorite birds. I look forward to seeing a beach full of them when I go to Cape May in the fall. This year, we visited twice. On the first morning we went to Higbee dike, ate breakfast and headed to the beach. There was not a huge flock of birds but we still had some photo ops.
The next morning, we went to the beach earlier and found hundreds of birds.
The perfect light
The tide was high and the waves were rough. The birds were a tad bit skittish of the aggressive ocean and would take flight easily.
The waves kept the Skimmers at bay
My friend, Jon, and I ended up getting soaked because we forgot to pay attention to the water behind us. Thankfully, I just got up from kneeling in the sand when the wave hit so my camera was safe.
The photo I took right before getting soaked by a wave
We ended up going to breakfast since it was across the road and returned afterwards when the tide was a bit lower. It ended up paying off! Here are some more photos that I took that morning.
I ended up getting a photo that I just missed last year – a head-on shot of a Skimmer showing the beak from the front.
I’ve been wanting a head-on photo for a long time!
Another photographic success!
Young Skimmer in flight
In addition to the photos, I took a few videos with my phone of the flock in flight.
In the beginning of the month, two friends and I headed to the coast for some birding in New Jersey. It was a great trip for both birding and bird photography. Shorebirding can often be frustrating since I am still a beginner with them and I usually see them far away through a scope. We had a nice break from scope views during this trip and were able to admire their real beauty up close. The following birds are some of the more cooperative shorebirds that we found at Forsythe and Stone Harbor. See the captions for more information on the birds.
We got great looks at this Least Sandpiper at Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge
We went to Stone Harbor and found some very cooperative Semipalmated Sandpipers
A couple of Ruddy Turnstones were with them
We found some Sanderlings on a jetty
Just a few Sanderlings…
Perhaps a few hundred Sanderlings…
As the tide came in the Sanderlings were flying off the jetty to the sand
I’ve never seen so many shorebirds running with the waves
There was an extremely cooperative Semipalmated Plover with them
I was happy to finally get good photos of this species!
On Monday morning, I was invited with a friend to see a private bird banding at Jacobsburg State Park near Wind Gap, Pennsylvania. Of course, I brought my camera and took some “cheat” photos of birds right before they were released back into the wild. The banders taught us a few things about the markings and how to age and sex some of the birds – it was overall a great experience!
The first bird we watched getting banded was a good one – a young Rose-breasted Grosbeak who would not stop biting the bander’s hand.
This young male Rose-breasted Grosbeak was very bitey
The most common species were the Catbird and Tufted Titmouse. Many of them were young and they were also the loudest.
A very young Gray Catbird who is still growing feathers
This Tufted Titmouse waited calmly to be banded and examined
The only two Warblers they caught were an Ovenbird and Chestnut-sided Warbler.
The first captured Warbler, an Ovenbird, was later recaptured and released
A male Chestnut-sided Warbler in fall plumage
We did, however, get three species of Vireo including our bird of the day – the Yellow-throated Vireo.
The Yellow-throated Vireo who stole the show
This Warbling Vireo was another good catch for the area
Adult Red-eyed Vireo with striking eye color
We also had two good insect visitors right next to the banding table – a Praying Mantis and Northern Walking Stick!
This Praying Mantis and Walking Stick hung out near the table
It’s pretty awesome to see song birds up close and personal, especially when they are typically up high in the trees. I can never get this detail “in the wild.”
Piping Plovers are small shorebirds who are considered endangered or threatened due to destruction of beach habitat as well as interference with humans, pets and vehicles. Beaches along the coast will block off areas where this bird nests – despite the negative feedback from regular beach-goers. I’ve been wanting to photograph this bird for a while and, this past June, my friend Jon took me to go see them. Birding was very slow along the coast since most of the migrating shorebirds moved on to their breeding grounds, but a Piping Plover put on a great show for us, which made the trip completely worth it. The bird preened, searched for a meal and wandered around the tidal pools making for some really nice photos.
Rather than attempt to write about it, I will share the experience in photos.
The next morning, we met with Dave at 4:30AM. We were happy that he arrived just at the moment that we did because it was still dark out and the only people out on the streets were hungover or high! We saw some…interesting people that morning. We had a long drive ahead of us – Dave wanted to bring us to the mountains up in Washington. We did not make many stops on the way – until Dave spotted a pair of California Quail on the side of the road. He stopped the car, backed up and let us get good looks and photos. Both Renee and I already started the day with a lifer!
Male California Quail on the roadside.
Further up the road, he spotted a Western Kingbird on a fence. Once again, he stopped the car, backed up and allowed us to photograph this cooperative bird. Another car-stopping lifer!
My lifer Western Kingbird on a wire.
The next stop we made was in an area that was clear cut with plenty of growth.
There were nice field birds in this clearcut area.
Here, we got our best looks at a male Western Tanager and found a family of Western Bluebirds. We caught one of the Bluebirds getting a meal ready for his young – he smacked the caterpillar around until it was more edible.
Our best looks at a male Western Tanager.
This Western Bluebird smacked and smashed the caterpillar before moving on.
After that, we headed into Trout lake through my favorite type of scenery – forest! The woodlands were very different from what I am used to in the east. Tall, beautiful firs and some pines filled the landscape.
Going up the mountain
My favorite scenery!
We stopped in several spots to find some forest birds. New life birds included Hammond’s Flycatchers and Cassin’s Vireo. We also got our first looks at the Audubon’s Yellow-rumped Warbler.
Audubon’s Yellow-rumed Warbler
After spending some time in the live part of the forest, We continued up the mountain in search of more specialties.
Looking up at Mt. Adams
The landscape changed drastically as we entered the area that burned in 2012 on the southeast skirt of Mount Adams.
Cascade Creek Burn
Within the blackened trees, were some survivors and new growth. The view was striking, dreary and beautiful.
Some live and burnt trees
We got out of the car and hiked by foot to find the birds that have eluded us thus far. Dave knew of a nesting cavity for an American Three-toed family, so we scoped it out. We immediately heard the nestlings calling from the hole but no adults were in sight. One stuck his head out and continued to call to its parents. We hung back and watched for about twenty minutes; no adults showed up. They must have been trying to lure the young out of the cavity.
American Three-toed Woodpecker nestling calling out
We searched for some of our other target birds and ended up dipping on Gray Jays and Clark’s Nutcrackers. We did finally see an adult American Three-toed Woodpecker as well as our first Black-backed Woodpecker and some Hairy Woodpeckers.
Rozi enjoying the hike
As we headed back down the mountain, we continued our search for more new birds. We got great looks at more mountain birds – the Mountain Bluebird and Chickadee.
Western Tanager and Mountain Bluebird
Mountain Chickadee life bird
Dave also found us a bird that I missed when a vagrant visited New York last year – a Townsend’s Solitaire. Lighting was terrible for photos, but we did get very good looks at this bird!
Townsend’s Solitaire lifer
Further down the mountain, we ran into some friends who were at the previous day’s barbeque. They were also having a slow day but gave us directions to a Williamson’s Sapsucker’s nest that was right off the road. It was an easy find and Mom came to the nest almost as soon as we got there. Dad followed.
Williamson’s Sapsucker female
Williamson’s Sapsucker male
While we were watching these birds, another Black-backed Woodpecker allowed us to get some nice looks. The nesting tree was also shared with a pair of Red-breasted Nuthatches who busily made their way in and out of their cavity.
We finally left the mountain and made our way back to Oregon. On the way, we stopped for a local specialty – huckleberry smoothies – this time, at a more appropriate hour. We made our way through Conboy National Wildlife Refuge where we found more Western Kingbirds and our first Western Meadowlarks.
Another cooperative Western Kingbird
Our next stop was at a cemetery in search of Cassin’s Finches. We did find a male and female along with a Western Wood-Pewee, Gray Flycatcher, Western Bluebirds, Red-shafted Northern Flickers, a Red-breasted Sapsucker and my favorite surprise – Pygmy Nuthatches!
An unexpected Pygmy Nuthatch
Western Wood-Pewee
Back on the road, the scenery continued to “wow” us along the Columbia River.
Driving along the Columbia River
We made several stops in search of various birds but they were tough to find as the afternoon got hotter. Dave mentioned that we should keep an eye on hawks because there was a chance at finding a Swainson’s Hawk. I figured it would have been a long shot, however, not long after he said it I found out a hawk hovering near the road. Dave stopped the car and we got our first really great looks at a Swainson’s Hawk hunting the fields – we actually saw one!!
We eventually made it back into Oregon where Dave brought us to a spot that was known to have White-throated Swifts. There were tons of Swallows to pick through but Dave finally directed my eyes to a swift. The sun was behind the birds so all I could see was its silhouette. Eventually, I found another on my own, but still could not make out any real detail. We wanted to listen for Wrens, but the sound of cars filled the air. We made several more stops along the highway for the Wrens. We finally found two Rock Wrens – a juvenile showed itself and shortly after, an adult came out.
Rock Wren on a rock
The next target bird was the Lewis’s Woodpecker. We found one perched a bit far, but in the open. We also found some unexpected Grasshopper Sparrows – not a life bird, but still always a nice bird to see. Dave knew of a spot that we could get a better look at a Lewis’s Woodpecker and he did not disappoint. The beautiful bird showed off for us!
Lewis’s Woodpecker
We made a last attempt for Canyon Wrens but ended up finding more Rock Wrens and a Black-billed Magpie. This was my US-lifer Magpie, even though it was silhouetted against the sun.
Our next target birds, the Tricolored Blackbirds, were exactly where Dave said they would be (of course!). When we stopped the car, several females popped up – it did not take long for some males to fly in. We got some nice looks and they took off. Along the way, we also saw more field bird specialties – Western Meadowlarks and Kingbirds, Mountain Bluebirds and Horned Larks.
Tricolored Blackbirds
Our very last stop before finally heading out for dinner was at a residential hummingbird feeder which was known to get a nice variety of local hummers. The only ones that showed up were Rufouses – we got excellent looks at a beautiful male. We still had a long way to get home so we did not stay long. It was getting dark and we were tired and hungry. We stopped at the Rendezvous Grill for more good food and finally remembered to take a photo of the three of us inside the restaurant.
The birding trio – Renee, Dave and me
During this trip, I ended up with 54 life birds plus 3 US-lifers. We saw, in total, over 120 species of birds in the middle of summer. It was an excellent trip and Dave is a great guide who I will continue to keep in touch with and hopefully see again soon (Rio Grande Valley maybe?). I can’t even find the words to let him know how much we appreciated him taking us out on two days of non-stop birding. Also, thanks to Bob’s Red Mill and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology for making this trip possible!
Back in March, I was announced as the winner of Project Feederwatch’s BirdSpotter Photo Contest. The grand prize was a three day trip to Portland, Oregon for me and a friend, courtesy of Bob’s Red Mill. The trip would include birding and a tour of the mill. Of course, I wanted to maximize the birding so I asked my birding friends about when a good time to go was. My friend Chris gave me the name of a Portland native, Dave Irons, who I sent a Facebook message to. Not only did Dave tell me when the best time to go was, he also offered to take us out birding. I sent him my “wishlist” of life birds – I’ve never birded in the Western United States so the list was not small. He replied back that he could get me most of the birds on it in a day’s worth of birding!
I asked my birding-travel-buddy, Renee, to join me. We ended up making plans for the Fourth of July weekend. We knew it would be crowded, but decided to spend the holiday miles away from home, across the country. We added an extra day on our dime so that we had one day to visit Bob’s Red Mill and explore Portland, one day to go birding with Dave and another to head to the coast to see an Oregon coastal specialty – the Tufted Puffin. As the trip grew closer, I asked Dave if he was interested in heading to the coast with us. I can only imagine his thought process when he said yes – it may have went something like “this spot is on the way, then that spot, and then we can go see [insert bird here] in this forest and [insert another bird here] on the way, then get to the coast to see the famous puffins before noon.” It didn’t take long for him to tease us with hints of the birds we can see along the way.
We arrived in Portland in the afternoon on July 2nd. After three flights and two short layovers, we needed some real food. We decided to check out Portland’s famous food trucks and ate more than our stomachs could handle. We walked it off at the Waterfront Park where I saw my first two life birds for the trip – the Violet-green Swallow and California Gull. Then, because we had an early dinner, went to the one of the famous Voodoo Doughnut locations to enjoy dessert.
Violet-green Swallow from later on in the trip.
We went to bed early… in fact, it was still light out… but to be fair, we were up since 1AM local time and it was nearing 9PM.
In the morning, we headed across the river to Milwaukie to visit Bob’s Red Mill. We arrived just in time for the tour – it was very interesting to learn the history or Bob’s Red Mill and also nice to see it behind-the-scenes. I never did get to meet Bob because he was in London, but I did get to meet his partner and shell an ear of whole grain corn in his office. After the tour, we stopped at the Bob’s Red Mill Whole Grain Store where we spent my gift certificate and ate some really good food.
Renee and me at Bob’s Red Mill
We headed over to Washington Park where we explored the Portland Japanese Garden and International Rose Test Garden. Bird-wise, I picked up two more lifers – a family of Black-throated Gray Warblers and a singing Spotted Towhee – and also saw my first Oregon subspecies of the Dark-eyed Junco.
This Spotted Towhee continued to sing even as we were nearby.
One of my favorite roses from the Rose Gardens.
We explored Portland some more, sampled flights of hard cider at a local brewery, went to an art walk, and ate delicious Thai food in the Pearl District. We ended up going to bed a bit early again because, the next morning, Dave was picking us up at 5:30 AM.
Pad Thai and Pumpkin Curry from Khao San
Dave arrived on schedule with an extra birding guest in the back seat – Rozi, the super relaxed and laid back dog. We eagerly hopped into the car and were on our way. As we drove along the highway, Dave pointed out that the birds on the wires were Western Scrub-Jays – a new bird for me. The local Brewer’s Blackbirds were also new and we even stopped the car so I could get good looks at these common birds.
Western Scrub-Jay with a filbert
Or first stop awarded us with a singing Western Wood-PeeWee; we tried to locate it with no luck. We continued up the road to find Acorn Woodpeckers – this would be a lifer for Renee and a US-lifer for me. We eventually found them further down and also got our first looks at a Bullocks Oriole, Black-headed Grosbeaks and a Western Wood-PeeWee who showed himself.
Bullock’s Oriole on the treetops
We made our way to the spot that Dave said we could get a Northern Pygmy-Owl. Renee and I had our doubts about actually seeing this bird but we certainly got more than we bargained for! Dave pulled out a small whistle that resembled a broken recorder (you know, that little instrument that you have to play in grade school?) and started tooting away. The trees started filling up with birds – Hermit and Wilson’s Warblers, Red-breasted Nuthatches, Oregon Juncos – and then we heard the Owl call back from down-hill. The Owl progressively got closer until it flew to a treetop within view. The birds then started to focus on the Owl and were joined by Western Tanagers, Black-headed Grosbeaks and Chestnut-backed Chickadees. Gray Jays gave us some back-lit looks, I saw my first Red-shafted Flicker, a Red-breasted Sapsucker flew in and Band-tailed Pigeons flew by at some point. We were racking up life birds like crazy!
One of the Northern Pygmy-Owl’s great perches
Hermit Warblers were pretty common!
The Oregon subspecies of Dark-eyed Junco
We headed over to Tillamook Forest Center where we could find more birds and, more importantly, have a nice clean restroom. We headed to a small bridge that overlooked a creek and searched for a bird that I was excited about seeing – the American Dipper. Dave found one foraging a bit far off, but not too far for our binoculars.
An American Dipper is hidden in here.
We finally headed off to the coast, but not without stopping at Tillamook Creamery on the way. It was 10AM and Dave insisted that we stop here to have some ice cream. We were on vacation so it didn’t take much to convince us to have ice cream for breaskfast. He gave us a 5-minute tour, we sampled some cheese and ordered our ice cream.
Proof that we had ice cream for breakfast.
On the way to the coast, we stopped at Bay City Oyster Company where I got my first Glaucous-winged Gulls. Back on the road, we got caught in holiday traffic. Not just beach traffic – parade traffic. We must have arrived just before the parade and passed crowds of people who waved to the cars passing by. It felt like we were in the parade! What a way to greet the out-of-staters (OK, so they were waving to everyone). Once we broke free from the traffic, we made a stop at Silver Point to do some sea watching. Heermann’s Gulls, Pelagic Cormorants and Brown Pelicans flew by and we had Pigeon Guillemots and a Black Oystercatcher fly in – one of which was my 500th life bird. If only I could remember which I saw first! I think I got my first good scope-looks at the Oystercatcher…
My 500th life bird is somewhere in this photo
And then the moment we were waiting for – not like the rest of the day wasn’t amazing because it certainly was – we arrived at Cannon Beach.
Haystack Rock was full of life birds!
We scoped out the rock from where we parked and got our first looks at Puffins – but Renee and I were itching to get closer. Low tide allowed us to get right up to the rock. Tufted Puffins, Common Murres and Western Gulls flew on and off the rock. The Puffins were, unfortunately, landing on the ocean side where there was more grass. A pair ended up flying on the beach side and we got fantastic scope views. Brown Pelicans were also plentiful and we got more looks at Pelagic Cormorants as well as Brandt’s Cormorants. Harlequin Ducks also swan down low and hung out on the rocks.
Tufted Puffin on Haystack Rock
Common Murre flying by
Brown Pelican flying by
Pigeon Guillemot on the nest
Pelagic Cormorants on their nests
Pelagic Cormorant with Common Murre in the background
After being in a dream world for about an hour, we headed to our next destination – LUNCH! Or, we tried to. Traffic stopped us from going to get fish and chips in Seaside but we did end up making some more bird stops along the way were we looked for Bushtits and Wrentits; it was very hot out so we had trouble finding them. We did, however, stumble upon our first Steller’s Jays and got close to a forging Black-throated Gray Warbler.
I was so happy to get good looks at Steller’s Jays!
Black-throated Gray Warbler foraging along the road
We ended up hitting some standstill traffic and went a new direction. Dave led us to Camp 18 for lunch. The restaurant was very interesting: built like a huge log cabin with logging equipment laid throughout the property. As soon as we walked inside, we saw bird feeders and gravitated toward them. We ended up having lunch along side Evening and Black-headed Grosbeaks, Rufous Hummingbirds, Purple, House and Goldfinches, Steller’s Jays and a Cooper’s Hawk who swiped up one of the songbirds.
I took this photo of Evening Grosbeaks with my phone – they were eating right outside the glass from me
We had to head home early – we were invited to a Fourth of July BBQ at Dave’s friend’s house – so we headed back after lunch. On the way, we kept an eye out for birds; we specifically tried looking for a Cinnamon Teal but came up empty handed. What we did find was a cooperative Lazuli Bunting.
The Lazuli Bunting’s song reminded me of the Indigo Bunting.
Finding life birds did not stop there – during the BBQ I got good looks at a female Anna’s Hummingbird and a couple of Lesser Goldfinches. No one minded me putting up my binoculars to look at birds – in fact, they encouraged it – it was a yard full of birders after all…
