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Author Archives: Teri J Pieper

Birds on the Beach

I’ve never been very good at identifying shorebirds. It used to be that I birded with some experienced birders and I could muddle my way through the peeps and such but not anymore. And this time of year, the birds are in winter plumage so very few clear ID marks stand out for me. Someday I’d like to go to Alaska in the late spring and see the breeding shorebirds decked out in all their fine feathered plumage. But for now I will have to settle for wintering birds on the Washington coast once in a while.

This Bald Eagle didn’t seem to bother the shorebirds.
He finally moved on.
Two gulls.
Beautiful patterns when they fly.

Scenes from the Coast

We had a week away from home and got to spend a few days on the Washington coast at Grayland. Digging razor clams was our goal but the weather interfered with that. The locals warned us that high winds and heavy surf cause the clams to not ‘show’ and they were right. The first night of digging Ken and I got our limits but it wasn’t easy. The next two nights we did not get anymore than a small clam appetizer. It was pretty silly. At one point the wind was blowing about 40 mph and the rain was coming down sideways, in sheets. The beach had a steady stream of water running down to ocean. It was one of the dumber things we’ve ever done. I asked the owner of the place where we were staying, how often does it blow like this and he said it had been at least a couple of years. The next day it blew even harder! Clam digs were at night because that’s when the low tides occurred. Hopefully we can return in the spring when low tides are during the day! We did manage to get out and enjoy the beach a little bit even with the wind and rain and one afternoon the sun came out. I drove down to Tokeland to buy some crab and got to watch the waves from a better vantage point. A day or two after we left, some homes between Grayland and Tokeland fell into the water as a result of the high surf. The place is called Washaway Beach.

The ocean has encroached into the dunes. One place I used to visit, years ago, is impossible to get to now.
Lots of foam with all the wind and waves
Crashing waves near Tokeland
A crab boat
Small scale wind power
Salmon jaw?
Sea foam looks like a beautiful quilt

A Few Bird Images

November is not really a great month for birding but I did manage to see a few interesting birds and get some photos of them. Most of these were taken from our dining room looking out at our feeder snags.

Yesterday I noticed some Mourning Dove feathers on the ground. It was probably nabbed by the Sharp-shinned Hawk. She’s been a regular visitor for several weeks but this is the first evidence I’ve found indicating she is successfully hunting here. Mostly she cranes her neck and watches for some small unsuspecting bird to return to the feeder. I think she’s a female because she is rather large for a sharpie. The males are smaller.

The Northern Pygmy Owl was here before the snow fell. I saw it catch a vole and I wonder where it is hunting now. Voles are hard to find with the thick snow cover.

The female Northern Harrier was seen on a walk at Big Valley. She was on the ground unnoticed by us and lifted into the air when the dogs got too close. We called them back and she returned to the same spot. I imagine she had a meal – maybe a vole or mouse. We walked on and left her alone. A male Northern Harrier would have been silvery gray.

Northern Shrikes are winter birds here. They nest farther north, in Canada. They also eat small birds, reptiles and mammals in addition to insects. This one made a lunge at a dove, a much larger bird, with no luck when I saw it.

There have been lots of Northern Flickers around recently. They particularly like the suet feeders. They share them with Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers and also Black-billed Magpies.

The Pileated Woodpeckers have had a heyday with our burned trees. Insects invaded the trees almost immediately after the fire and then the Pileated’s began to break off great chunks of blackened bark in search of the larvae. They continue to return day after day so they must be successful. The little woodpeckers are also hard at those dead trees.

The pair of Bald Eagles were on a well-used snag above Big Twin Lake. In the summer I often see an Osprey there.

Female Sharp-shinned Hawk
Female Sharp-shinned Hawk
Female Sharp-shinned Hawk
Female Sharp-shinned Hawk
Northern Pygmy Owl
Northern Pygmy Owl
Northern Pygmy Owl
Female Northern Harrier
Northern Shrike
Northern Shrike
Northern Shrike
Northern Flicker
Female Sharp-shinned Hawk
Female Sharp-shinned Hawk
Female Sharp-shinned Hawk
Female Sharp-shinned Hawk
Pileated Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker. On the bottom left you can see a chunk of bark just chipped off.
Pileated Woodpecker
Bald Eagles

Making Wildlife Trees

Dead trees provide homes for many animal species. Birds and small mammals use them for nests and for foraging. Here is a link to articles about the value of dead trees or snags, to wildlife. We have been dismayed when people talk about cutting down all the dead trees. After the fires, wildlife habitat is very much diminished. We have chosen to live in an area we share with wildlife, and we, like many other people, are encroaching on their homes. We feel like we should try to provide as much habitat as possible.

Since the fire we have more than our share of dead trees. You’d think we’d have all the dead tree habitat we could ever want. However dead trees full of branches can be very top heavy and as the roots begin to rot, they are easily toppled in a wind storm. One of our trees was uprooted the day after the fire during a freak wind event. So we want to preserve some of our dead trees in hopes that they will stand for many years providing homes and food for woodpeckers, nuthatches, bluebirds, chickadees, squirrels and other animals. Maybe even a pair of Red-tailed Hawks.

We hired a tree worker to limb and top a few of the trees so that they would be less likely to fall. Some of them were close to the road and perhaps posed a safety hazard. Others were in the draw below our house.

Watching Owen work was fascinating. He climbed up and down trees using ropes and a harness while carrying a full array of tools including a small chainsaw. It was pretty amazing to see him moving nimbly high above the ground cutting branches and felling the tops of the dead pines. It looks like very dangerous and hard work and he made it look like fun. I think he was having fun. We only asked him to do the climbing and cutting. We will do the clean-up work. With the way the snow is falling today, I imagine we won’t get to the clean-up til next spring.

Making a jagged top so that rot begins more quickly and it also gives the top of the snag a more ‘natural’ look
A slot where a bat could roost
Coming down easily
This tree had a very heavy round top but it also had an unusual basket of branches that MIGHT make a good nest site for a hawk.
He had to remove many branches on the way up and still more on the way down.
It might not be pretty but hopefully it will provide good habitat in the long run.
He checked his rope after every tree.
After he cut the one on the left he was able to swing to the next tree and tie onto it.

Testing the Ice

Temperatures have been cold for the last week or so with lows in the single digits. Brrr. Ice is forming on the lakes and ponds but most of it is too thin for walking. We did find a shallow area of a pond that seemed safe. The bubbles in the ice were fascinating. I wonder if they are from the decomposing wood in the water below? We could see them in the middle of the ice and also where it looked like they were at the bottom surface of the ice. We guessed that it was about three inches thick. Farther out in the deeper area, it looked cracked and we avoided it. Some folks have said they could see fish and turtles under the ice but we had no such luck.

Testing the ice
Wyatt knows there is a squirrel over there
Sky found a stick. Imagine that.
Beautiful Frida!
Me and my shadow