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Category Archives: birds

Another Grouse on the Prowl

This time the fellow didn’t have a girl grouse to follow around. I saw him as the girls and I walked on the road and I wandered over to see what he was doing and he gave me an enticing ‘come hither’ look and so I did. He must have been excited because he went right into his Dusky Grouse display attitude, puffing up his eyebrows and air sacs and making the deep booming noise that must drive girl grouse wild. Not me, although I do find it interesting.

I think by now, most of the girl grouse (grouses?) are on nests so this fellow might be out of luck. And when I look at these pictures as compared to the ones from last week, he seems like a different bird. Note that the eyebrows are nowhere near as bushy.

New Parents on the Hill

These two Great Horned Owls kept us awake earlier in the spring with their hooting back and forth in the wee hours of the morning. Now that they’ve settled down to raise a family, they are much quieter. I imagine they are busy hunting, probably just one at a time these days. I think the eggs have hatched and the mom stays on or near the nest all the time while the dad stands guard in a nearby tree during the day. It will be fun to watch the little ones grow up!

 

 

 

Spring Bird Song

As the days grow warmer, new birds migrate to the nesting areas and begin setting up their territories, declaring them from tree tops, fence posts and signs. During yesterday’s early morning walk, I heard bluebirds, sparrows, finches and meadowlarks. Owls wake us up at night with their hooting. There is so much to see and hear!

Here is the song of the Western Meadowlark from the Cornell website.

Morning light on yonder hills
Western Meadowlark
Mountain Bluebird
Red-tailed Hawk
Great Horned Owl

Spring Birds

My birthday is the first day of Spring – the Equinox – and I like to celebrate it out in nature. This year the snow lingers most everywhere in our region making hikes or even long walks pretty challenging. So we went down to the big river – the Columbia – where the temperature is more moderate and the snow melts more quickly. Still, there was snow on the ground. Not everywhere so we all were happy to walk or in the dogs’ case, run on ground for a change. And Sky got to jump in the river so all of her wishes came true.

Ken and I watched birds and enjoyed the diversity of species we got to see. Sometimes in winter there are just not many birds around. Spring and migration change all that. We saw over fifty species in a few hours of birding. That includes the birds at home. One of those was a Great Horned Owl that woke me up before dawn, hooting from a snag in our yard. I had hoped to maybe see Sandhill Cranes but it seems that they are put off by all the remaining snow. I imagine when they do head north, they won’t stop here very long since they need to get to their nesting grounds. We did see lots of ducks and geese and swans too.

I think these are all Tundra Swans
Mixed flock of Mallards, Northern Pintails and maybe some American Wigeons too.
A lone Snow Goose with a group of Canada Geese
First Killdeer of the spring
Horned Grebe
This beaver kept a close eye on us as we ate our lunch from the tailgate
Common Loon
I never did get a clear view of this not quite grown up Bald Eagle

Gorging on Crabapples

This winter birders are observing many Varied Thrushes in North Central Washington. These birds are closely related to American Robins – same general size and shape but with some very distinct markings. We counted quite a few on the Christmas Bird Count around Twisp. More than usual although it is an expected species in the winter.

Saturday in Twisp, I noticed lots of them in the crabapple trees in the park. They would fly if I walked but if I stayed in the car I could photograph them for as long as I wanted. The bird with the gray band across its chest is a female and the one with the black band is a male.