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Tag Archives: birds

Not Yet Fall

It’s been a few weeks since I had a nice hike in the mountains. I had grand plans for a hike every week this summer and have fallen far short of that goal. Yesterday’s hike was a good one. With the passing of Labor Day and the start of school, it sems that summer is over. Nights are cooler and days are way shorter. The light is marvelous and the air is crisp making for perfect hiking conditions. Luna and I drove most of the way to Slate Peak and then took the Buckskin trail down into the basin below the lookout. We left the trail and rambled through the basin and then up to the ridge where we found the West Fork of the Pasayten trail and returned to the road and walked back to the car. It was not a long hike but it was long on views and surprisingly, quite a few flowers. There were also lots of migrating birds – in particular I noticed Cooper’s Hawks, American Pipits and White – crowned Sparrows. Also many finches in flight that I could not identify.

 

Almost to Mazama on highway 20 I saw this free range or feral piano, abandoned by the side of the road. There was a package of castors to replace the broken ones. I’ve seen bbq’s, out dated tv’s, couches, even old satellite dishes; but this is the first time of seen a piano on the side of a road.

 

Luna is wearing red because it’s hunting season and more than once I’ve benn told that she looks like a black bear.

 

This photo needs some arrows to show our route. Our trail drops down there in the shade on the bottom right of the image and then you can barely see it crossing the talus (rock) slope to the left before it drops down into the meadow. We crossed through the larch trees and on the other side of them left the trail to ramble up through the basin and to the ridge, where we joined the second trail and it took us to the road just below and to the left of the lookout on the high point.

Red leaves show that there’s already been a frost. It was 42 in the sunshine when we started our hike. I was glad I had a jacket and wool gloves.

 

Luna is already out on the trail.

 

In the meadow there were lots of flowers. Here is a paintbrush (Castilleja sp) with blue gentian in the background

 

I love the dark blue gentian, a late summer flower in the high country.

 

Looking back at the trail as we enter the trees.

There was a family of Cooper’s Hawks calling loudly and flying around in this area.

 

Moss shows that the area is still wet despite the fact that we’ve had no rain in a month or more.

 

I could not resist this tiny scene

 

How many months of lupine are there? Seems like I’ve been seeing it since April!

 

Pink monkeyflower and its shadows.

 

More paintbrush. I saw at least three different colors of it.

 

Someone’s burrow. It is pretty good sized. Maybe a marmot? I think they live in rocks. A wolverine?

 

Another view looking back. We’ve left the trail and are heading up now.

 

And looking down valley. Within a month all those larch (tamarack) trees will turn golden and their needles will begin to drop.

 

A much-needed rest in the shade.

 

Now we are higher than when we started.

 

My cell phone has a compass app. I wonder how it works even without a cell signal? Any ideas?

 

Looking north towards Canada. The stunted spruce and other species of trees at high elevations are sometimes referred to as krumholtz – crooked, bent or twisted

 

Luna was happy to find two lingering snow patches

 

And up to the road. It was almost a mile walk back to the car.

 

Views to the west from the road. That’s Mount Baker in the middle.

 

And a last view of the lookout

 

We stopped in a silver forest to look for birds. Mostly Yellow-rumped Wablers. Also a Townsend’s Solitaire.

 

An aster next to the creek.

 

Ahhhhhh.

 

 

Early Morning Birdwalk

I was up early and out on the wet hillside this morning, hoping to hear birds and try to figure out which ones were singing. It was a glorious morning after all the rain we’ve had this week. Rubber boots were the fashion statement of the morning. I meant to take the big camera but, somehow managed to leave it behind so once again, Instagram to the rescue. Really, I mean to get serious about photography again. Soon. Really.

 

That’s our nicest pine tree

 

The ground is starting to heal nicely after the April 17th brush fire

 

Sunrise!

 

I think these are Douglas sunflowers

 

I don’t think the pines down in the draw are going to survive

 

Here’s something new

 

Lots of chokecherry blossoms this year

 

Target practice?

 And birds. Here is the list of birds I was able to identify by sight or sound:

California Quail

Dusky Grouse

Red-tailed Hawk

Mourning Dove

Rufous Hummingbird

Calliope Hummingbird

Northern Flicker

Western Wood-Pewee

Willow Flycatcher

Say’s Phoebe

Warbling Vireo

Red-eyed Vireo

Common Raven

Tree Swallow

Violet-green Swallow

Black-capped Chickadee

Mountain Chickadee

House Wren

Western Bluebird

Mountain Bluebird

American Robin

Gray Catbird

Orange-crowned Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Spotted Towhee

Western Tanager

Black-headed Grosbeak

Brewer’s Blackbird

Brown-headed Cowbird

Cassin’s Finch

Pine Siskin

Exploring the Cypress Swamps

We spent a day visiting Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary and the Six Mile Cypress Preserve. Both places were full of wildlife and exotic (to us) plants and trees. They also feature boardwalks for safe and dry walking conditions. Also lots of good interpretive material to teach us about this exotic place. Much of Florida is developed for human habitation so these preserves represent small islands of what Florida used to be.

 A Red-shouldered Hawk, related to, but smaller than Red-tailed Hawk

We saw lots of kinds of turtles. I think these two are cooters

Watch out for this guy

Lunch?

Somehow the turtle escaped!

I think he was giving the wildlife watchers the evil eye because most of us were rooting for the turtle.

I need to find out the name of this snake. We saw several black racers but this one has a pattern on its face so it must be some other species.

Butterflies are so hard to photograph

I loved seeing the air plants and bromeliads in their native habitats!

Wood Stork

Green Heron

There were lots of kinds of fish. Some are introduced species, dumped out of people’s aquariums.

Another kind of turtle whose name escapes me. Ken will remember.

I think this one is a painted turtle like the ones that live here.

Lizards were always rustling in the brush. Also hard to photograph.

 

Little Blue Heron

Common Moorhen, similar to an American Coot

Yellow-crowned Nightheron

Small alligator, less than three feet long.

The egret in front was chased all over this pond by the other egret and a heron. We couldn’t figure out why its presence was not appreciated.

Glossy Ibis, very similar to White-faced Ibis

Coming in for a landing

Anhinga

The Anhinga uses its tail as a rudder underwater

White Ibis

Anhinga and turtle in the late afternoon sun

Spring Cleaning

Spring is the time to clean out the nest boxes around here. We enjoy the birds year ’round and especially like to have secure places for them to nest and raise their young before moving on. Violet-green Swallows and Tree Swallows, Mountain and Western Bluebirds are all nesting birds we like to encourage. Unfortunately we have learned that the diminutive House Wrens will wreak havoc on other nesting birds, especially the swallows. The tiny wrens will fill a box with sticks, even if there is already another nest present and they’ve been know to attack and kill the bigger swallows. It’s a tough world out there.

 

Fence post yard art

 

Pulling out an old swallow nest

 

The Mountain Chickadees followed us and kept up a running dialogue on our efforts

 

Ken points to a tiny skeleton of a baby bird that did not fledge

 

Here is a beautiful swallow nest lined with soft feathers. The adults collect these feathers to provide a cushy setting for the eggs and babies.

 

There’s one of those chickadees. They do not use our nest boxes for nesting although they do use them for winter night roosts.

 

 

 More yard art, this time in the snow

 

This tiny chickadee must have been sick and died over the winter in one of the boxes.

 

Why Did The Grouse Cross the Road?

Ruffed Grouse on Lester Road yesterday. I love their slooowwww, measured steps. It’s almost as if the bird is thinking ‘if I take it easy and don’t make any sudden moves, no one will notice me on this snow-covered road’.

 

 

 

 

To get to the other side, silly.

 

 

 

 

Less than desirable photo quality is due to shooting through the windshield.