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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Jul 30, 2018 - 08:25am PT
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Not a great shot (coulda been!) but pretty funny. We should have a caption contest.
An immature White-tailed Sea Eagle looking at a Puffin flying by...
Same juvenile waiting for a poor puffin to leave its burrow...
An adult... (OK, nearly adult)
Not great pics - it was heavily overcast, we were a ways offshore, and the boat we were on shoulda been named Rock 'n Roll. :-/
Got a lot of these shots! :-)
Damn! Just found this one. Guess I got one gud shot!
Pretty happy with this Redshank shot. Not sure she/he was happy with me.
I left fairly quickly as it was clear their nest was nearby.
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Wayno
Big Wall climber
Seattle, WA
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The turkeys come through a couple times a week. The grouse seem to be nesting on my property for the summer.
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Darwin
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Wayno; I'm trying to remember what general neck of the woods you have your place and where you found those birds. Plain? Twisp? Nowhere close? Not Seattle!
Nice, Reilly.
Tony it's funny I just ran across this immature Red-tailed hawk up here in the Fill. Relatively tame like the one in your photos. Took me forever to figure it out. WRT to the Pilot Whale (or not), y'all should have heard me stammer "Tony Tony, a , uh uh, Pilot Whale!" I'm with Tony though, that it was NOT and confirmative call. I believe, though.
Here's from the summer doldrums in the Fill the last few days. They all expand with clicking.
Immature Red-Tailed
Star of Montlake Fill, "mother" Osprey
The nestling stretching its wings:
Fish arriving at the nest:
I have a weakness for Gadwalls (I think that's what this is):
Jr right nearby:
And perennial favorite:
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Aug 12, 2018 - 03:51pm PT
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PSA:
Island Packers, known for their whale watching trips is running a special birding trip out
of Ventura on 29 Aug at 0700. It is for the hard core and hard stomached - 12 hours of
way out there! CalBirds email:
Island Packers has graciously freed up a boat and we plan to run a 12-hour trip out to the edge that had all the Cook's Petrels and storm-petrels in July. Our July 15 trip had a Tristram's Storm-Petrel, Wedge-rumped Storm-Petrel, several Townsend's Storm-Petrels, 100+ Cook's Petrels, 2 Nazca Boobies, and a variety of other pelagic species including 1000s of shearwaters. There has been a persistent temperature break and favorable oceanic conditions in that area so it is likely there are still birds out there. There have been a lot of interesting birds offshore of southern California this summer including a number of Nazca Boobies, 2 Red-footed Boobies around San Diego this week, Craveri's Murrelets, Townsend's Storm-Petrels and more. One of our leaders was just on a fishing boat out of San Diego and said there are lots of Cook's Petrels and Leach's Storm-Petrels offshore, and he also had Black-footed and Laysan Albatrosses. The plan is to go directly to the spot where we had numbers of great birds in July (approximately 3 hours from Ventura) and spend our time working that edge for Cook's Petrels, storm-petrels, and whatever else might be out there. Last year we had numbers of Craveri's Murrelets in that same area and we have seen Townsend's Storm-Petrels there multiple times. Red-billed Tropicbird is also a possibility. To maximize our time in that productive area, we will not be stopping for common birds on the way out. We have a plan of attack and believe we have a chance of finding something good. Are we going to refind the Tristram's or Wedge-rumped? I don't know, but we will be in the same area we found those birds and will spend hours there searching.
If you are interested and able to make the trip, go to https://reserve.islandpackers.com/?tab=special_trips and select the Wed Aug 29 pelagic bird trip, which is the last of the three special trips listed. It will be a 12-hour trip at a cost of $195 per adult. If you prefer to not use the web-based reservation system, you can call Island Packers during their business hours at (805) 642-1393. We will need to fill this trip fast to make it a "go" so please sign-up quickly if you are interested. The trip will be on an ultra-fast catamaran that features aspacious and comfortable cabin, galley, and excellent viewing from both theupper and lower decks. A full contingent of outstanding seabird leaders will bepresent to make sure we see all that is out there. The Captain and crew know how to run birdingtrips and are enthusiastic and helpful. In addition, we work hard to creep up on birds and get them in the rightlight.. .photographers will not be disappointed!
Hope to see you at sea
Dave PerekstaVentura
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Aug 12, 2018 - 04:43pm PT
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Aug 13, 2018 - 04:19pm PT
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Aug 13, 2018 - 04:22pm PT
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Wayno
Big Wall climber
Seattle, WA
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Aug 14, 2018 - 08:45am PT
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Darwin, I'm in Republic. The grouse was last summer. Two more just showed up this last week. Curious birds.
Mouse, How are ya?
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Aug 14, 2018 - 09:23am PT
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Parrot swears at London firefighter trying to rescue it from roof
A "foul-mouthed" parrot launched a four-letter tirade at a firefighter as he tried to rescue the bird from a neighbour's roof in north London.
Jessie's owner had asked for help after the multilingual Macaw parrot spent three days on the roof in Edmonton.
The RSPCA called in the London Fire Brigade (LFB) to rescue the bird.
Crew manager Atinc Horoz climbed up a ladder to save Jessie but was met with a volley of swear words from the parrot, which then flew off.
LFB watch manager Chris Swallow said Mr Horoz had told Jessie "I love you" after being advised it was the only way to "bond" with the parrot.
"While Jessie responded 'I love you' back, we then discovered that she had a bit of a foul mouth and kept swearing, much to our amusement," Mr Swallow said.
It emerged Jessie also speaks Turkish and Greek, "so we tried telling her to 'come' in both those languages too", Mr Swallow added.
"Thankfully it soon became apparent that Jessie was fine and uninjured as she flew off to another roof and then to a tree."
After escaping, Jessie returned home "of her own accord" on Monday afternoon, the LFB said.
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little Z
Trad climber
un cafetal en Naranjo
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Aug 16, 2018 - 09:47am PT
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was able to get out birding with Darwin a few times while here in Seattle. Yesterday we went up near Blaine, just below the Canadian border, to Semiahmoo Spit, hoping to get some interesting shore or marine birds, and to get away from the smoke. We didn't really manage to do either. Don't get me wrong, we did see cool birds, especially ones I never see in Costa Rica, like Black Oystercatcher, and Common Loon, but it really is the doldrums for birds this time of year. All the ducks, even the Harlequin Ducks we saw, were in drab plumage. Still too early for shorebirds. We never got away from the smoke, and had to fall back on our memories and imagine we were getting stunning views of Mnt. Baker on an otherwise cloudless day. At least a nice breeze off the water kept it pleasant. Any way, Dar took some good photos and I'll let him post those up.
The only ones I'll contribute are these of this leucistic (almost albino) adult Red-tailed Hawk. It was the first bird we stopped for after pulling off of I-5 onto SR 548 on the way in to Birch Bay. Looking back over eBird records from the vicinity revealed that this bird was first reported back in 2009, and it was an adult then, so it's at least 10 years old. How cool is that?
This bird hangs out along the highway in front of the BP liquid gas refinery, and always has according to eBird. When we saw the bird perched next to the road Darwin pulled over right there and we jumped out of the car with binos and cameras swinging to and fro to get photos and a better look. Two minutes hadn't gone by before we turned around to find ourselves confronted by two security guards from the refinery. They let us slide when we told them what we were up to and showed them photos, but I was checking for a little red dot on Dar's forehead. Rest asurred America, Big Brother has his eye on those terrorist birders.
Off to Reno later today. Next stop will be a Bodega Bay pelagic trip this Sunday, with Tony! Can't wait, just hoping the weather holds.
edit: Dar, we did see a dowitcher yesterday, remember? but no whimbrels.
Reilly, so you're on board for that trip? you lucky dog! No can do this year. Maybe some of those Cook's Petrels will make it up to Cordell Bank, but I'll settle for a Laysan Albatross.
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Darwin
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Aug 16, 2018 - 09:51am PT
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littleZ came through town, and we crossed paths at MontLake Fill
Green Heron
[P1020876 P1020877]
Days later we decided to check out Semiahmoo. That's on the Salish Sea up by the Canadian border. We hoped some of the shore-bird and pelagic migration might have started, and more importantly that the smoke and heat would be less up in the NW corner of WA. Neither of us had been there before. We got off the freeway before I got questioned at the border (I swear, boarder guards hate me), and we promptly saw an an albino morph Red-tailed Hawk(littleZ's photo above). And promptly got questioned by he security guards (friendly, actually) at the Cherry Point oil refinery. "What we were photographing and why". We headed out to Birch Bay saw a few but not tons of birds, however I got some of the best views of Common Loons since, like forever. The smoke haze actually gave pretty good light for photography.
Common Loon [P1020883]
and with a heavy hand on the image processing:
I caught a couple photos of Bonaparte's Gulls on wing.
(can't avoid posting a perfect point break) [P1020887]
P1020889
P1020896
Then in Birch Bay proper we did see a Whimbrel (truth be told, Z had to identify for me, but that I hopefully would have gotten eventually)
P1020898 whimbrel
Then out to Semiahmoo spit. We walked north along the spit with too much smoke and not enough wind. I have to say at this point the smoke and heat started getting to me, and I got kind of grumpy (hopefully cryptically). This was an obliging immature Brown-headed Cowbird.
P1020907
We did see female Harlequin Ducks, but even they didn't cheer me up much. On the walk back, a head wind out of the SW picked up (cleaner air off the Sound), and Black Oyster Catchers doing what they do, and my mood rose a bit.
P1020916
I don't want to go on about it, but it is totally awesome getting out with little Z. It does make me a bit lazy about IDing the birds myself, but that's OK. I should end this TR there on a high note, but. I got back to Seattle to find the the last Osprey chick in the Montlake fill nest (Hugo) met its maker the previous day. I know they have a really high mortality rate, but it still made me sad. Combine that with Aretha's passing, and I was a pretty sad sack this morning. I know, TMI.
RIP Hugo.
For the very patient, more photos but at higher resolution at
http://bigstupid.org/postings/2018-08-birds/
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Aug 16, 2018 - 09:52am PT
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Z, come on the 29 Aug Ventura trip! We’re going waaay out! (see end of last page)
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Aug 18, 2018 - 02:55pm PT
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Howdy, Wanyno! Doin' well. Hope you love your new place.
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cyndiebransford
climber
Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
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Aug 19, 2018 - 10:13pm PT
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Seen tonight at the Cannery Pond in Kenai, Alaska.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Aug 19, 2018 - 10:27pm PT
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Cyndie, sure that isn’t an American Golden? 😉
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Aug 20, 2018 - 03:24pm PT
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I don’t often do this but I am giving full credit for this amazing shot of a Berylline hummer.
I saw a pair of these a couple years ago in Guadalupe Cyn, AZ but only long enough to get my binos onto.
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little Z
Trad climber
un cafetal en Naranjo
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Aug 20, 2018 - 03:31pm PT
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Burrowing Owls in Davis. Love seeing these little buggers.
Went out on the Bodega Bay pelagic with Tony and friends. Promptly froze my ass off. Way to cold out there for a thin-blooded boy from Costa Rica. But somehow the albatrosses and shearwaters helped pulled me through. Being veterans of many a local pelagic, Tony and his wife were well prepared.
Tony and little Z
We didn't see any rarities but had nice looks at the regular species, including a Tufted Puffin still in its finery, which pretty much closed out the day as we headed back to port. Marine mamals consisted of a few looks at Humpbacked Whales, and Pac. White-sided Dolohins and the regular seals and sea-lions. I'll let Tony fill in the gaps with his fine photos.
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Chaz
Trad climber
greater Boss Angeles area
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Aug 21, 2018 - 04:56am PT
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Tony
Trad climber
Pt. Richmond, CA
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Aug 21, 2018 - 10:49am PT
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It was great to meet little z on the Bodega Bay pelagic trip on Sunday. He got to experience the full CA summer temperature range, with 100+ temps in Davis and a chilly boat trip where the overcast never burned off.
As he related there were no rarities, but a good diversity o the usual suspects. We were greeted by a Ruddy Turnstone at the dock.
Early on there were an unusual number of pelagic passerines, including an American Redstart along with another warbler.
A bedraggled Brown-headed Cowbird flew around for awhile, landing on the boat for a bit.
LZ at least got his Ashy Storm-petrel.
One Black-footed Albatross had an almost all-white rump, indicating a fully mature bird.
Most of the ones we see are immatures, and juveniles like this one
This Northern Fulmar had a rockfish, but it had to fight off a CA Gull plus a Pink-footed Shearwater.
There were lots of Red-necked and Red Phalaropes.
A Pomarine Jaeger flew around the boat for good looks
A Cassin’s Auklet was close enough to see its blue legs, feet.
On the way back, a Tufted Puffin provided good looks.
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