North Coast Diaries

petal passing love birds

I managed to get photos of an interesting courtship behavior between CEDAR WAXWINGS in a apple tree near the Brownsmead Dike Road bridge. These two went on passing petals back and forth for several minute. Another pair in a different part of the tree was doing the same thing.

And as long as I'm on curious behaviors, here's a picture of a PURPLE MARTIN in the wrong box at Svensen Island.

Seeing the light

There's been a lot of back and forth discussion about the subspecific ID of ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLERS this season. The three recognized forms differ in the amount and position of grays, greens and yellows in their plumage. The patient observer can, with practice, pick out the obvious individuals. But the careful observer will also begin to notice that light plays an important role in how we perceive these difference.

Below are photos of the same female lutescens Orange-crowned. The first was taken in bright sun, the second in the deep shade of a Sitka Spruce. Note how much grayer the bird looks out of the direct sunlight. The wing covert are most obviously different looking, but the eye-ring also appears whiter in the shade.

The second photo set is of just the wing of this same bird. Most striking here is the difference in inner and out webs of the flight feathers and the feather shafts. Also notice that the buffy tips of the greater coverts (which suggest this is a second year bird) all but disappear in the bright sun photo.

The point here is that there are advantages and disadvantages to seeing a bird in bright sunlight and part of the process of seeing the whole bird is seeing it in the right light.

This Week's Quiz

Taken today at Cape Disappointment, Pacific Co.,WA.

For the answer click here.

First of the year Black-headed Grosbeaks

I woke up this morning to find a female BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK sitting in our apple tree and visiting the neighbor's bird feeder. Later in the day a male joined it and I was able to get a couple snaps through a kind of dirty kitchen window...

Pacific Golden Plover

Yesterday, I was alerted to the presence of a PACIFIC GOLDEN PLOVER hanging out along the Astoria Waterfront at a place called the Mill Ponds. This used to be the site of an actual plywood mill, but was re-developed into up-scale housing. The bird was still there today and was remarkably cooperative.

Michelle and I first found the bird at about 15:00 feeding on stuff it was pulling out of the mud at the water's edge. I didn't have my camera, because the battery was re-charging. We returned at about 16:00 with a fully charged camera and found the bird feeding in the weedy area between the pond and the bike path. It was catching some sort of insects, possibly emergent Craneflies.

487 whimbrels (and a few godwits)

This is about 8% of the WHIMBREL flock now eating sod worms and cranefly larvae at Wireless Rd

eeooow

Two the birds we caught today at the Neawanna Banding Station had bird ticks on their faces.

The ticks were removed and kept for identification.

As near as I can tell they were Ixodes brunneus which is a common and wide spread bird specialist.