I’ve titled this post “Dunlin” and I hope that I am right in my identification or I’ll have to eat considerable crow!  Waterfowl and shorebirds are not my strong areas of identification and I’ve been wrong many times before, but I’ll go on the premise that I got it right this time.

I think one of the reasons I have such difficulty with shorebirds and waterfowl is that they are here only a small portion of the year and even though I make forays into promising habitat in the county, I just don’t always see these species or, if I do, can’t reasonably photograph them due to their distance.  So I have to try to remember characteristics of each species for the eight or nine months they aren’t in the area.  That, and the fact that so many of the species look very similar (especially female ‘quackers’) makes identification difficult for me.

In early December I was touring March Point and found a significant number of Dunlin on the rocks at high tide.  For the most part they were either sleeping (with one eye open!) or dodging the occasional high wave that would reach up on the rocks.  Over the next few days the population increased about threefold until it reached what I estimated as maybe 500-600 birds.  I realized that if I visited at high tide, when the birds weren’t feeding, it gave me great photographic opportunities.  All of the photos below are of presumed Dunlin and were taken on March Point on December 4, 2016.

Since I took photos of the birds over a period of several days I can’t promise that you won’t see more in future posts!

This Red-tailed hawk, which kindly allowed me to photograph it on December 27, 2016, has nothing to do with this post.  The photograph is merely to get your attention for what I’m about to say.

The Seattle Times, on December 29, 2016, published on the front page of the paper an article titled, “Birds in the burbs”, written by Lynda V. Mapes.  The article outlines research performed by Dr. John Marzluff who is well-known among birders for his research on crows.  As is the case of print media, that edition of the paper is gone.  However I suspect that the article can be accessed online through The Seattle Times website.

I’m not going to try to summarize the findings of his research, but the article makes good reading for the effect urbanization has on various bird populations and how homeowners can make their yards more bird-friendly.  It’s an excellent article and generally advances the principles that my wife and I use to guide our landscaping.  And as those of you know who regularly visit my blog, many of the photos that are taken for the blog were obtained in our “yard”.

Dribbling out a few more yard birds, just in time for Christmas!  We’ve now experienced that shortest day of the year and photography will get nothing but better over the next 8-9 months.  I’ve been having to photograph birds using a relatively high ISO which results in photos with less detail and more graininess, but as the light increases that obstacle is reduced.  But for the next month or so we’ll all be having to deal with lower quality photographs.

The first two photographs below are of a male Ruby-crowned kinglet.  The ruby crown, found only on the male, can be quite challenging to see in the field. Photographs, as in this case, can sometimes help me sort the males from the females but in many cases I just have to leave my photos unlabeled as to sex.  These photos are of the same bird and from very nearly the same angle.

In the first photo there’s no trace of a ruby crown, but as you can see in the second photo, the ruby crown is showing and the bird can be identified as a male.  So had I not gotten the additional photo showing the color I wouldn’t be able to be sure as to the sex of the bird.

I might add that the kinglet can raise and lower the crown, and it will often raise the crown when it is alarmed.  It also tends to reveal the crown when it is bathing and gets its head wet.

Here’s another small bird that’s one of my favorites but can be difficult to photograph.  It’s a Brown creeper, usually found moving UP one of the main branches of a tree.  (The bird with similar feeding habits is the Red-breasted nuthatch, which is usually observed moving DOWN a main tree trunk.)  Note the slender, curved bill used for extracting insects from cracks between the bark and the huge feet which allow the bird a secure grip.  And the tail feathers, like those of woodpeckers, are stiff and used to brace the bird against the side of the tree, as pictured here.  The bird is extremely well camouflaged and would be difficult to see if it weren’t so active.

We usually have one of these Fox sparrows in the yard each winter.  A novice birder can have difficulty between identification of the Fox sparrow, the Song sparrow and the Golden-crowned sparrow, all here at this time of year.  Both the Song sparrow and the Fox sparrow have breast stripes while the breast of the Golden-crowned sparrow is clear.  The Song sparrow has a strong facial pattern and the Fox sparrow has a plain face.  The color of a Fox sparrows breast stripes always reminds me of the color of a cup of hot chocolate.

We have least three Spotted towhees in the yard this winter.  This one is probably a male as evidenced by its dark black feathers and the strong rust color of its sides.

Until our recent snows, we still had one or two species of salvia blooming in the yard.  They are great plants for attracting hummingbirds and yet fading into the background for photography.  I photographed this male Anna’s hummingbird feeding on the salvia in late November.  The male Anna’s is still with us and defending a feeder as of Christmas!

Tis the season…

The Skagit Valley is full of raptors at this time of year.  Unfortunately for me as a photographer, there are not that many options for natural perches next to the fields where they hunt their prey.  So while it’s relatively easy to find raptors to photograph, most of them are on power lines or poles.  Here is an example… a Red-tailed hawk perched on a power pole.

On the other hand, every once in awhile you get lucky.  Early in December there were daily reports of a Tropical kingbird being seen just outside Stanwood.  I made three separate trips to the area in the hopes of photographing the bird, but I never even saw it.  However, on one of the trips back to my house an accipiter flew low over the road in front of me and continued into one of the Cap Sante Marina parking lots.  After a short search I managed to find the bird and it was compliant enough to allow me several photographs.  One of my more knowledgable birding friends identified this bird as a juvenile Cooper’s hawk.

On November 17 I hit pay dirt!  I discovered a large flock of 50 or more birds eating berries from a madrone tree only about a block from my house.  For about 20 minutes I was able to photograph various birds in the tree.  Here’s a Cedar waxwing…

and a female Northern flicker…

and an American robin exerting a fine degree of control in berry acquisition…

and another one out of control!

On the same day I discovered a Common loon preening in the Cap Sante Marina…

This was as good a photography day as I have had in some time!

As I believe I stated previously, I wasn’t too happy about either my photographs or photographic opportunities on this trip to New Mexico.  However I am going to post a few more photos and then I’ll return to some nice photos from Skagit County.

The following photos, except for the meadowlark, were taken at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge (known for a program to restore Mexican gray wolves to the area) located between Socorro and Albuquerque.  First up is aa adult White-crowned sparrow with an injured foot or leg.

This is a juvenile White-crowned sparrow.  The markings are very similar but the head stripes are brown and gray instead of black and white.

This is a male House finch, a bird that is common in the Pacific Northwest.  I get nervous about my finch identifications when I travel to this area of the country because there are other species of finches notably (Cassin’s) in the area and the two species look relatively similar.

This is a female House finch.  Note the total lack of rose coloring on the bird.

Since the last time we visited the refuge added a small pond immediately adjacent to the parking lot so that I could photograph the birds using my car as a blind.  Since this is a very dry area of the country the birds were very attracted to the water.  It was a great location for birding photography.  In this photo a female House finch is using a tiny twig to obtain a drink of water.

And finally (there’s always a ‘finally’), here is a meadowlark.  There are both Eastern meadowlarks and Western meadowlarks and both are found in Texas and New Mexico.  I have no idea which species this is.  I was once told by one of Texas’ foremost birders that it’s virtually impossible to distinguish the two species by appearance.  His technique on Texas Christmas Bird Counts was to roll down the window and listen for their calls, which are distinctive… at least to him!

That concludes my New Mexico photography.  The next post you see will be a return to birds of Skagit County.