Great Backyard Bird Count 2011

Hooray for the Great Backyard Bird Count and the signs of spring popping up everywhere! I went to Catherine Creek today with a dual purpose- to kick off wildflower season 2011 and to hopefully find some unique woodpecker species for my bird count checklist. I didn't see any woodpeckers, but I did get nice shots of some Golden Crowned Sparrows:







A little further down the trail the coolest thing happened. I heard rustling in a bramble of blackberry and snowberry, and when I looked I saw a flash of what appeared to be a Fox Sparrow. I remembered that I had my phone with me and on it are the recordings of all the western bird songs. So I whipped that sucker out and started playing the Fox Sparrow song. Immediately a very curious Fox Sparrow started making agitated call notes, and eventually responded to my song by mimicking it. I got a few quick pics of him popping his head up through the thicket to check me out...




A very concerned Fox Sparrow singing to my iphone

On the wildflower front, the Grass Widows were in full form:









I love it when wildflowers start to emerge from the decaying remains of last years blooms:


Columbia Desert Parsley, Lomatium columbianum


Pungent Desert Parsley, Lomatium grayi

Lesser goldfinch




Waxing crescent

While the rest of the country gets pounded with snow, we have clear blue skies in the Pacific Northwest- go figure. It is mighty cold, though. I still knew I should get some vitamin D while I could, so I went out to Catherine Creek to do a hike that I discovered there a year ago. I brought along the SX30, and I am glad I did. I came across some chickadees, and Mountain Chickadees at that, and they were being as cooperative as they could be for such busy little birds.









I know some of these are a little out of focus, but it's hard to achieve perfection when the bird is constantly flitting around looking for bugs. I also saw a new bird for my list, a brown creeper, and I snapped some un-post-worthy pics of him. They are even busier than chickadees (if such a thing is possible).

On a totally unrelated tangent, here are some pics I shot of the moon:




I labeled the second one with some of the bigger features visible- it is very satisfying to take a picture of the moon, then reference a moon atlas to pick out its features. Very cool.

Lately a few Lesser Goldfinches have been hanging around the yard, which is neat because they are a west coast bird. They were a trick to distinguish from the regular goldfinches, but the bright white wing bars, greenish backs, and yellow underparts gave them away.







Back at the Bingen pond were a bunch of the usuals, except for these three Western Grebes:


Looking forward to some sunshine coming next week.

It's been warm and raining a ton here, so here is a picture of the Hood River at 14 feet:


Despite all the rain, this little guy has found a place to stay dry in the back yard:


The sun made an appearance yesterday for the first time in weeks, so I jumped on the chance to get some full-sun shots. January 17th also marked the arrival of 50+ Evening Grosbeaks to the back yard. While the pics are nothing too amazing, I will share anyway. I am pleased with the clarity, but the birds never seemed to perch the way I wanted them to.










This female looked a little beat up...






Red Breasted Nuthatch

I made a quick stop by the Bingen pond and Columbia waterfront today and tried not to get rained on. Mostly just the regulars were there: Bufflehead, Scaup, Ring necked duck, Double crested cormorant, Common goldeneye, Gadwall, Mallards, and a whole ton of Canada geese. There were three Tundra swans, which I hadn't seen there before, which was pretty cool. The geese made Gretl a little uneasy when they all took off honking, all she could do was whine nervously.


Double-crested Cormorant, juvenile based on the amount of orange on the bill?




Mr. Bufflehead


Northern Flicker- in the yard

Snowy Day

We got some snow last night, so this created an exciting opportunity to test my camera in a new setting. I did a lot of creeping around the yard today, stalking my bird neighbors, but in the end the varied thrush was really cooperative.













and a chestnut-backed chickadee for good measure:

It is a little bit warmer today, so I took advantage of the weather to do some waterfowl birding without frozen fingers. I went down to Bingen pond and the Columbia waterfront near my work. There were lots of mallards, green winged-teal, gadwall, lesser scaup, common goldeneye and a great blue heron. The pond is starting to thaw, so I look forward to more birds there soon.


common goldeneye


lesser scaup


gadwall


the view