Marsh Wren

Just like last year, March is when the Marsh Wrens start singing.  Of course, a lot of birds start singing in March, it's just that it's hard to find Marsh Wren's when they aren't singing as they spend much of their time down low among the reeds of marshy areas.

 

It was a pretty dreary day a couple of Sunday's ago, but that didn't deter a few wrens at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge from composing their song of chirps, buzzes and warbles.

Though these shots were taken just outside my car at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge's auto tour, this is a small bird.  So I was lucky to have rented a 200 - 400mm zoom along with a 1.7x teleconverter.  That's boosts the zoom at 400mm to 680mm.  Multiply the 1.5x crop caused by the smaller sensor in my D90 and you have an equivalent 1020mm.

I really like the 200 - 400mm lens, but I prefer the 600mm Nikon offers.  Both have a wide open f-stop of 4.0, but in order to get the reach of the 600mm, I have to use the 1.7x teleconverter.  That increases the f-stop to over 6.0, slower than my current 70 - 300mm zoom.  With all the cloudy days we have here in western Oregon, I really want something faster.

   

Anyway, for such a tough bird to photograph, I've had pretty good luck at RNWR.  The car blind really does work out quite well.

Northern Wheatear

On Oct 28, Dave Irons submitted two posts to OBOL along with a link to BirdFellow where he reported some great birds on the Washington state coast. The birds included two juvenile Bar-tailed Godwits, a Tropical Kingbird, a Wilson's Plover, a Common Eider and this Northern Wheatear. All were found within a 20 mile stretch between Tokeland and Westport. 

As luck would have it, I was heading to Tacoma, WA the very next day on business. Since the day was a travel day, I had time to divert off I-5 and try my luck at seeing these birds and in fact ended up seeing three out of the five, dipping on the Tropical Kingbird and the Wilson's Plover.

The Northern Wheatear and Common Eider were both seen in Westport; the Wheatear along the coast at Westhaven State Park and the Eider in Westhaven Cove. These were the last two stops on my trip and the dreary day was getting even darker as it was past 4:00 in the afternoon.

Dave's directions for finding the Wheatear were right on and I found it almost immediately after scaling the rocks at the point just east of the jetty. It was moving about among some large boulders somewhat out of range for my camera lens, but I decided to take some early pictures as Dave was right about another thing; it was highly mobile and not very cooperative. It wasn't long before it flew off below the rocks closer to the water and I didn't see it again. Luckily I was able to salvage a couple of the distant shots. 

Quite the sight as this bird normally only frequents Alaska and the northern reaches of Canada in all of the Americas!

Indigo Bunting

 

This past 4th of July, my wife and I vacationed in Bandon, OR.  We've done so for the past four years.  This year I decided to rent a big lens as there are many great birding opportunities there.  So the day before we left I drove into Portland and picked up a 200-400mm f4 zoom along with a 1.7x teleconverter from Pro Photo Supply.  It's the first time I had tried this lens.

Coincidentally, there had been recent reports of an Indigo Bunting patrolling some grassland near the Port of Vancouver in Vancouver, WA.  This wasn't so far from where I picked up the lens, so I couldn't resist trying my luck at getting a few shots of this vagrant.

The area was off limits to the public, but the gravel drive that lead to the property was not, so I sat in my car, using it as a blind, and waited. As I watched a small flock of House Sparrows, I got a glimpse of a blue bird fly up over a small mound to my right.  Sure enough, it wasn't long before I saw the bunting further up the drive. 

 

Then it disappeared only to reappear on a sign very near me, then dropped down on a blackberry branch and began to sing.  How cool!

 

 

It came and went three or four times before I left, at one point spending some time in some early summer Teasel.  All-in-all, well worth the trip and great start to my 4th of July celebration!

Great Horned Owl

Taken way back on April 7th, this Great Horned Owl at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge decided to make its nest in the hollow of a broken tree trunk right next to the road along the auto tour. There was concern over the owls being disturbed by curious humans, so the refuge fenced off the turn out making it difficult for anyone to spend much time there. Some visitors even posted pictures of others who broke the rules and left their cars to get a closer look.

I got this shot while momentarily stopped not far from the nest. The sun was bright that day and the owl in shadow, making  it difficult to get a even exposure.  I had to do a fair amount of post processing to get this one looking good, but it is my favorite pose. While the owl didn't seem too concerned with people, it did tend to keep an eye on you. 

Blue-winged Teal

I'm going to try to get back in the swing of posting.  Even though I haven't posted much lately, I have been out taking pictures of birds like normal and am pretty backed up with post processing.

Back on June 9th, I found this male Blue-winged Teal at South Quigley Lake on the auto tour of RNWR.  A few days later I saw a male and female in a pond along the Kiwa trail.

Cinnamon Teal

 

I've been saving for a large prime lens for a few months now. I'm torn between the Nikkor 400mm f2.8, the 500mm f4 or the 600mm f4.  All are fabulous lenses, each with its own pluses (and a few minuses).

To help me make up my mind, I occasionally rent either the 400mm f2.8 or the 600mm F4 from Pro Photo Supplies in Portland. They have a nice weekend deal.

The weekend of April 20 (how time flies) I rented the 600mm and spent some time at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge. In addition to the lens, I rented a 1.7x teleconverter which upped it to 1000mm. Multiply that by the 1.5 increase gained by my D90's smaller APS-C image sensor and I was packing a 1500mm telescope.

It's really amazing to look through the view finder and see, with such clarity, birds that are quite far off in the distant. But it requires a lot of care to keep the camera steady.  The least movement and your picture is ruined.

The image of the male Cinnamon Teal above was taken in the canal between North and South Quigley Lakes.  This is a full frame shot (no cropping). While the ability to get in this close is amazing, it can be hard to fit birds (especially larger ones) into a frame if they are too close.

Brown Creeper

 

I haven't seen a Brown Creeper in quite a while and it has been noticeable absent from my 2012 list. Well, add a check, as a walk through the woodlands along the Kiwa Trail at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge filled that empty square.

I saw several as I neared the end of the trail in the east woods. The whole trail was quite birdie yesterday morning, with Virginia Rails scampering across the trail ahead of me and sneaking among the grasses along the edge of the ponds. 

While the images at the top of this post are the closest I've taken to date, the image directly above is more typical of sightings, as the bird steadily works itself up the trunk of a tree, blending in very well with tree's bark.

Yellow-headed Blackbird

 

  

Yellow-headed Blackbirds are gorgeous.  Though not real common in the Portland area, a few spend time at RNWR in the spring and early summer.  There is one in particular along South Big Lake between markers 11 and 12 that spends a lot of time in the cattails next to the road.

I've been trying to get a good shot of it for over a year now.  Something always seems to go wrong, including being the second in line to get the shot.  I lucked out, or maybe it was finally just my time, on April 21.  

I had rented a 600mm lens along with a 1.7x teleconverter that weekend.  The top two shots and the one below were taken with that lens combination, while the one above was taken with my 70 - 300mm zoom at 300mm. I was having trouble keeping the 600mm still and many images turned out soft, including these.  The image taken with the 300mm is sharper, but the images taken with the 600mm filled the frame better even though they were taken from further away.  This allowed me to use more sharpening than usual to compensate.     

The call of the Yellow-headed Blackbird is a crazy combination of buzzing and clanking as it throws its head back and rotates it around. Listen here courtesy of Birdfellow.

American Bittern - Gone Fishing

It's always fascinating to actually observe a bird catch its prey.  This American Bittern pulled a small fish from the canal near marker 2 at RNWR on April 21 while I was taking shots of it. The bittern let it flop around for awhile in its beak, then swallowed it down.

Common Yellowthroat

This male Common Yellowthroat spent a lot of last weekend singing away in this tree at RNWR.

Marsh Wren

This seems to be a good year for Marsh Wrens. Especially at RNWR. The area between markers 10 and 11 is thick with them. And since they are in fine Spring voice, they are much easier to find.

Wilson's Snipe

One of my favorite places to photograph birds is along South Quigley Lake at RNWR. You can drive right along the shore and see birds just outside your car. And not just your every day birds, but Soras and Virginia Rails, not to mention great close-up views of Red-winged Blackbirds and an occasional American Bittern.
The only downside of this area is the amount of grass, weeds and cattails you have to shoot around or through. But if you are patient, and take advantage of the spring before the vegetation gets out of control, you can usually get some pretty cool pics.
Today, as I drove along the waters edge, I saw a Wilson's Snipe for the first time. Snipe are common at Ridgefield, but I've never seen one at this location. It was great to finally get some real close views of one as they are usually seen off the road a bit.

Tundra Swan - Bewick's

Only a couple of days after seeing the Bewick's Tundra Swan at Coffee Lake, I saw another one today on Rest Lake at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge.

Bald Eagle

I went looking for the Vermilion Flycatcher at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge today. As I approached marker 11, were it had been reportedly seen, there were several vehicles with huge lenses sticking out their windows clustered around the area. And sure enough, it was there, fly catching from the top of a dead tree off in the distance. Unfortunately, it was out of range of my camera to get usable photos, but I did see it!
Earlier, as I made my way around the auto tour, I found a Bald Eagle sitting up in a tree at the corner where road turns into a one way. It was busy eating its catch and paid me little attention allowing me to get some decent shots. Not sure what it was eating as there wasn't much left of it.

Great Horned Owl

I drove around the RNWR auto tour yesterday and walked Kiwa Trail for the last time this year as it closes on Monday for the winter. Not a big deal as I don't walk the trail that often, but I thought it would be nice to do since the auto tour has been closed for a couple of weeks for road work.
As I neared the end of the trail, I met up with a fellow birder who asked if I had seen the Great Horned Owl near the beginning of the trail (beginning of the trail if you walk it counter clockwise). I had not, so, following his directions, I began a second trip. Sure enough, it was right where he said it would be. I'm surprised I had not seen it the first time around. Makes me wonder what else I'm missing. :-)
It wasn't very far off the trail, especially considering its size, but it was difficult to photograph against the brightly lit canopy of leaves behind it.

Blue-winged Teal (Cinnamon)

Update:
I've been informed that these are Cinnamon Teal, not Blue-winged Teal. I had forgotten that Cinnamon Teal and Blue-winged Teal have very similar wing coloration and immediately associated the pale blue and green coloring with the Blue-winged.
I've done some research on determining the difference between the females and eclipse males. It appears that Blue-winged Teal are cooler in overall coloring and have a hint of white feathers at the end of the bill. Since these ducks are very warm and show no white at the bill, I would have to agree that they are Cinnamon Teal. Cinnamon's would also be more likely given their large numbers at RNWR this Spring. Comments welcomed!

A trip around the auto loop at RNWR last Thursday didn't produce anything too special, but I did see about 15 Blue-winged Teal in the canal around marker 2. Though these birds are typically shown to have a Summer range throughout our area, they are somewhat rare.
I saw them at TRNWR last Spring for a bit, but then disappeared and I had only got one glimpse so far this year.
What's interesting about this sighting is that about half of them were juveniles, so they probably breed nearby, though there haven't been any recent reports of sitings of Blue-winged Teal at RNWR.
I only got a couple of shots of any of them flying and both were out of focus, but I decided to include one because it shows off the beautifully colored wing feathers that you only get a hint of when they are at rest, if you can see them at all.

Rhinoceros Auklet

My wife and I are vacationing in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada this week. On our way across the Juan De Fuca Strait from Port Angeles, Washington to Victoria, I took advantage of the opportunity and took pictures of whatever birds we happened to pass during the trip.

There many Gulls of course; mostly Glaucous-winged and Heermann's. Also, hundreds of Common Murres in both breeding, non-breeding and transitional plumage.
Among all those birds I got a few pictures of a couple of Rhinoceros Auklets. A new life bird for me!

We also got lucky and saw a whale off in the distance.

House Wren - Juvenile

Even during the dog days of summer, there always seems to be something interesting at RNWR.
Just after the first stretch of road on the auto tour after the left turn is a small grove of trees. There's been more activity there this summer than I am used to, so I have been taking my time driving past. In the past I've found Western Tanagers and Black-headed Grosbeaks.
This time I found a juvenile House Wren. I heard it first, then noticed the tall grass moving at the source of it's staccato chirp. Then, after following what I think was an adult House Wren work its way up a tree and out of sight, I looked up at a branch not far from my car window and there sat the juvenile.
It was quite content, occasionally chirping, usually single notes, but occasionally stringing a few together.
Then it grew quite and its eyes began to droop...

...until they closed tight.

But it wasn't long before they opened again and before I knew it, it flew off into the tree that I had seen the adult, eventually moving on out of sight.

Always something interesting at Ridgefield. Too bad it's such a long drive.

American White Pelican

The American White Pelicans are back for the summer. I've seen them now the last few times out both at Fernhill Wetlands and for the first time at RNWR. Just past marker 11, out in a mostly dry South Big Lake I saw a flock of about 100 of them huddled together. They looked somewhat restless so I took a quick shot of them, then stopped my car and jumped out to get a clearer shot over the tall grasses. But, by the time I got them in view, they were in flight.

They flew right over me a few times, circling as they do, slowly gaining altitude.

During the breeding season the upper mandible develops a fibrous plate called a nuptial tubercle as can be seen in the image above. It is between 1 to 3 inches in diameter. This nuptial tubercle falls off when mating season is over and is unique to the American White Pelican.

They are really magnificent birds and a wonder to watch!

Pied-billed Grebe - Juvenile

Last Friday along the auto tour at RNWR, as I passed marker 12 at the beginning of the last canal, I was hopeful that I would find something interesting. It's not uncommon to see American Bitterns along this stretch, though the occurrences have tapered off with the coming of summer. No luck with Bitterns, but I did get some good looks at my first juvenile Pied-billed Grebe.
This Grebe was dining on minnows. It didn't completely dive under the water like an adult. Instead, it would point its head straight down as if looking deep into the water and then plunge its head in, many times successfully retrieving one of the small fish. I have never seen an adult stare down into the water like this juvenile did.