Bonaparte's Gull

I saw a Bonaparte's Gull on May 30 at Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve. It was floating on Pintail Pond, zigzagging back and forth looking for things to eat. Quite often it would thrust its head into the water in hopes of catching something. According to Cornell's All About Birds, it eats small fish and large invertebrates, including insects, so its actions were in line with its typical feeding habits.
I wasn't able to get very good pictures of it as it stayed a ways off shore. I watched it quite awhile, using the tall grass that has grown along the service road that surrounds the pond as a blind, hoping it would come in closer, but it was satisfied with its position. The top image above shows the gull in one of the pictures I took uncropped at its closest using my 300mm lens (actually 450mm in 35mm film terms for those who understand that kind of thing). The image below it is a fairly tight crop. I typically don't like to crop that much as the resulting picture loses a fair amount of detail. None-the-less, there is usually enough detail for identifying and studying the bird.

Last November, I saw a couple of Bonaparte's Gulls along the South Jetty at Fort Stephens State Park. One was an adult and the other a first winter gull as seen in the image below:The adult's tail is completely white compared to the black tips on the feathers of the first winter. The tops of the wings of the adult are relatively clean with black tips on the primaries whereas the first winter gull's upper wings have mottled brown on the lesser coverts and on the leading edge of the primaries, plus black tips on the secondaries. Also, the wintering adult's black ear spot is fairly round as apposed to the oval ear spot of the first winter's. Of course, in the summer, during the breeding season, the head of the Bonaparte's Gull is completely black.

Here's a better view of the first winter's upper wings and tail:

That brings me back to the gull I saw a week ago. What can I tell about it from it's plumage? Well, from the image below, I'd say it is a first winter and it has obvious black tail feather tips. But this picture was taken on May 30th. According to Sibley's Field Guide, an adult should have a black head in April.

Looking closely at the image, you will notice a few things. First, the mottling on the lesser coverts and lead edge of the primaries is nearly gone and the ear spot is more round than oval. Sibley states that it take a Bonaparte's Gull a year to acquire adult plumage. Therefore, I deduce that a first winter does not have a black head in late May like this one, but it is clearly transitioning towards adult coloring. And an even closer look at the back of its head reveals some darker feathers starting to fill in.

Gray Heron

I watched this Gray Heron from one of the blinds at BirdLife in Switzerland. It was wading across the pond a fair distance away, then took to the air and landed about half as far from me from where it had started. Only a couple of moments went by when it pulled two large frogs out of the water.

It appears as if the smaller of the two frogs was holding onto to the larger with its front legs. When the Heron pulled the smaller from from the water, the larger came with. I suspect that the frogs were in the middle of mating.
The Heron fought with the two frogs for a bit, setting them down and holding them under water as they do with prey, until it ended up with just one frog.

As I remember (it's been over a month already), the Heron eventually flew off with the frog and I did not get to see it swallow it down.
The Grey Heron looks very similar to our Great Blue Heron. If you look closely you will see the the striping down the neck is less than the Great Blue and it lacks the rusty coloring on the leading edge of its wings.

Marsh Tit

Another bird from Switzerland. This was the first bird I took a picture of at BirdLife as I was walking to one of the blinds. It looks a lot like our Black-capped Chickadee and as one might suspect belongs to the same genus, Poecile.

In addition to posting sketches of birds in the bird blinds, there were also signs posted in various places. Check that bird out next to it on the sign. I would have loved to have seen that.
All-in-all a very nice place to bird.

Spotted Redshank

I never did post pictures of all the birds I took during my trip to Switzerland back in late April. Not all are good enough to post, but I still have some interesting ones.
While I was at the BirdLife facility, I spent a lot of time in the three excellent bird blinds they provided. Each blind could accommodate several people and the birding was reasonably good. The biggest problem I had was that the sun was not at an ideal angle. Not only did it cause harsh foreshadows, but the glare also seemed to mess with my camera's sensor as the pictures turned out somewhat soft.
None-the-less, these images of a Spotted Redshank turned out pretty well. I followed the shore bird as it worked its way around the pond, eventually ending up right below the blind.
The facility provided pictures and some information on the back wall of the blind of many of the frequent birds one might see. A fellow bird photographer pointed out this one for me.

I tried to take pictures of all the images of birds that I saw to help me determine their identity. Only trouble is that none of the text was in English. The Swiss speak three languages; German, French and Italian. I think there was a little of each sprinkled throughout the images. Luckily it turned out to be easy to decipher as all I had to do is do a Google search on the name. Inevitably, the scientific name would be included in the text and I could search on that to find out the English name for the bird. I guess those weird Latin scientific names are good for something and this may be the reason why they are used.

Swainson's Thrush

I'm still nursing a cold. I can't gather the strength to get up in the morning. I slept about 13 hours both Friday and Saturday night. Went to immediate care this afternoon, just to be sure I didn't have anything that was treatable, but no such luck, it's just a nasty virus. I got some Sudafed though and it seems to be drying me up.
I did take a trip today out to Milo McIver State Park with my wife. We visited there years ago when the kids were young and really enjoyed it. They have a fish hatchery there where you can observe salmon close up. It's pretty cool and have always meant to return, but never have until today.
It was about 4:00 PM before we got there so the birding wasn't very good, but the scenery was wonderful. The trails that we took were a little muddy, but navigable.
I did get some views of a Swainson's Thrush shown above. I'm 95% sure that it is a Swainson's and not a Hermit. They look pretty similar, but the Hermit's should have moved out of our region for the summer. In addition, this is one of the few birds I have learned to identify by sound. Swainson's Thrushes make a sort of whistle or "whit". Kind of like whistling for a dog. It's short, increases in frequency and ends abruptly. I saw my first Swainson's at Champoeg State Park earlier this spring. I heard it make that sound, memorized it by repeating it with my own whistle and then listened to both Thrushes on Cornell's All About Birds sit. It was a perfect match for the Swainson's.

Song Sparrow - Early Fledgling

Travel, travel, travel. I'm getting tired of it. I've been on the road on business four of the last six weeks. On top of that, I've been fighting a cold for going on two weeks now. Oh well, could be worse, could be raining. Oops.
Last Sunday I stopped by Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve. I don't bird there as often since I've discovered Fernhill Wetlands. It was mid-afternoon and things were fairly slow as expected. Highlights include my first Ring-necked Pheasant photograph, though it was way off in the distance. It's been the only bird I have seen and positively identified and not photographed. I also saw a few Warbling Vireos. Last spring I saw one, this spring I've seen many in lots of various places. Not sure why.

Another interesting sighting was that of an early Song Sparrow fledgling. You can see the gummy corners of its bill in the images above. I saw some of these last year as well and they threw me for a while. This is quite a bit earlier than I noticed them last year.The next two images are adults. I took one of my favorite pictures of a Song Sparrow on this same wire last spring about this time.

Western Tanager

A few pictures I took of Western Tanagers at Fernhill Wetlands on May 14th. It was easily the most I had seen at one time and perhaps the most I had ever seen. The numbers of Western Tanagers were up considerably this spring migration based on my own observations and the postings on birding server lists in the area. I'm not sure why, but it sure was fun.

Canada Goose - A Whole Lot of Flapping

The Canada Geese Goslings are growing up up fast. I took these pictures a week ago yesterday at Fernhill Wetlands near the parking lot. Birds are typically pretty tame in this area as people frequently feed them here.
At one point one the adults flapped its wings boldly.

This seemed to catch on as one the goslings also started flapping. Of course, it doesn't have much to flap yet.

Eventually, the gaggle made their way down to the water. I've noticed a behavior that the parents exhibit with their young on more than one occasion. They lower their head, then extend it out forward. It's kind of like they are herding the goslings, showing them the way.

I'm not sure if this is the real intent, but it is interesting.

Rabbit

The RNWR wildlife brochure lists two species of rabbits; the Eastern Cottontail and the Brush Rabbit. Both look very similar to each other and belong to the same genus. While the Brush Rabbit is exclusive the western NA coast, the Eastern Cottontail's range is mostly in the eastern part of NA except for a small area that encompasses the Portland area. I'm not sure which this is, but it sure is cute.

Killdeer - Fledglings

I guess fledgling is the correct word to use for these young Killdeer. Merriam-Webster states: to acquire the feathers necessary for flight or independent activity; also : to leave the nest after acquiring such feathers. While they can't yet fly, they definitely have left the nest.
Ever since seeing a pair of Killdeer flirting at RNWR earlier this Spring, I have been watching for the first signs of youngsters and today was the day. I
t was a nasty day at times, raining hard with dark clouds. The young would run around for awhile under the watchful eye of the parent (mother?). Then, maybe because of the rain, the cold or possibly my presence, they would snuggle up under their parent. It was rather cute.

I got a little wet taking these pictures, but it was worth it. Now I hope to see some on a sunny day. In this low light, the fine, wispy feathers of the fledglings turned out rather soft in the images even though their legs were usually rather sharp.

Update: It was pointed out by a commenter that these are actually 'chicks', not 'fledglings'. Quote "These are not fledglings, but are chicks. They are precocial, meaning they are born with downy feathers and are able to walk and feed themselves. Once they molt their downy feathers and acquire flight and body feathers they are fledglings. Takes 4 weeks or so."
My thanks to the anonymous commenter!

Black-headed Grosbeak

Now if I could just get the Black-headed Grosbeaks to be as cooperative as the Song Sparrows I'd be a happy camper. :-)
I am having better luck this year than I did last year though. I had to work around the branches and fight the sky to get these shots at TRNWR last Saturday, but at least the bird was much lower in the tree than most I come across.
Very pretty birds.

Song Sparrow

As with last year at this time, Song Sparrows are providing themselves as excellent subjects. This one appears to be going through a molt.

Black-tailed Deer

It's been a while since I've seen a Black-tailed Deer at TRNWR. This one, as some are there, was pretty tolerant of me and never did flee as I passed by it.

Song Sparrow - California Subspecies

I took these pictures of a Song Sparrow in San Francisco on May 2. I noticed that it was a little different than the Song Sparrows I am used to seeing here in Oregon, but I wasn't aware of the breath of subspecies identified. Some 52 subspecies have been named, however only 24 are currently actually recognized.
This Song Sparrow, I believe, belongs to the California group of six subspecies. I haven't figured out which yet, but I'll keep working on it. While there is a fair amount written about the various subspecies online, I found few pictures to help me. It's clear though, that this sparrow has darker and more crisply defined stripes on its breast and throat. If anyone is an expert, I'd love for you to point me to where I can find out more about this topic.

European Starling - Nesting

I spend some time at TRNWR this morning. Not a great picture taking day, but I saw several birds. Sure does seem to be a good Spring for Warbling Vireos. Now if I could just get a good close up...
I stopped at the platform looking over the river as I usually do, when I noticed a small head peering out of a hole in a dead tree truck right along side the the platform. But, before I could get a good look at it, it ducked down into the hole. I waited patiently for a bit until it raised it's head again.
It was a young bird, but I wasn't sure what kind. Then another head popped up and soon they were calling out as a European Starling flew in. It sat in the branches above for a bit, then swooped down and quickly fed it's young before flying off again.