Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch

A couple of years ago during my first summer of adult birding, I spent some time in Albuquerque, NM on business.  I was lucky to have some time between meetings to do some birding, and even luckier to have Saturday morning free allowing me to tag along with a local Audubon Society field trip up to Sandia Crest in the Sandia Mountains.

I learned from the locals that Sandia Crest is one of the few places that you can find all three species of Rosy Finches in the Winter. A great article about the finches and some young boys that study them had just been included in the latest Audubon Magazine and the local Audubon Society president had a box full of copies to give to each of the field trip participants.

I found these birds and the story to be fascinating, but unfortunately it was June and the birds where off in other parts of the world. I've considered returning to Albuquerque just see them, but until a week ago, I was left to hoping that I would happen upon them elsewhere.

That elsewhere turned out to be Mount Hood, just northwest of Timberline Lodge. I like to hike around Timberline Lodge this time of year as there is still snow, but the ground is beginning to be exposed and the temperatures more tolerable.  There is a thin grove of mountain pines that I find to be quite birdie this time of year and a week ago this past Sunday was no different.  There were Cassin's Finches along with a few Pine Siskins and Yellow-rumped Warblers throughout, singing up a storm.

When I reached the end of the grove, I found a rock to sit on to take a breather. After a few minutes I heard a family approaching so I decided to start moving again. As I gathered my gear, I realized that I was missing my cellphone.  It had been in its case, clipped to my belt, but must have fallen off somewhere earlier.  It was then that I saw a bird land not far from the family and their dog. My heart started to pound because I was fairly sure it was a Rosy Finch. I tried to get my camera ready to take a picture, but between worrying about my cellphone and the dog that was approaching the bird, I was too slow and the bird flew off.

I was bummed! I was pretty sure it was a Rosy Finch, but I only had a distant view and I certainly didn't think I would be able to determine which species. I searched the area in the general direction it had flown, but I could not refind it, so I continued back down the mountain, retracing my tracks in search of my cellphone. Luckily, there was still a fair amount of snow on the ground, so I was able to follow my wondering tracks and eventually found the phone on the ground.

That minor catastrophe averted, I ventured back up the mountain and sat back on that same rock. After about five minutes I heard a chirp behind me. I turned and there, not more than ten feet away, was a Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch perched at the top of broken stump. I carefully gathered my lens, twisted around and started taking pictures. It stuck around long enough to get three nice poses.

One down, two to go. :-)

Townsend's Solitaire

 

My daughter graduated from the Univ. of Oregon this past Monday, so I took that day off from work as well as Tuesday. Since my wife and daughter were pretty tuckered out, I decided to slip in some birding Tuesday morning.

I decided to try my luck at Trillium Lake up on Mt Hood. While the hike around the lake was gorgeous, the birding was a little slow. I got glimpses of a couple of possible interesting birds, but was never able to get a clear view to identify them.

Feeling a little frustrated, I decided to make a quick stop at Tamanawas Falls Trail before heading home. I've made two stops there in the past and both times had multiple looks of American Dippers.  This time was no different, as there were both adult and juveniles along the rapidly flowing stream.

As I sat on the bank watching an adult Dipper feeding a juvenile, a rather nondescript grayish bird landed on a branch across the stream. I watched it, rather puzzled as to what it was, when it flew across the stream and landed on a branch about twelve feet away from me.

I started shooting away as it sat there keeping an eye on me, but not too concerned with my presence. Then it flew back to the other side of the stream only to return to the same branch beside me a minute later. It must have done this three or four times allowing me to get shots from the front, side and rear.

I had a hunch that the bird was a Townsend's Solitaire and sure enough, that's what it turned out to be. My first sighting of this species. Distinguishing characteristics beside the gray coloring is the obvious white eye ring, the white outer tail feathers and a broad creamy wing bar which stands out when the bird is in flight as seen above.

 

As I was on my way back to the parking area along Highway 35, I saw a couple of interesting birds on the ground among the picnic tables.  Before I could get a good look, they flew off back towards the stream. I went looking for them and while I'm not sure if I found what I'd seen, I did find an adult Townsend's Solitaire feeding a juvenile on a log across the stream.

Tamanawas Falls Trail continues to a great stop when up on Mount Hood.   

Red-eyed Vireo

On Sunday afternoon, my wife and I went for a walk as has been our habit of late. The walk is mostly to get out, get a little exercise and spend some time together, but I typically bring my camera along just in case. We usually don't see much as we typically go mid-afternoon when bird activity is at its slowest. No big deal as my wife isn't a birder, but she is starting to get a little interested since I typically point out birds as we walk.

Our favorite walks have been the loop around Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge and Tryon Creek State Park, but this Sunday she wanted to do something different, so I suggested Wapato Access Greenway State Park on Sauvie Island.

As usual we didn't see a lot of birds, but we did hear quite a few. One in particular was fairly high on a branch and was singing up a storm. I wasn't sure what it was, finely deciding on a Warbling Vireo, but not totally convinced. I've started to carry an audio recorder with me and had it in my camera bag, so I decided to record the bird, hoping that it would help me determine its identity based on it's song.

I'm glad I did as when I compared the recording to those I found on the web, it was pretty obvious that what I saw was not a Warbling Vireo. The song I recorded was to broken up.  Warbling Vireos sing in much longer phrases. My recording was of 2 or 3 notes separated with a pause.

Press play to hear the recording I made of the Red-eyed Vireo:

 

So if it wasn't a Warbling Vireo, what was it? It certainly had the look of a Vireo. That's when I took a closer look at the photos I had taken. Not the best as the bird quite a ways off and I was shooting against a bright, hazy sky, but upon closer scrutiny, I could see there was a dark line through its eye and another dark line above the eye separated by white. That is a better fit for a Red-eyed Vireo. Zooming in, I could see a faint red coloring to the eye and listening to recording of Red-eyed Vireos, my recording was a much better match. 

The image above shows the darker, bluish-gray crown, outlined with darker lines above a whitish supercilium. 

My first Red-eyed Vireo sighting in Oregon.  Not a bad Sunday afternoon walk.

Here's the song of a bird I couldn't find up in the dense trees along the path.  If anyone knows what it is, let me know.

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.

Common Raven

As I climbed the sandy hills at Fort Funston in San Francisco this past May 23, I heard the gurgling croak of a Common  Raven.  I found it first, hiding up in a pine bough, then followed it when flew off to an open branch.

I was surprised to see quite a few Ravens there and on the beach.

The pair above, shot from the beach looking back up at the sandy cliff, appear to be putting together a nest, but the materials are very strange. Normally, Common Ravens make their nest from branches, so perhaps this is something else, but as can be seen in the bottom image, they definitely were gathering items at this spot.

Later, I came upon a small flock of Ravens rooting around in the sand. This one in particular didn't seem to mind having its picture taken. 

An interesting behavior I noticed was their tendency to hop. A bird this large typically walks, and they did do that most of the time, but every once in a while they would move about with a couple quick hoops.  It didn't seem quite right. :-)

Bank Swallow

 

I've had a few opportunities to bird in California over the past year and on occasion I was fairly certain that I had seen a few Bank Swallows whizzing past as swallows do, but I was never able to get a good enough look to be certain, having never seen Bank Swallows before.

That changed on the Fort Funston beach in Los Angeles this past May 15.  I had just completed photographing a few Common Ravens on the beach.  Looking inland I noticed that the sandy bank above a ridge of large, broken rocks had several holes about the size you would expect from a small bird.

Bank swallows immediately came to mind, so I scaled the rocks to get a closer look.  The holes sure looked like they could be swallow burrows, but there didn't seem to be any swallows. 

Eventually one showed up, but it quickly darted into a burrow before I had a chance to get a picture.

 

Likewise, when they left the burrows it was usually with a full head of steam.

  

Eventually more and more swallows started showing up until there were probably 20 - 30 flying around me. I never got a shot of one at rest as I never saw one at rest, but I was able to cross my fingers and shoot away as they streaked by or rode an air current off the shore and up the bank.

As you can see above, there were several holes, and this was just one section of the bank.

American Robin

Taken on March 11, 2012 at the end of Rentenaar Road on Sauvie Island.

I wonder if Robins look exotic to non-North Americans?

Whimbrel

 

 

After spending a couple hours at Lake Merced, I crossed over Highway 35 to Fort Funston, part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The park runs along the coast, so I was hoping to find some shorebirds. My spirits were dampened a bit, however, as I climbed the hill to the shore as the park was swarming with dogs. People were walking around with not just one or two dogs, but with what seemed to be up to ten dogs.

I did some research and found that this is a very popular park for dogs in San Francisco and there is an on going attempt to put restrictions on dog use in many of the parks. Of course this is not going over well with dog owners.

The only trouble I had with the dogs (which was little) is when they flushed the birds I was trying to shoot.  While the beach was pretty desolate at first, it eventually became populated with several Whimbrels. Every time I'd get into position to get some reasonable shots, it seemed someone's dog would come running by and spooked the birds. One young lady irked me a bit as she walked her dog back and forth along the beach and flushed the Whimbrels several times as I was trying to get shots.  It was obvious what I was doing, but she made no attempt to move her dog further from the water as they walked by.

Away, I did take advantage of the situation and got some shots of the Whimbrels flying by as seen above.

 

Later, I had the beach to myself for awhile and I finally did get some reasonably close shots of the Whimbrels. It took some patience as they were careful not to let me get too close, but eventually I earned their trust.

Brown-headed Blackbird

 

I tried something that I've rarely done before. I spent some time at San Francisco's Lake Merced Lake yesterday and found myself quite close to a small flock of Brown-headed Cowbirds. Unfortunately it was about 6:30 PM and with heavily overcast skies, the lighting was very poor.

So, since they were tolerating me so near (within 15'), I decided I'd try my flash.  It turned out to work great.  The first few shots I took were a little over exposed so I adjusted the exposure down a full stop and ended up with some pretty good pictures.

The flash didn't seem to bother the birds, so I may try it more often in gloomy light. 

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.

Least Sandpiper

I came across this Least Sandpiper walking the berms of the newly renovated Wapato Marsh Wetlands at Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve. It was strangely tolerant of me.  While the multitudes of other peeps would fly off if I got anywhere near as close as I got to this one, it seemed only mildly concerned with me. I took dozens of pictures of it, with the two above being the best, finally deciding to let it be and moved on.

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.

Dunlin

Fernhill Wetlands has had some high water lately, so I decided I'd try Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve this past Saturday in hopes of seeing some interesting shorebirds. I stopped by Jackson Bottom on my way home from Fernhill Wetlands last weekend and noticed that the restoration work on the Wapato Marsh Wetlands was complete. This appeared to be great shorebird habitat.
Things were a little slow as I approached, but soon I started seeing peeps (mostly Least Sandpipers from what I could tell) everywhere. The ponds also attacked scores of Barn Swallows.
Peeps were the only shorebirds I saw for awhile other than a few Killdeers. But eventually I spotted some Dunlins. Though not uncommon, I've only identified Dunlins once before a couple of years ago, again, here at Jackson Bottom.
Initially they spent some time in a shallow area in the middle of a pond, then got quite active, flying around the area, disappearing for awhile, then reappearing.

Then, as I was pursuing a Greater Yellowlegs and a Spotted Sandpiper, the flock of Dunlins landed on the shore right in front of me. Hoping this would happen all morning, I remember thinking to myself, "Ok, don't screw this up". No sooner did I lift my camera, than they all took off. The image above is the best I got as they flew off.

But, for whatever the reason, they began circling the marsh again, making passes nearby a few times. Being a typical gloomy spring day, the low light made it difficult to get sharp images of them in flight, however the one above turned out reasonably well. That big black spot on their bellies during breeding season makes them easy to identify and makes for a handsome bird.

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.

Eurasian Collared-Dove

It's getting more and more common to see Eurasian Collared-Doves on the way to Fernhill Wetlands, usually fairly nearby. They are typically perched on a power line and appear a little larger and paler than Morning Doves. Interestingly, they seem to be quite tolerant of me stopping and taking their picture. Most birds will fly as soon as they see you pulling over to get a closer look, but these Doves usually sit there for quite a while without being spooked.