Fall Birding Pics

I have not posted in a while, but that does not mean that I have not been birding. Mostly locally, the state has yielded plenty of interesting birds this fall.



Most recently while picking up my girlfriend's grandmother at Riderwood assisted living in Silver Spring I got an intimate photo session with the local Trumpeter Swans. The presence of this beautiful bird, the largest species of waterfowl on earth, is most likely the result of efforts to reintroduce the species into it's former range. This bird was heavily hunted as game and a source of feathers in the 19th century. Wild Trumpeter Swans are only very rarely reported in Maryland, and reintroduction of swans has only had moderate success partly due to competition with non-native mute swans, heightened vulnerability to lead poisoning from poor hunting practices, habitat loss, and inability of released swans to take to migrating.



The larger size and detail on the bill separates this bird from the locally common and abundant winter visitor the Tundra Swan.



Dan Haas and I running for our lives from a rather aggressive Trumpeter Swan. Note that we did not approach the swans, they swam across the pond from the other side to get us as soon as we stepped on the walking path. And this is an old folks home.



At the other end of the spectrum is the very common, ubiquitous White-Throated Sparrow. This beautiful sparrow is only a winter resident in Maryland. It's song which it sings occasionally on sunny winter mornings, defines for me winter in a Maryland forest.









Sandy Point Park hosted some interesting fall birds this year for the county. Some birds reported were White-Rumped Sandpiper, Black-Bellied Plover, Dunlin, Sanderling, Lesser-Black Backed Gull, and Brant. Pictured above: Black-Bellied Plover and below: Brant with Canada Goose



Finally, perhaps one of the most enjoyable parts of birding in Maryland is being able to visit the many beautiful, often overlooked parts of the state. The beauty of nature and birds is for me the fundamental reason that I enjoy searching for birds (and other things) and learning about their life histories. As I realise how difficult it is to photograph a small songbird with a big crappy lens, I have resorted to taking scenic shots as well. Below: Sunset at Thomas Point Park, in Anne Arundel County, and a beaver pond in beautiful Bacon Ridge Natural Area.

Just a Few Recent Photos

Just a few recent pics:

Black and White Warbler at Gov. Bridge Natural Area



Northern Parula at Davidsonville Park


Black-Throated Blue Warbler at Davidsonville Park



Osprey at Greenbury Point


White-Eyed Vireo at Davidsonville Park


Chipping Sparrow at Davidsonville Park


Kentucky Warbler at Gov. Bridge Natural Area

Home sweet home

It has been a soggy few days since I have returned to Maryland from California leaving me little time to bird. It is nice to hear the familar sounds of eastern birds once again. Even the common birds that I often take for granted such as the Northern Cardinal, Northern Mockingbird, and the Carolina Wren are welcomed sounds. I am sure all birders are familiar with the joy of seeing birds in their bins that they have not seen in a while or do not see often. Right now that is the case with all Maryland birds and with migration approaching, I predict a joyous fall. I took a trip to one of my favorite spots (Greenbury Point) to look for early migrants and although I found none I still managed to get some nice photos of some missed resident birds.

An adult male American Goldfinch

Juvenile Eastern Kingbird

Northern Mockingbird

Juvenile American Robin

A Juvenile Eastern Bluebird

Solitary Sandpiper

I then ran into Hal Wierenga and Lynn Davidson who were to lead a butterfly trip to the eastern shore but were rerouted to Greenbury Point due to poor weather on the coast. I gladly accepted their invitation to join the group and was thrilled to have nearly 15 species of life butterflies pointed out to me. (Maybe this will be a new hobby)

A Red Spotted Purple butterfly at Greenbury Point

A Variegated Fritillary, Greenbury Point

Sachem, Greenbury Point

Pearl Crescent, Greenbury Point

Sachem, Greenbury Point

Monarch, Greenbury Point

A Great Summer of Birds

This week I completed (sadly) my last full week of bird banding here in northern California. We went out to my 2 favorite sites located in Lassen National Forest in the Sierra Mountains. The sites were still a bit smoky from the 6200 acre wildfire that burned through the park last week as a result of a lightning strike. Nonetheless, the sites were as birdy as usual and we banded 90 birds at Big Springs with just 2 people. One particular half hour net run yielded 42 birds!! Highlights for this week include: American White Pelicans at Balm Lake, Sandhill Cranes at Burney Meadow, Evening Grosbeaks at Big Springs and another Gray Flycatcher banded at Burney Meadow.





The offshore team this week spotted 5 Juvenile Marbled Murrelets, and found and photographed a LONGBILLED MURRELET; an Unbelievable find!!! (Vagrant bird native to China, Japan and Korea) This photo is provided courtesy of Elias Elias. (left - Marbled Murrelet, Right - Long-billed Murrelet)



Banding Lists:
Burney Meadow
Spotted Towhee 4
Oregon Junco 14
Nashville Warbler 1
Black-throated Grey Warbler 1
Lesser Goldfinch 1
Western Wood Pewee 4
Orange-crowned Warbler 3
Yellow Warbler 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon's) 1
Warbling Vireo 1
Mountain Chickadee 1
Purple Finch 5
Western Tanager 2
GRAY FLYCATCHER 1
Black-headed Grosbeak 2
total birds = 42

Big Springs
Song Sparrow 5
Oregon Junco 19
Wilson's Warbler 1
Chipping Sparrow 8
Mountain Chickadee 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon's) 17
Orange-crowned Warbler 4
Hermit Warbler 8
Warbling Vireo 1
Macgillivray's Warbler 3
Lazuli Bunting 3
Purble Finch 5
Cassin's Vireo 1
Western Tanager 1
Downy Woodpecker 2
Fox Sparrow (Thick-Billed) 3
Black-headed Grosbeak 1
American Robin 2
WILLOW FLYCATCHER 3
Rufous Hummingbird 2
total birds = 90

Stiener Flat
wilsons warbler 1
macgillavrays warbler 3
yellow warbler 1
spotted towhee 1
western flycatcher 3
song sparrow 3
total birds = 12

Salmon Creek
Song Sparrow 11
total birds = 11

In other news, shorebirds are showing up in tremendous numbers here in Humboldt Bay. I estimated over 5000 marbled godwits and 10,000 western/least sandpipers on the flats in front of my house. Other new migrants are showing up as well including American Avocets, Wandering Tattlers, Surfbirds, and Red-Necked Phalaropes. Near my home there is a Jetty that sticks way out into the Pacific Ocean.



This Jetty is a hotspot for birders who want to make the long trek out with their scope. In two separate trips last Friday and this Friday I tallied:

surfbird 125
WANDERING TATTLER 6
black turnstone 45
double crested cormorant 15
pelagic cormorant 2
brandts cormorant 8
Elegant Tern 125
forsters tern 3
common loon 2
PARASITIC JAEGER 2
SHEARWATER SPP. 1
heermans gull 8
western gull 35
MARBLED MURRELET 1
common murre 20
sanderling 650
western sandpiper 1200
least sandpiper 1
brown pelican 40
barn swallow 5
western grebe 3
surf scoter 1

Wandering Tattler at North Spit Jetty - Samoa, CA

Black Turnstone at North Spit Jetty - Samoa, CA

Western Sandpipers and Sanderlings at North Spit Jetty - Samoa, CA

Elegant Tern diving at North Spit Jetty - Samoa, CA

Whimbrel seen at Clam Beach - Mckinleyville, CA

Barn Swallow - Arcata Marsh - Arcata, CA

Juvenile Tree Swallow - Arcata Marsh - Arcata, CA

Red-necked Phalarope - Arcata Marsh - Arcata, CA

It has been a great summer filled with amazing birds, and stunning northern California scenery. I am grateful to have had this experience and it has only solidified my love of birds and wildlife. It has been a pleasure to work with so many talented biologists and interns who are working so hard to monitor bird populations and assist in their protection. Special thanks to Dr. C John Ralph, Dr. Sherri Miller, Pablo Hererra, Jared Wolfe, Lucy Rowe, Amber Carver, David Haines, Lola Morgan-Outhisack, Maia Lipschutz, Leslie Tucci, Laurie Neville, Vincente Slabe, Elias Elias, Moe Morrisette, Brian Odonell, Linda Long, and all the folks at the Redwood Sciences Laboratory, the Klamath Bird Observatory, and the Humboldt Bay Bird Observatory as well as anyone who I forgot. This will be my last post related to bird banding in California. I look forward to returning to Maryland to see my friends and family and as always, to continue to observe and photograph birds in nature. I will continue to update this blog periodically related to Maryland birding. I have also began to post photos on my flickr! site for anyone who wants to see more bird pictures. Hope you enjoy!!! Chris's Bird Pics

Fire!!!!!

The signs of fall are beginning to show here in California. On the east coast I look forward to fall as it means, changing leaves, cooler temperatures and migrating birds. In Northern California fall signifies slightly different thinds... lightning storms and forest fires. On Tuesday as we approached Lassen Natl. Forest we noticed clouds up ahead. Since it NEVER rains in the summer here, I was not surprised to soon see that this was not an approaching storm, but rather a giant forest fire burning near our banding station. Make that 3 forest fires burning near our banding stations.



The road to one station was closed so we headed to the second station which ironically is named BURN. When we got there, we could see the fire in the distance and decided it was too smoky to band to we fled back across the valley to Trinity National Forest where we camped for the night. Had we approached the fire this is what we would have seen. This photo was taken that same night when 4000 acres had burned. The fire doubled over night and has since grown to 10,000 acres.



Hopefully it is controlled by Monday when I am scheduled to return.

The following day we headed up to Indian Valley and were greeted by a monstrous electrical storm, (which sparked 11 new fires, all extinguished). If you really want to get good looks at lightning bolts I suggest heading to the top of a mountain. You really want to get out in the open so your are the tallest thing around and thus will have the best view.





We rode out the storm in the car and hoped not to see any fires burning. Enough about that, after all we were here to band birds, and that is just what we did. We have recently started owl banding, which consists of arranging four nets in a square surrounding an audio lure which plays the songs of the 4 species of smaller owls that we are targeting. We then check the nets every 40 minutes from sunset to sunrise. We work in shifts so that we can get some sleep. The first night we didn't catch anything but a bat however, we had lots of owls come down close to the nets including singing Northern Pygmy Owls (2), Western Screech Owls (2) and Northern Saw Whet Owls (1).
Banding this week was a bit slow, but we did still get lots of cool birds, the highlights being a HY Mountain Quail captured at Indian Valley, and a HY Belted Kingfisher captured at Salmon Creek.

Belted Kingfisher captured at Salmon Creek

HY Mountain Quail captured at Indian Valley (Dont' mind the funny goggles.)

Many of the warblers have completed their adult prebasic molts (a replacement of all feathers after breeding) and are stunningly beautiful. This yellow warbler captured at Indian Valley is a good example. The outer most 2 primaries were the only feathers still in pin and the bird looked brand new. I wanted to take it home with me. Lets hope his feathers last for the whole year.






Banding Lists:

Hocker Flat
Song Sparrow 4
Yellow-Breasted Chat 1
Spotted Towhee 2
Yellow Warbler 1
Macgillivray's Warbler 2
Western Tanager 3
Wrentit 1

Cap D Creek
Wrentit 1
Yellow-Breasted Chat 2
Spotted Towhee 1
Wilson's Warbler 1
Macgillivray's Warbler 2
Swainson's Thrush 1
Song Sparrow 1
Black-Headed Grosbeak 1
WILLOW FLYCATCHER 1
Western Flycatcher spp. 1

Indian Valley
Wrentit 6
Purple Finch 2
Wilson's Warbler 1
Oregon Junco 5
Red-Breasted Sapsucker 5
Spotted Towhee 8
Dusky Flycatcher 4
Western Flycatcher spp. 1
Orange Crowned Warbler 1
Cassin's Vireo 2
Yellow Warbler 1
Macgillivray's Warbler 1
Mountain Quail 3

Salmon Creek
Song Sparrow 4
Wilson's Warbler 2
BELTED KINGFISHER 1

Black Tern hovering; Rocky Point, OR

Yellow-Headed Blackbird photographed at Rocky Point, OR

Clark's Nutcracker at Crater Lake, OR