Baskett Slough Revisited

It's a busy summer and I have seldom had a chance to stop at Baskett Slough. Sunday, on my way back from delivering Johnny and grandson Ian to the train station for their trip south to visit and then bring back the California grandkids,  I stopped. What a lovely interlude! With very little water anywhere on the refuge, the wading birds were close enough for photos. And what lovely wading birds they were. There were nine Great Egrets...

 Four Black-necked Stilts...

Brown back means female?

Two Greater Yellowlegs...

... except one had red legs?? And was very colorful. I presume in breeding plumage?

I asked about the red legs on Oregon Birders Online and found out that everyone who replied sees yellow in these photos, not red. So I guess it's my monitor. But they also looked red-ish in the field. Another person said late afternoon sun brings out the warmer colors.

 There was also a group of Dowitchers, presumably Long-billed, but my photos are useless.

And a couple peeps that I got blurry photos of. I assumed one was a Western Sandpiper. The other, a Dunlin maybe? All I do with peeps is guess.

 I prefer birds that are unquestionably and elegantly what they are...

Sooty or Ruffed Grouse?

Okay, I've searched my bird books and the web, asked two birders I respect and... each birder was definitive in his answer... which was opposite the other's.

We saw this bird in the middle of a gravel/dirt road while scouting for our BBS out of Valley of the Giants in the Coast Range. We stopped, she stopped. She talked softly to chicks that were alongside the road in the brush who talked softly back. Eventually, she walked alongside our van (opposite side of the road from her chicks) and to the back of the van where she then crossed the road to her chicks. I thought at the time she was a Ruffed Grouse, as she appeared brown. But when I looked at my photo, she did not look like the Ruffed Grouse in our woods: no crest, no black barring on her flanks, no black band on her tail. (The dark thing at the end of her tail is the shadow of a rock below. Perhaps that's easier to see in the second, original, large version.) Instead she has a gray band at the end of her tail, a very decorative face pattern, and lots of mottling. I found some pictures on the web of Sooty Grouse that look like her but I never trust that what photos are labelled on the web is what they really are. So I asked two good birders. One said Ruffed with certainty. The other said Sooty, with equal certainty. I'd love more feedback with reasons.

Thanks to Hendrik Herlyn for this helpful reply: "Your photos show a Sooty Grouse. One of the key field marks to distinguish between Sooty and Ruffed Grouse is the band at the end of the tail. It is pale slaty-gray in Sooty, while Ruffed has a broad black subterminal band with narrow, buffy tips. In both of your photos, the gray band of a Sooty is clearly visible. Ruffed also tends to have a more  peaked-looking head, due to its little crest. Your bird shows the rounded head of a typical Sooty. The pattern on the flanks is another good indication for Sooty – rows of white spots on a brownish background. Both sexes of Ruffed Grouse show a pattern of pretty obvious black and white barring on the sides."

In a macabre note: On our actual Breeding Bird Survey a week later, I was hoping to see that Sooty Grouse on our route. But we went past the area where we had seen the above bird with no grouse in sight. However, a bit later on the route, we came to this sordid sight by the side of the road, between two of our stops...

Clearly a Ruffed Grouse. How it came to be hanging by its neck from a tree limb is anybody's guess. Foresters call them "Fool Hens" and say if you walk all the way around a stump that a Fool Hen is sitting on, it will watch you and twist its own neck off in the process. Now, I don't think this Fool Hen wrapped its own neck around a limb watching something, but it's hard to imagine a bird of prey managing such a feat after killing the grouse. Some sicko human hanging it after hitting it with his car? Anyone have other ideas? Here's a cropped version showing the neck wrapped around the limb.

There were some down feathers right next to the road, a few feet from the tree. We did not have time to do more than take a couple of quick photos since we were on our BBS route which is tough to finish in the allotted time even without stopping to gander at hanging grouse.

Larry McQueen replied:

"It looks like the head-neck got caught in a fork while flying."

Johnny's Puffin

For years Johnny has been scoping Haystack Rock off of Cape Kiwanda while I scour the cape tidal areas for Black Oystercatchers. For years he has sworn he has seen Tufted Puffins flying into crevices on either side of a "shield-shaped rock". I couldn't see anything and couldn't believe there was a space big enough for a bird to fly into.

Yesterday, May 28, he brought the scope to where I was sitting watching two BLOY below me and wondering if they were going to nest on the Rock this year. "Look at where I've been seeing them. They have been sticking their heads out of holes on either side of that rock. You can see white on their heads and red below."

Red below?

I looked and saw nothing. He said they were not doing it right then. But he had taken photos with his camera. At home, I put the photos on the camera and... he was right. The photos are awful but you can see red feet (his "red below"), black body and white head with maybe a tinge of red where the bill should be. It's a lousy photo, but I do believe he finally has his photo of a Tufted Puffin on Haystack Rock.

shield-shaped rock with puffin on the right top

Johnny took lots of photos... I can see those red feet!

shield-shaped rock when I took a photo... no puffin

Johnny's puffin up close and blurry

puffins both sides, top of rock

puffins closer, sort of

 
To see these elusive creatures, look at the Rock from the parking area, wheelchair ramp or beach. The ledge, low on the east side, facing the beach, is obvious. Centered above it is Johnny's "shield-shaped rock". I don't know if it's shield shaped but it is a flattish obvious rock with crevices on either side. Note the size of gulls sitting on the ledge to give yourself an idea of how tiny those puffins are going to look. The Rock is a mile off shore.

Cape Kiwanda's Haystack Rock

the ledge, low on rock with shield-shaped rock above it

ledge and rock closer... note the size of that gull left

 Good luck looking... and if you get a better photo of one of "Johnny's puffins", Johnny would love to see it.

I'm glad he finally got his photo and I finally got to see what he was seeing (via his photos). But Black Oystercatchers are much easier... and closer... to see and photograph. Here are the ones I was watching on the cape yesterday.

Tiny gull/tern?

 We saw this little bird I thought was a tern on the beach at Cape Kiwanda today, 5/15/15, associating with Western Gulls. Now I'm wondering if it is some kind of wee gull. (I'm clueless about beach birds other than the Black Oystercatchers that we were surveying today.) What is it? It appeared to us to be about 1/3rd the size of the gulls. It was limping a bit on one leg but getting around fine and seemed quite comfortable with its large companions and not spooky as I stood nearby taking a zillion photos of it.

Update: Dave Irons has now answered the question so here is his method of sorting through species, and why this bird is a Bonaparte's Gull, followed by my photos.

Dave says: "Aside from Black Tern, which is essentially all black in Spring/Summer, there
is no tern species in North America that has an all black hood, thus
terns can be categorically eliminated from consideration.

There are just six species of small to medium-sized black-headed gray-backed
gulls that regularly occur in North America. All six (Bonaparte's,
Little, Black-headed, Sabine's, Laughing and Franklin's) have occurred
in Oregon.

Three of these (Laughing, Little and Black-headed)are quite rare in the state at any season, so unless you saw field marksthat clearly point to one of those species, they can be quickly ruled
out. During the spring/summer breeding season both Laughing and Black-headed Gulls have red bills as adults (winter adults and young birds have white heads or dingy grayish heads). Your bird has a black
bill, which quickly reduces the pool of candidates down from six to four. Adult Little Gulls have short wingtips that are pale gray to white, not black like your bird, so now we are down to three potential
species. Sabine's Gull is most often seen offshore as a migrant, with a few inland records every year in the Fall and sometimes inshore during Spring. Sabine's has a distinctive pale yellow tip on the bill in its
adult plumage, plus its head is not jet black...more grayish or brownish-gray. After removing Sabine's Gull from consideration, we are down to two potential candidates.

The two most frequently encountered black-headed gull species in Oregon are Bonaparte's and
Franklin's. Franklin's is a prairie/Great Basin breeder that is mostly found east of the Cascades. A few stray west of the Cascades and/or move north and south along the outer coast in migration. Franklin's is larger than Bonaparte's and when in full black-headed alternate/breeding plumage it has a conspicuous dark red bill that is fairly thick. It's clear from your photos that your bird has thin, all-blackish bill, which takes Franklin's out of consideration.

By a fairly simple process of elimination, the cast of potential species that fit your bird
can be whittled down from six to one...Bonaparte's Gull. Not surprisingly, Bonaparte's is far and away the most expected small black-headed gull in western Oregon at any season. Bonaparte's are
common spring migrants along the coast. From late April well into May Bonaparte's can be seen passing near shore by the hundreds or even thousands (on rare occasions).

Bonapartes Gulls are noticeably smaller than even the smallest regularly-occurring white-headed gull
(Mew). In adult alternate plumage they have a solid or nearly solid black head, a thin, all-black bill, a medium to pale gray mantle and folded wings, and black wingtips that extend past the tail. These
primary field marks for Bonaparte's Gull can all be seen in your photos."
 

Mitch Ratzlaff offered this also helpful response: First summer Bonaparte gull in my humble opinion. Legs do look darker than normal, but everything else looks good. Bill is correct size, shape and color. Mantle is right color. Eye rings (partial) look right for Bonies.

Thanks to both Dave and Mitch. I know now that just because a gull-type bird is tiny doesn't mean it's a tern. I'm making progress!

Another Accipiter Question

When this bird appeared on the lawn where I feed birds in the morning (before I had fed), I had no doubt it was a large, juvenile, female (because of size) Cooper's Hawk. But as I took photos, I noticed a white supercilium and wondered if it could be a young Goshawk. But then I noticed very reddish streaks on the side and thought it must be a 2nd year Cooper's just getting its adult plumage. Likewise there appears some brown feathers in the wing as though it's in the middle of a molt. The eye is still yellow, not red, so it has to be a young bird. But looking at the photos, if I didn't know how big it was, I'd call it a Sharp-shinned Hawk because of head shape and skinny legs and that light supercilium and what look like coarse, not fine, brown belly streaks. But if this is a Sharpie, it's the world's biggest... or I'm a lousy judge of size... which is entirely possible. I would appreciate help in telling me where I'm going wrong.

Alas, only one person replied. Dick Musser says it looks like a Sharp-shinned Hawk to him and thinks it was smaller than I thought.  He suggested I go out and try to measure against something in the background. So I did and he is likely correct. The bird would have been, near as I can figure, about 8 inches tall. None of the guidebooks talk about how "tall" a bird is, just their wingspread. I hoped this bird would return so I could get a better look but no such luck.

More OBOLers have since checked in with Sharpie and varying head to tail measurements (from various guidebooks). From those I *should* be able to estimate height of my bird. So it's a Sharpie and I'm lousy at size estimates. Jays sit over in that spot every day eating grain and look about half the size that hawk looked to me. Why, I'll never know.

A falconer sent this post with heights. "About 8 inches would be right for a Male Sharpie, with the females a bit bigger. I had a female that hunted at 120 grams ( 4.25 oz ). I have had male Coopers that weighed no more than 7 ounces, but was still about a foot tall, and females that weighed up to 21 oz's although 12 to 16 for females would be normal. They would be in the 14 inch range, or there about. I judge the species by the square tail on a Sharpie if its flying, and the head and legs if its sitting. A coopers has a rather longer  flat head, and a rounded tail. ( the height measurements would be standing on a perch and not counting their tail)."

So not only was my bird not a big female Cooper's... it was a little male Sharpie!

Which Finch?

 For full screen views, click on the photo. It was a very bright day so colors washed out.

We mostly have Purple Finches here in the summer but we do have the occasional House Finch. I confess I tell the males apart mainly by voice. The females are easier. But I'm thinking this is a House Finch because it can't decide if it wants to be red, orange or yellow. I know there are other criteria, like bill shape, extent of red, streaking on flanks, but I'm wondering if this is a young bird just transitioning to adult plumage and so the streaks maybe aren't so diagnostic? Any tips will be much appreciated. This bird declined to sing.

Okay, many birders have offered clues and most said this bird is a Purple Finch. Dr. Jim Moodie sees all three finches (Purple, House and Cassin's) regularly at his feeders and said:

Your bird appears to be a 2nd year male, changing from the greenish 1st year male to the reddish adult.  The large bill lets us know it isn't a house finch, along with the facial markings.

Probably the most useful information came from Judy Meredith, who explains how her birding group keys out these three confusing finches, all of which they see in their area: 

Bill is a starting place: House, curved and blunt. Cassin's, pointy with perfectly straight edge on top like when you touch 2 rulers together to make a triangle. Purple bill is stout with a bit of a curve upper
portion sometimes visible.

Undertail: House has streaked undertail, Cassin's has streaked undertail, Purple unstreaked so if it is streaked it is probably not a Purple.  Some sources say this is not a 100 percent thing so not good to
ID a bird on that field mark alone.

Breast: House, dirty pale background with blurry streaks. Cassin's, quite a white background with fine or crisp dark streaks. Purple  broad blurry streaks, brownish streaks, usually darker than streaks on House.

Tail: House doesn't have much of a fork. Cassins does, sometimes difficult to say if it has more of a fork than Purple although it is supposed to be more notched, but certainly more than House.

Color: House so variable that I shouldn't mention. Cassin's more of a pinkish tone sometimes on front, head pattern of red is more delineated sometimes with a clean cap, versus a wash. And Purple, the wash widely distributed over the bird back and partially in front in a male.

Supercilium: I won't mention because sometimes Cassin's and Purple are so similar, especially the females or young males.

So I am not offering an answer... I am just reviewing how we go through it, a field mark at a time.

John Notis also sent a shorter key without worrying about Cassin's that I wouldn't have at my place. He looks at bill, color, and "The thing that I usually see first on a Purple is a crescent across the eye and along the side of the head. It’s not often continuous or sharp like the markings on a Bewick’s Wren or BC Chickadee but it stands out to me."

Taking all this in consideration, I'm relatively sure now that my odd colored finch is a 2nd year male Purple finch, as Dr. Moonie stated. I'm getting there from the notched tail, raspberry color extending down the back (in the photos where you can see a bit of the back), face pattern (although not sure that's relevant in a 2nd year male), bill relative size and possibly curved culmen (although this is hard for me to see) and unstreaked undertail pattern. I think Judy Meredith's group has the right idea when she says:  "Some birds aren't perfect (matches) and so we tend to look for the most field marks that fit with one species."

Many thanks to all in the birding community who shared their insights and information.