Farm Bird #147: Great Egret

Walking toward the dam to turn the horses out on the morning of Sept. 2, I was astonished to see a tall white bird standing on the dam. So I retreated to the goat barn and called Johnny to bring the camera from the house. He did and handed it over to me behind the barn, out of view of the Egret. I managed to take a couple photos from out the side door. (My milk room windows were too dirty.)

But the excitement didn't last long as our big white dog came trotting up in front of the barn. Apparently, big white birds don't like big white dogs. Johnny snapped a shot with his camera from the path by the garden as the Great Egret flew out of sight. This is the first time we've seen one here on the farm, or anywhere close for that matter.

Great Egret became bird number 147 on my list of birds seen on our farm since we moved here in 1977.

The Barn Owlets have Fledged

Only four owlets from the original nine eggs survived to fledging. One large baby we found dead on the loft floor on May 5th of unknown causes. The others simply disappeared. Apparently, there was not enough food for nine youngsters and the littlest became food for the biggest.

April 20

April 28

May 6. Although not visible, I did see a fourth head lift up while I was watching that night. So there were four babies. This was the day after a 5th owl had appeared under the nest on the loft floor, dead.

Alas, life got busy and I did not take my camera up again after they started getting feathers. The only photo I have of a feathered owlet is the one taken at night on June 6 from outside looking up at the owlet standing in the loft window. I watched that owl for fifteen minutes before a parent appeared with food.

These poor babies had to put up with an enormous amount of noise when we were putting hay into the loft June 6 and 7.  But none deserted the nest early as a result. By June 12, two had left the nest and were begging nightly from an oak tree next to Johnny's shop. This morning, June 17, was the first day there were no owlets in the nest box. Last night there were at least three begging owlets in the oak tree and an adult making frequent feeding trips into the tree.

And so another season of Barn Owl nesting has passed. I wonder if they'll nest again this summer, after the youngsters are off feeding themselves. I'll be watching for eggs to appear in the loft nest.

Baskett Slough Birds at the end of May

Birding friends and I had been reading about the many good birds at Baskett Slough NWR lately, so a car full (six) of us went today. Unfortunately, the Black Tern, Black-necked Stilts, and Wilson's Phalarope were out of camera range for me from up at the highway lookout. But I did get a few other birds along Coville Road to cooperate.

I thought this fallen tree with its jumbled branches at The Narrows on Coville Road made a scenic picture. A Great Egret was lurking behind it.

An odd-colored Yellow-headed Blackbird was picking at insects (or something) on and near the gravel road at The Narrows. I think this is a female, although it is much more brightly colored than I thought they were. Comments?

Several bitterns were booming and peeking up out of the reeds.

Farther east on Coville Road, a Savannah Sparrow sang for us atop his signpost.

Just before leaving the refuge, eagle-eyed LaVon caught sight of this Horned Lark, singing in a dried-up marshy area not far from the road. It took forever for me to find the bird, but if you look at the back shot, you can see how it might disappear into a mud background.

I'd never noticed the soft brown back of a Horned Lark before: I'm always focusing on the bright yellow and black front. Maybe I don't see the birds unless I glimpse that bright yellow. I think a reddish brown back is characteristic of our Pacific Northwest subspecies, the Streaked Horn Lark.

It was a good day with good birds and good friends.

Birding Pirate Cove and Yaquina Bay

Dawn was contacted by a Bend birder, Courtenay, who was spending a few days on the coast and wanted to see coast birds. Dawn invited me to tag along. It was fun in spite of the misty rain. My photos are not good because of the weather (that's my excuse) but here they are anyway.

Naturally, the first photos I took were of Black Oystercatchers.

Those dots on the rock at Pirate Cove are Common Murres and Cormorants. There were rafts of Murres on the water, too.

Look at those blue throats on displaying Brandt's Cormorants. The Murres don't seem impressed.

Brandt's are not too spectacular when they're not showing off those blue throats. Pelagic Cormorants are pretty in flight with their white flanks but I didn't get any pictures.

Whether the cormorants flying around carrying grass in their bills were actually lining nests or just showing off for the ladies, we could not tell.

At Yaquina Bay we saw and heard lots of Savannah Sparrows. This one posed on a post.

An Osprey was by its nest under the bridge.

At low tide on the mudflats, we saw Whimbrels and Short-billed Dowitchers... and a few lovely Dunlin with their breeding plumaged black bellies. Alas, I did not get photos of them.

By now we were wet and so was this Kingbird on a wire. Western or Tropical? Can anyone tell? It looks Westernish to me with a smallish bill but they are apparently rarely seen on the coast.

We then drove around the bay up the Yaquina River and saw lots of birds I did not photograph, including two Common Loons making their haunting calls. I love the sound of a loon. It transports me to a lonesome lake deep in the wilderness.


A Whimbrel was sitting, uncharacteristically, on a post in the middle of the river. At least, I've never seen one on a post before, surrounded by water instead of mud.

Dawn did better than I at photos. She got one of a Horned Grebe along Yaquina Bay and a lovely one of an Anna's hummingbird near the Oregon Aquarium. Her blog, with photos, is here: http://dvillabirds.blogspot.com/2014/05/from-depoe-bay-to-newport-in-misty-rain.html

It's been a long time since I've birded the coast for anything other than Black Oystercatcher surveys or Beached (dead) Bird Surveys. It was fun made more fun with friends.

Red-breasted Sapsucker

Lately, I've spent quite a bit of time in the woods keying out wildflowers (or trying to). Yesterday, while off-trail staring down at some plant or other, I heard a peck peck nearby. Looking up, I saw this Red-breasted Sapsucker very close to me on a big old maple. He was working on his sap wells and paid me no attention as I snapped photos. What a handsome bird!

Nine Barn Owl Eggs!

Nine eggs is definitely a new record for the Fink Family Farm Barn Owls. Here is the update I sent to my Barn Owl fledging notification email list tonight:

"This is definitely a new record for the Fink Family Farm barn owls. The most they've had in the past was 7 eggs. Most clutches over the years have been 6 or 7 eggs. But the voles are plentiful this year and that must have something to do with their faith that they can raise more babies... or else the more food they eat, the more eggs they lay. Or something.

I know there are lots of voles still out there because today, while I was taking a break from planting more trees in the arboretum, a vole worked at cleaning out its hole not far from me. Cheeky little brat.

This is the first time I've seen the owl fly out of the nest box since my last update. I confess I shone my spotlight up on the ledge tonight (not into the box) for a second and she fled. I was concerned that she had deserted the nest since Johnny has been working diligently with a chainsaw and lots of noise right outside her window for weeks (still tearing down the old barn). So I shone the light for a second in case that would get her off the nest, if she were there, long enough for me to scurry up the ladder and fire off one quick and blurry photo. And it worked. But I'll bet she's annoyed with me. She did not scream over my head as I left the barn, though, which always happens when I sneak up to peak at owlets after the mama no longer stays with them at night. So I suspect she was back on the nest before I was out of the barn.

I was also concerned because last night, after many nights of none or few barn owl calls at night, there were many screeches and hisses from several different directions and I wondered if a predator was in the vicinity. None can get into the loft (unless they can fly) but the owls would not know that. Our livestock guardian dog did tear after something by the creek last night so there well could have been a raccoon or two or three prowling which might concern the owls since coons can certainly climb trees and enter nest cavities. But even a raccoon would be hard pressed to reach and open our barn doors... or get past our livestock guardian dog.

I will not check again until I suspect, by a parent flying in at night with food and then back out again, that some eggs have hatched. Or, more likely, when I hear the little begging calls the owlets make... or their dragon hisses when I go up into the loft to throw hay down for the goats."

Eight Barn Owl Eggs!

Tonight I took my camera and a flashlight with me when I climbed up into the loft. I saw an owl fly out of the nest box so I scurried up the viewing ladder, turned on my flashlight and took a quick photo of the eight eggs. How they stay that white in that mess is a mystery to me.

There were several dead voles in the box... hard to tell how many since some may be mixed in with the mess. After reading about the Snowy Owl irruption on the east coast this year being triggered by a population explosion of lemmings last year and seeing a photo of a 2013 nest with seventeen lemmings ringing it, I realized that our owls are simply catching whatever they find and right now, our fields are riddled with vole holes. I walked through a field today while putting up more swallow nest gourds and it looks like the voles are going through one of their periodic population explosions. You can't walk without stepping on a runway or hole. So that is likely why we are seeing so many more stashed dead things in the nest box than usual.

Snowy Owls apparently laid more eggs last year than usual and fledged more owlets because of the abundant food supply. I did not realize that owls lay more eggs in years of plentiful food. Our Barn Owls usually lay six or seven eggs, but fewer some years. I'll check my records tomorrow but I think eight is a new record. And who knows if she's done laying!