Day Three of Migration Count Week

The juvenile Cooper's hawk that hangs around here hunting rodents instead of birds was sitting in the dead tree in front of the barn this morning, overseeing the area where I throw grain for the birds. I thought perhaps it had reformed and was going to hunt birds instead of rodents.

But later in the day, it went back to what seems to be its favorite hunting strategy...

When this resulted in no success, the hawk jumped up onto the corner post of the pig pen to survey the ground from a bit higher.

To get the full effect of the hawk's perch, here is the pig pen, complete with pig, and the hawk.

When not watching the Cooper's, it was fun to watch the Steller's Jay attempt to get the last of the suet out of one of the suet holders.

Hah! Success!

But, alas, as of this third day of count week, there was still no sign of the Green Heron. I wondered if it would show up tomorrow, count day.

Migration Count Week Day Two

No Acorn Woodpecker showed up on Thursday, Sept. 18, the second day of NAMC week. Nor did the Green Heron that each year skips Count Day although it is here before and after. I hoped that by having a whole week to watch for it, I would surely get it at least one of those days.

 But a Pileated Woodpecker flew over calling plus 27 Band-tailed Pigeons. Alas, I did not get photos of any of them. Since I was off the farm most of this day, I only got photos of a few of the regulars... Well, the Golden-crowned Sparrows only returned yesterday but they are regular now.

                                                   

Song Sparrow

Scrub Jay

Steller's Jay

White-crowned Sparrow (juvenile)

Golden-crowned Sparrow

House Sparrow, surprisingly hard to catch on camera. They never stop moving.

California Quail, we have about 30 of them right now

Two Mourning Doves, sleeping in a tree

Turkey Vulture high overhead

Maybe tomorrow the Green Heron will show up...

Acorn Woodpecker Surprise

Today is the first day of the North American Migration Count just-for-fun "count week". We can tally birds we see three days before and three days after the official count, in case we miss them on count day. So I decided to take my binoculars and camera with me while I did chores this morning. I thought it would be fun to get photos each day of count week of birds that I might also get on the official day, Saturday. It was a good decision.

On my way back to the goat barn after turning the horses out for the day, a woodpecker flew up to the big snag.

I raised my binoculars to look and was amazed to see an Acorn Woodpecker... the first we have ever seen on our farm. We have a few oaks but they seldom produce acorns. There are other oaks in the neighborhood but mostly we have Big Leaf Maples and conifers. This is, after all, the edge of the Coast Range. But this woodpecker had an acorn in its mouth from somewhere which it deposited on top of the big part of the snag and proceeded to hammer at it. I took a million photos to catch the bird when its head was up and visible. After all, I wanted to document Farm Bird #148.

After hammering away for some minutes, the woodpecker flew to the skinny upright next to it and  preened.

Then things got more interesting. Our resident American Kestrel flew to the top of the skinny stick that the woodpecker was clinging to. The little falcon looked down and appeared startled by the strange bird below and immediately flew off. I was snapping photos constantly and caught it before it flew.

Cropped and lightened, you can see the Kestrel's reaction.

The Kestrel then circled the stick, screaming constantly, and made diving moves at the woodpecker... who totally ignored it. The Kestrel never came very close to the woodpecker, as though a bit afraid of this stranger in the neighborhood. It screamed and circled and dove over and over. The woodpecker continued to preen. Eventually, getting no reaction, the Kestrel flew off.

After a bit more preening, the woodpecker flew back and resumed hammering on its acorn. When it disappeared to the other side of the snag for a time, a Steller's Jay, which had been in a nearby tree watching, flew to the snag and pecked at the acorn. The jay must have managed to get a piece as it flew off with something in its bill. The woodpecker reappeared soon and hammered some more. At some point it disappeared again.

My goats were waiting to be milked so I quit watching, reluctantly, for the woodpecker to return. From the milk room window I can see that snag but I did not see the woodpecker again.


The Kestrel, by the way, did return a bit later and perched atop the skinny snag, which, apparently, he thinks he owns. Later still, he perched on a dead tree near the house where I took these photos.

 

Today was an exciting... and curious... start to my migration count week.

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.