Winter is here and it’s the time I spend more time in the car attempting to photograph birds on the road rather than rely on those that visit the yard, in part to expand the number and kinds of species to add to my photographic inventory.  I made an outing on Jan 31, and at the risk of boring readers, I’m going to take you through my experiences.

March Point is always “hit or miss” and this winter I’ve found far fewer waterfowl and shorebirds to photograph.  Notably missing are the Dunlins that have been so prolific in past years.  On this particular day I found what is apparently a female Common goldeneye in winter plumage that had drifted in close enough to be in photographic range.  

Not much farther on I found a group (considerably larger than the four in this photo) of mostly male American wigeons.  The interesting thing about this observation is that, just like the week before, the American wigeons were accompanied by a single male Eurasian wigeon.  And as I pulled to the side of the road for a photograph, ALL of the American wigeons flew a hundred feet os so further away, but the Eurasian wigeon remained.  

Just another difference in species that you probably won’t get from a field guide!

Moving to Channel Drive I encountered a pair of sub-adult Bald eagles, one of which is pictured below.

And along the road I picked up photos of:

A male Spotted towhee,

(A rare opportunity to photograph) a Mourning dove,

And a Song sparrow.

I also watched a Double-crested cormorant wrestling with some kind of flounder at least the size of my hand, the largest fish I have ever seen a waterfowl catch and eat.  I obtained photos but none fit to display.

Moving on, towards Fir Island, I photographed this Black-capped chickadee, attracted by a little “pishing”.  …

In a farm field on Fir Island I finally found a group of about 40 Dunlin…

At the Jensen F&W Access I had the opportunity to photograph another sub-adult Bald eagle.

I next has another interesting observation, but alas, with no photos.  I pulled into the Hayton F&W Access and found several hundred American wigeons grazing in a field, a wondrous moving carpet that surged one way and then another.  At one point a person pulled in front of the group and exited their car which sent the flock back a hundred yards or so… very frustrating!!!  All of a sudden, with no cause evident, the entire group (several hundred as I’ve stated) flew into the air and landed in a waterway about a hundred yards away.  At first I couldn’t determine what spooked them, but as I glanced at a large tree behind me I saw a Peregrine falcon land.  So why did the birds only fly about a hundred yards and land in water?  It’s my theory they know the falcon can’t snatch them on water and carry them off.  Had they been attacked while on land they would have been the proverbial “dead duck”.

Moving on to the HQ Tract of F&W, I managed a few photos of Yellow-rumped warblers (Audubon’s) flycatching and the rare bird that has inhabited the area since sometime last summer, the Black phoebe.  (Still there, still often observable from the road.)

As I was considering leaving, a Red-tailed hawk flushed from the ground and, completely out of character, allowed me to take multiple photographs from multiple positions from my vehicle.  I consider these fairly rare photos for the county because the hawk was not on a power line or power pole!

After taking the hawk photos I was about ready to head home, but I noticed a disturbance in the water below me and a Double-crested cormorant popped up beside me.  After a few minutes it was joined by another one.  They were both VERY successful at catching small fish, but photos were difficult to come by because the small fish would be downed immediately upon the birds surfacing.

By now it was after 4pm, the light was fading and I was ready to head home.  But there was one treat left.  As I made the 90-degree turn on Fir Island Road I saw that a flock of thousands of Snow geese had moved to a field adjoining the Jensen F&W Access.  I turned down the access road and watched and photographed Snow geese for many minutes.  The geese were moving towards parked cars when a car drove in front of them and another driver got out of his car.  (He could easily photographed with his phone from INSIDE his car) and these actions set the geese off and they moved back 100-yards or so.  I took several video sequences of eruptions with my iPhone video but don’t know how to get it onto my web site.

This was a 200+ photo day, but less than judicious pruning brought my take down to 96 photos.  Some people wonder why I don’t read more.  This was a full afternoon of photography, several hours of editing, and another couple of hours putting together this post!  I’m probably through for the weekend until it possibly snows!

Winter is the time of year I spend more time on the road photographing birds afield, using my car as a blind.  (More about that in a minute!)  I didn’t need a blind for this first eagle photo with Mount Baker in the background… and I guess you could say that the eagle was also in the background!

Here’s a juvenile Bald eagle.  In this case, the term ‘juvenile’ (perhaps more properly, ‘sub-adult’) as I use it is to designate any eagle up to four years old at which time they acquire their adult plumage.)

And now for a little lecturing!  You will be able to get much closer to birds if you will STAY IN YOUR VEHICLE TO OBSERVE!  I’ve had two occurrences lately when, when I was obviously observing/photographing from my car, another vehicle drove up and the occupants tried to approach birds on foot.  The birds were driven away, interrupting my photographic opportunities and increasing the distance for their observations.  In one case the driver walked up and asked me the identity of the bird!

This is a rather rare Red-tailed hawk, but for the seasonal Bald eagles, probably the most numerous, wide-spread raptor in the area.  I term this bird a rarity because it has actually found a tree limb on which to perch!

This time of year we have visiting Rough-legged hawks in the area.  Within a week of this excursion, while birding with a friend, we counted FOUR in the Samish Flats area.  I don’t think I’ve seen one anywhere other than on a power pole or power line.

This swan was flying straight at me.

I’m not the only birder afield!

Winding up my excursion, I encountered this Song sparrow.

And this male House finch...

And finally. a little closer to home, an American robin in the middle of a berry tree.  I’ve been trying to catch the robins in the tree for photos, but in just a couple of days they have eaten from the top down about a third of the berries.  Going, going, gone…!

These photos were taken in the yard on January 6, 2019.  This first bird is a Dark-eyed junco, Oregon race.  If you look at the face carefully, you can see that the area around the eye is composed of white feathers, indicating that this bird is leucistic.  There are also faint traces of white feathers in a few isolated areas around the bird’s head.

This junco, seen on the same day, appears to have a problem with feathers around the eye.  If you again look closely, you can see that the area around the eye is denuded, but you can see a few white feathers near the bottom front of the eye.

There didn’t seem to be any differences in behavior between these juncos and others in the yard, and the juncos didn’t seem to exhibit any vision problems.  So is this a case of leucitism or possibly some disease passed among juncos?

And, while I’m on the subject of juncos, here’s another photo of our single Slate-colored junco.

A male House finch.  I observed three males in the yard this (1/8/2019) afternoon.

Our only adult White-crowned sparrow.

A magnificent male Spotted towhee who has a partner/mate that also frequents the yard.

One of the six American goldfinches that were in our yard this past weekend.  These have been relative rare birds in our yard during past winters.

And finally, a couple of more photos of what is probably the same Yellow-rumped warbler (Audubon’s race), one of several that we’ve had in the yard for the past month or so, including for the Christmas Bird Count.

I returned from my morning obligations on January 3 to find that the yard was populated by an unusual number of birds.  I made the decision to skip my usual nap and do a little yard birding.  I found that most, but not all, of our winter visitors were well represented, even if available light for photography wasn’t.

First up, a couple of rather rare winter visitors, at least two Yellow-rumped warblers (Audubon’s race) that have been in the yard from time to time for at least the last month.  Sadly, early in December one of the warblers (not one of the ones pictured here) got into it with another bird and both were killed in a simultaneous window strike.  (I’m not sure whether or not these two photos are of the same bird but there were at least two in the yard at the same time.)

Here’s a photo of one of our many Dark-eyed juncos (Oregon race), easily the most numerous species in the yard.

And here are a couple of photos of our Dark-eyed junco (Slate-colored race), a species that inexplicably has graced our yard for the last 11-12 winters.

This Chestnut-backed chickadee stopped by for a bath in the watercourse.

While I was photographing, this Brown creeper suddenly showed up beside the watercourse but flew before accessing the water.  This was the only species that was unexpectedly absent from our feeder watch that was part of the Christmas Bird Count!

We have at least two Spotted towhees in the yard.

We usually have one Fox sparrow each winter and this is it!

And a Song sparrow…

We have about 4-5 Golden-crowned sparrows that frequent the yard each winter.  This one is probably a male owing to the still relatively bright crown.

Rounding out the list is this probably-juvenile White-crowned sparrow with the tan crown.  We briefly had an adult in the yard but I wasn’t able to get a good photo of it.

There were several other species that visited but for which i didn’t obtain photos.

Most of my birding in Santa Fe is done at the Randall Davey Audubon Sanctuary at the upper end of Canyon Road.  The center has feeders and a few bird baths which attract a lot of the local birds.  This year for the first time I saw a small flock of turkeys.  But on to the photographs.

This is a White-breasted nuthatch, at least one of which I see on every visit.  And these photos are of a typical posture, almost always seen traveling DOWN a tree trunk.  I seldom see nuthatches (White-breasted or our own Western Washington Red-breasted) actually eating seeds.  Instead they industriously store most of the seeds they get in cracks and crannies in the bark of trees for later consumption.

This is a Dark-eyed junco (Slate-colored race), one of the few I have ever seen outside our yard in Skagit County.

The most prevalent of the Dark-eyed juncos at the Sanctuary appears to be this Gray-headed race, but I also saw a few of the Oregon race.  I think there is at least one other race that may be found at the sanctuary but the distinguishing characteristics between the races are too subtle for me to identify!

I observed several visits from noisy Western Scrub jays who always want to announce their presence at the feeder.

This male House finch was picking at berries left on one of the trees.

And one of my favorite birds that can always be found at the sanctuary is a Mountain chickadee.  We supposedly have these birds in Skagit County but one has yet to make it to and be observed in our yard.

We saw many other species of birds on our New Mexico trip for which I haven’t posted photos.  My next posting will be of birds back in Skagit County, WA.