KETTLES ON; KIDDIES OUTTA THE POOL

There was a kettle of immature Bald Eagles over Pointe Mouillee just south of Detroit this morning. When I first saw this phenomenon I could not imagine what was up:

At one time there were six of them circling and swooping about.

One of the eagles had a duck or coot and the others were hoping to make a steal. Here’s the successful predator carrying its prey.

OKAY, KIDS, OUT OF THE WATER:

Northern Rough-winged Swallow:

Osprey on nest, Pointe Mouillee

Tomorrow we begin the PIB trip to northwestern Ohio, co-sponsored by Golden gate Audubon.

SEABIRDS IN THE RAIN FOREST

The continental United States has only one rain forest.  It stretches along the spectacular Oregon and Washington State coastline.  The evergreens reach two hundred feet into the skies, often disappearing in the low-lying clouds.  The Pacific and Puget Sound shoulder up to a rocky coastline with scattered bits of sandy beach.  The cold, wave-churned waters are rich in critters from plankton to Orcas.  And here the seabirds pull out onto huge floating logs carried down from the forest just uphill from the water’s edge.

Last year PIB had two winter birding trips to the Northwest Coast for those wintering birds down from the Arctic.  Here are a few of the photos taken by birders on those trips.  Take a look, because we are once again offering this great photo safari into the great American Northwest:

TOP TO BOTTOM:

Northern Shrike at Nisqually NWR, Washington.  Photo by Ms Jennifer Hyypio.

Harlequins off the shore of Whidbey Island.  Photo by Steve  Murray.

Pelagic Cormorant and Glaucous-winged Gull pole sitting.  Photo by Ms J. Hyypio.

Gang of Bald Eagles patrolling the edge of a marsh at Nisqually.  Photo by Ms Hyypio.

Red-throated Loon in Hood Canal.  By Mr. Murray.

Rhino Auklet over Puget Sound.  By Steve Murray.

Surfbird along Oregon Coast.  You’ll wait a long time before this species shows up in Colorado.  Photo by Steve Murray.

HERE’S LINK TO OUR 2011 NORTHWEST TRIP SCHEDULE.

More Murray…You Shudda Been There

Eagles in aerial combat above Nisqually River at Nisqually NWR.  One eagle had a duck in its talons.  Two other eagles envied that.

Mew Gull (Left) and three Western Gulls.

Rhino Auklet in flight.

Part of the Varied Thrush flock we found along the road in Ft. Stevens Park near the mouth of the Columbia River in Oregon.

Red-necked Grebe.  There were many in Hood Canal, none near shore.

Pileated who flew around the treetops at Tolmie State Park, WA.

Red-throated Loon.

Still More of Murray’s Marvey Images

Black-bellied Plover on lawn, Whidbey Island.

All thee Pacific coastal cormorants on the dock next to Keystone Ferry Terminal, Whidbey Island.  The lone Brandt’s Cormorant is third from the right.  That species has become hard to find in lower 48 because of El Nino and the lack of upwelling and thus fish along the coast.  On a recent visit to San Francisco I saw ZERO Brandt’s though they traditionally cover the sides of Seal Rocks.

Three Harlequins, male on the right.  Off the beach at Whidbey Island, WA.

This bird needs no introduction, no caption.

Glaucous-winged Gull feeding at Sequim.

Surfbird on the rocks, Seaside, Oregon.

Some Northwest Trip Pictures From Bob Shade

Top to bottom:  Sunrise that first dawn just outside Astoria.

Barrow’s Goldeneye on Hood Canal.

Black Turnstone on the bouldery beach at Seaside, Oregon.  Just after taking this picture, Bob Shade took a tumble among the jumble of rocks.  He and his camera survived, shaken but unstirred.

Winter Wren in the woods.

Birders on the rainy sand at Cannon Beach, scoping Haystack Rock.  We later found Harlequins here but never located the Black Oystercatcher.

Birders all in a row.

Further photos from the Northwestern adventure

Every day seemed to start with an eagle perched overlooking the nearest water.  This one was near the Nisqually River.

A Blue Heron sporting his feathery finery of spring breeding season.  Near one flooded field at Nisqually.

Below: Flock of American Wigeon at Nisqually.

To the right: pair of Common Mergansers on Nisqually River.

Pileated up a tree.

At Tolmie State Park on lower Puget Sound.

Winter Wren exercises his territorial urges and his curiosity at Tolmie.  He was moving so fast I was shooting without trying to stop the camera.  Very hard to follow.

Song Sparrow at Nisqually NWR Visitors’ Center.

Shovelers at Nisqually.  And at Tolmie State Park the land and water are distinct nor separate.

Northwest Birding Gallery, February, 2010

One of the numerous Bald Eagles on Sauvie Island, west of Portland, Oregon.  The large number of wintering waterfowl attract the predatory eagles each year.  The competition is easily viewed as mature eagles like this one frequently swoop in and displace a younger eagle from its perch with a clear view of the lakes and marshes.  Geese and ducks are spooked into swirling flocks aflight whenever an eagle soars over their location.  Harriers can also raise a cloud of birds. The potential prey does not act the same way when a Red-tailed Hawk is seen.

Below:   Peregrine overlooking marsh on the  west end of Sauvie Island.

Top to bottom:  Looking east across the flats of Sauvie Island.

Dawn at Astoria near the mouth of the Columbia River.

Eagle pair overlooking Columbia from perch in Warrenton, Oregon.  After they left this lone young eagle took the same perch, well known, apparently, among local eagles.

Two Surfbirds on the boulder beach at Seaside, Oregon.  As usual, they were mixed in with a flock of Black Turnstones.  Offshore were White-winged Scoters.  On the right: single Surfbird and starfish on rocks.

Sauvie Island revisited

I brought a second group of PIBirding clients to Sauvie Island today.  Despite the forecast of rain we endured hours of sunshine after a couple rainbows.  Over sixty species.

One of the last birds we saw today:

This Peregrine al0ng Rentenaar Road. Of course there were plenty of BIG raptors:

Location:  Sauvie’s Island
Observation date:     2/5/10
Number of species:     62

Greater White-fronted Goose     2
Snow Goose     800
Ross’s Goose     15
Cackling Goose     120
Canada Goose     2500
Canada Goose (Dusky)     400
Tundra Swan     250
Eurasian Wigeon     4
American Wigeon     800
Mallard     200
Northern Shoveler     120
Northern Pintail     750
Green-winged Teal     250
Ring-necked Duck     150
Lesser Scaup     15
Bufflehead     2
Hooded Merganser     3
Pied-billed Grebe     3
Double-crested Cormorant     35
Great Blue Heron     6
Great Egret     4
Bald Eagle     16
Northern Harrier     10
Red-tailed Hawk     25
American Kestrel     12
Peregrine Falcon     1
American Coot     160
Sandhill Crane     300
Dunlin     40
Mew Gull     30
Ring-billed Gull     350
California Gull     1
Rock Pigeon     15
Eurasian Collared-Dove     5
Mourning Dove     30
Great Horned Owl     1
Red-breasted Sapsucker     3
Downy Woodpecker     2
Hairy Woodpecker     1
Northern Flicker (Red-shafted)     12
Steller’s Jay     4
Western Scrub-Jay     16
American Crow     30
Black-capped Chickadee     8
Brown Creeper     3
Bewick’s Wren     2
Golden-crowned Kinglet     1
American Robin     15
European Starling     250
Yellow-rumped Warbler     6
Spotted Towhee     4
Fox Sparrow     1
Song Sparrow     10
White-crowned Sparrow     8
Golden-crowned Sparrow     50
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon)     24
Red-winged Blackbird     20
Western Meadowlark     4
Brewer’s Blackbird     50
House Finch     6
Pine Siskin     2
American Goldfinch     2

Jeannie Mitchell’s great pics from Northwest Birding trip

Top to bottom:  Red-tailed Hawk, immature, eating raw rodent for lunch on Sauvie Island, OR.

Four Tundra Swans in flight, juvenile is the gray one.

Winter Wren

Hermit Thrush posing at Coffeeberry Lake.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet checking us out.  Note shape of the eye ring.

Long-tailed Duck off Sequim yacht harbor.

Bald Eagle carrying off a duck it has caught.

Gull bothering a Bald Eagle, looks like one of those Western X Glaucous-winged hybrids so plentiful along Puget Sound.  This eagle is also carrying a duck in its talons. Great shot, Jeannie!

Pictures From Puget Sound

Here are some fine pictures by Tom Bush, one of the PIB expedition members on the Northwest birding trip.  We expect to do another trip in 2011.  The next group to go will gather in Portland next week.

There could not be a more emblematic bird for our trip than the Harlequin.  This delicately marked duck goes from breeding on crashing streams to wintering on cold, open water.  Here’s a pair of males cruising off Whidbey Island.

Here’s a pair on the rugged shore at Hama Hama on the Hood Canal.

Here’s that same pair, now alerted to our staring gaze.

Top to bottom:

Barrow’s Goldeneye male on Hood Canal at Potlatch State Park.

Common Goldeneye male practices for the spring displaying competition.

Truly a golden eye.

Black Oystercatcher feeding on the beach at Sequim yacht harbor.

Young Bald Eagle at Nisqually NWR.  We probably saw four dozen different Bald Eagles on this trip.  Sightings included a copulating pair at Railroad Bridge Park in Sequim.  Tow different eagles with ducks at Whidbey Island.  Most amazing was a young eagle catching, then losing, a Cackling Goose on a lake on Sauvie Island.  That action attracted three other Bald Eagles and not even the mature individual could re-capture the goose which actually dove to escape capture.

Trumpeters at Sequim.

Song Sparrow, Nisqually.