Whatcom Birding: July 2013

Thursday 25 July 2013

Re tagged red tail Fred Sears 7/24/13

Between Sunset and Blaine i would guess there are at least a dozen Red- tails(pairs) right now. I think the attraction is the grass as it creates a long ( very linear) habitat maintained by the mowing crews at ideal heights for voles and snakes.

A far number of Barn Owls use it to- or at least I deduce that from the numbers of carcasses I see.

Re tagged red tail Judy Krieger 7/24/13

I saw one, blue left, couldn't stop to read number, at the northbound I5/Slater ramp earlier this summer. Freeways have road killl and short grass for easy visibility of little critters?

Wednesday 24 July 2013

Errata- red tailed hawk Fred Sears 7/20/13

Or however one says rushing about at lunch in latin. So Clark wrote and noted the bird I imaged was likely a young of year Red-tailed Hawk, which I believe is correct. It appears that two young of year Red-tailed Hawks are at Bug Lake, both can fly, both are actively calling and begging from the adults -one of which is the blue tagged wing bird that is often around I-5 and bug lake. Another calling view of one of the birds in question.

Young birds, Fred Sears 7/19/13

Also have groups of young hummingbirds feeding in the front lawn right now. Have not seen an adult male in about two weeks.

Red Tail Blue wing tag‏ Fred Sears 7/19/13

So the Red-tailed Hawk with the Blue wing tag apparently nested by St. Joe's this year (a cottonwood between St. Joe's and Cornwall park). At the Current time it is humoring/ enticing a young Red-tailed Hawk to fly and fend for itself which it seems reluctant to do. The image is of the the untagged adult. Both adults are actively calling and flying close to the chick seemingly trying to entice it to fly which it response to by rapidly jumping between limbs on its tree of the moment.

Murre with an Antenna!‏ Victor Burgett 7/16/13

Hello,
on last saturday's birding boat trip (july 13) we spotted this Common Murre near Colville Island off the south coast of Lopez Island, and noticed it was wired for tracking! I have searched using "google" but could not come up with any recent studies involving putting antennas on Murres in our region. I did find that some studies had been done quite a few years ago. Is this a leftover antenna from a project long ended or is there a current study being done that's just not mentioned online? If anyone happens to know, I'd love it if you would pass along the info.

This year's Barred Owl nest‏ Joe Meche 7/24/13

It's common knowledge that the BADO's of the previous two years abandoned the well known nesting tree in Whatcom Falls Park and set up in a new site. I think I found the new nesting hole this morning and, given the proximity to the area of frequent sightings this summer, this might be the tree.
Tough to tell in the photo, but it meets all the necessary criteria and you can see old nesting material falling out of the entry hole.

RE: Another Wing tagged Red-tail‏ Paul De Bruyn 7/25/13

They seem to like freeways, I saw blue left 10 on the northbound onramp at Sunset this morning. This is pretty close to Bug Lake

Tuesday 23 July 2013

Bushtit Horde Joe Meche 7/19/13

It's post-breeding time and Bushtits are flocking.
I stopped by St. Clair Park on Tuesday and as soon as I opened the door, I was surrounded by 30-40 of these little bundles of energy.
I became so occupied with their antics that I forgot why I stopped by the park!

Hooded Merganser and Cooper's Hawk fledglings Pat Buhl 7/22/13

What I think may be a juvenile Hooded Merganser (please correct if I'm wrong about that), has been feeding in Whatcom Creek just upstream from the Derby Pond in Whatcom Falls Park, and hanging out with the Mallards in and around the Derby Pond, for the last couple of days.
There were also three Cooper's Hawk fledglings in the sunny, relatively open area near the nest on the trail to Scudder Pond, on July 14... one was seen today across the trail from the nest.

Another Wing tagged Red-tail‏ S Cottrell 7/22/13

I saw blue left #69 at the northbound on ramp from Northwest Ave to I5. This guy is a year old, molting and was relocated from Sea-Tac in June of this year. Any other sightings of him would be appreciated. Thanks!

Barred owl Joe Meche 7/18/13

This one took a crayfish at the base of Derby Pond spillway, right at my feet!

Monday 22 July 2013

Agate Pond Preserve- P Otto 7/20/13

The time of much new life. Fledglings calling all around - both grosbeak species feeding young at the feeders, goldfinch family just out and begging. Counted 6 young towhees with begging juncos being fed. Young Barred Owl out back last evening. Barn swallows feeding in the shed. Male Rufous hummingbirds gone for a couple of weeks finally allowing the youngsters to feed undisturbed. Flickers fledged last week from a snag on the stream. Group of Wilsons Warblers giving contact calls so hopefully a family unit. No cowbird babies this year, thank goodness. Reproduction has happened. Soon the summer quiet will settle in.

Barred owl- Roger Iverson 7/21/13

Last night there were two BAOWs on our property about 7PM. We hear them occasionally at night but have never seen them. I think they are the same pair that Joe recently saw near the St. Clair Detention pond. It's always nice to see different birds in the yard.

Re tagged red-tail- Sue Cottrell 7/22/13

Hi Holly, This Red-tail Hawk was re-located from Sea-Tac. It was captured August 18, 2010 at Sea-Tac and released in Skagit County. It has been observed up here a few times since then and is most likely one of the pair that had a successful nest this year just across the freeway west of St. Joe's hospital. Females are tagged on the right and males on the left. The program is run by Bud Anderson for the Port of Seattle and you can get more information about it at the Falcon Research Group website, wwwdotfrgdotorg. He keeps track of all sightings of the wing-tagged birds. I will let him know of your sighting. "The FRG is working jointly with the Port of Seattle (Steve Osmek, Port biologist) to study the number and distribution of birds of prey that occur at SEATAC airport. The purpose of this work is to minimize the number of raptors involved in air strikes at Sea-Tac. In addition to the direct conservation benefits for the hawks, we can also reduce the potential damage to aircraft caused by strikes. Using a variety of innovative techniques, we have successfully captured 93 raptors so far. All immature birds are transported 75 miles north to better and safer habitat of the Skagit Flats." If you see a white wing-tagged bird, it was re-located from the Vancouver, BC airport. Nice capture. The quality is plenty good enough to see the number and that's what counts!

Sunday 21 July 2013

Re tagged red-tail- Holly-7/21/13

This was taken by my nine year old with my phone while idling in the van, so please excuse the photo quality. The big beauty was perched on the sign on James St by Goodwill/Kmart complex. How many blue tagged birds are in that area? and who tagged it? We were thrilled to see this up close.

Saturday 13 July 2013

Cooper Hawk Babies‏- John Green 7/13/13

Just saw four Cooper hawk young ones in the trees along N. Forest St. east of E. Ivy st. and west of Berry st. (closer to Berry).

Auklets at the entrance to Bellingham Bay etc.‏- Andrew Reding 7/11/13

Western Sandpipers Blaine Marine Drive‏- Phil Calise 7/11/13

This evening on the high tide 7pm. there were 300 western sandpipers at the 2nd picnic shelter. The water had already covered all the mud so they were all huddled at the waters edge on the rocks.

Double-crested Cormorant nest‏- Joe Meche 7/11/13

I'm posting this photo so we can all appreciate the size/complexity of the nests these birds make. If you see them from far away it's difficult to realize the size, but they really are impressive structures.

Anna's- Suzetta 7/13/13

Yesterday it seemed as if a pair of Anna's were courting. Would they be getting ready to raise another brood this time of year?

Barred Owl, new location‏- Joe Meche 7/13/13

Didn't have time to get to know this one but I managed a couple of quick shots.
Robins alerted me to it just above the St. Clair Detention (retention?) Pond, up the trail from the Barkley Haggen's.

Friday 12 July 2013

Re: Northern Flicker, intergrade- Clark Blake 7/12/13

Joe and others:

This is an interesting find. I have never seen an intergrade (or Yellow-shafted) flicker in the summer. I thought that they all went somewhere in the spring (along with the intergrade and "slate-colored) juncos, to those areas where the two forms overlap. So much for that idea.

Clark

Northern Flicker, intergrade- Joe Meche 7/12/13

While stalking the scrub jays yesterday, I observed this flicker chase one of the jays away from this perch, so I shot it (photographically). It wasn't until I downloaded the photos that I noticed the red crescent on the nape.

*The bird that the flicker ousted was one of the juvenile scrub jays.

Wednesday 10 July 2013

Western Scrub Jays‏ Joe Meche 7/10/13

I rode my bike through the same alley (between Humboldt and Grant) on the way home around noon and found two adult and two juvenile scrub jays.
Had only my point-and-shoot onboard but I did manage to grab a shot. They are very timid/skittish/shy for some reason.

Virginia Rail....chick!‏ Joe Meche 7/10/13

I was in the middle of a conversation at Scudder Pond this morning when I noticed movement along the water's edge. My first thought was Virginia Rail, and there were two--an adult followed closely by a chick. I had to shoot from the hip through the reeds but managed a couple of shots for documentation.

This afternoon, I saw the chick (or sibling?) paddling across the open water from the same spot by the beaver deceiver.

Saturday 6 July 2013

American Pipit- Ronald Kleinknecht- 7/6/13

Artist Point is now open and there I found this American Pipit with a bug in its bill.

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