Northern Goshawk/Coopers Eric Ellingson 7/16/13

This photo was previously posted here but cropped so as not to see the size of the tree it’s on.
The consensus was that it was Coopers. I reluctantly agreed even though it seemed much bigger than others I’d seen.
However the Length and Wing Span are very close to being the same on a large Coopers and a small Northern Goshawk.


Sharing this photo with someone else recently they replied:

“Gorgeous Immature northern goshawk
note the faint white eye stripe above the eye.
note the furthermost outside tail feather.
The coopers hawk has no eye stripe and that outside tail feather is shorter yet, yielding a much rounder end of the tail.

THANK YOU FOR SHARING
Bret “

Another opinion on a difficult ID. Hope this helps someone else too.
If I can only learn to ID all the little brown birds and notice such distinctions

Eric

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.

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.

Barred owl Joe Meche 7/18/13

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

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- 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.

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

At a bait ball at the entrance to Bellingham Bay yesterday, a rhinoceros auklet in flight:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/seaotter/9256976567/in/photostream/

And one with five slim fish in its bill:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/seaotter/9259743400/

A Eurasian collared dove in Friday Harbor:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/seaotter/9256975001/in/photostream/

And for those of you who like orcas, here's a sampling:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/seaotter/9256972679/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/seaotter/9259746586/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/seaotter/9256968083/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/seaotter/9259743400/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/seaotter/9256958153/in/photostream/

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.