Robins Cindy Klein 2/23/14

At about 9AM, this is about 1/3 of the number of robins visible under our
feeding station. We put our soft storage apples out. There was a single
varied thrush yesterday, none so far today. One flicker joined the melee
this morning.

We still have three Anna's, two females and a male. Two weeks ago Bob and I
were at Haleakala National Park at Hosmer Grove to see some of the native
Hawaiian birds and plants. We met a couple from Pennsylvania that reported
Rufous, Anna's, Allen's, and Black Chinned Hummingbirds seen there this
winter through their listserv.

Cindy Klein,

White-throated Sparrow Doug Brown 2/25/14

Chirp,

There has been at least two of these White-throated Sparrows in my yard lately.
I'm hoping to hear them sing.

Varied Thrush‏ Nancy Downing 2/28/14

During the snow this little guy stayed in my yard the whole time. I got a lot of shots of him but I like this one in the snowy tree best.

rufous Twink Coffman 2/28/14

Had a male rufous at my feeder this morning.

--

happy birding

Twink

VGSW‏ Marion Hill 2/25/14

First of year Violet-Green Swallows were seen today at Red Tail Reach.

Lummi Flats Jim Duemmel 2/27/14

Early this afternoon (2/26) inside the loop east of the base of the aquaculture dike there were twoAmerican Bitterns. Always before I’ve only seen singles in this area. Also, the first Savannah Sparrow of the year. The northern part of the loop is difficult to walk – still covered with deep snow. The general appearance of the area is strange – all the tall grass was flattened in the recent storm.

 

Jim Duemmel

Whatcom county geese Ken Lane 2/28/14

Hey Whatcom birders,

Today out on Mountain View Rd, just east of Lake Terrell, Fanter and I observed a large flock of Canada and Cackling Geese (subspecies minima and taverneri) with one Greater White-fronted Goose and two Snow Geese. Also with all the snow we've had up to 18 Varied Thrushes around our feeders. Multiple Varied Thrushes singing back and forth is so nice!

Good birding,

Ken Lane

Eagles near Boundary Bay‏ Veronica Wisniewski 2/28/14

Traveling on 99 just north of the border,  Tricia and I saw a huge congregation of eagles just North of the Ladner Trunk road and easy of the highway.   There were no less than 300 birds congregated throughout the woodlot.  Does anyone know what the attraction is?

Veronica and Whatcom birders,

The attraction for Bald Eagles around Boundary Bay is ducks--  of which about 50,000 winter at Boundary Bay each year.

As most of us know, the preferred food of Bald Eagles is fish--  especially dead fish (which are easier to catch!)  Salmon runs attract hundreds of Bald Eagles, or in some cases even thousands, to places like the Squamish River and lower Harrison River in BC, the Chilkat River in Alaska, and to a lesser extent, the Nooksack and Skagit Rivers in Washington. However, this food source is available for only a short time each year (mostly November through January).

After the salmon carcasses have all disappeared or been washed away by the high waters of winter storms, Bald Eagles in the Vancouver area concentrate in the Fraser Delta and especially near Boundary Bay. The peak numbers of eagles around Boundary Bay are from February through April. With 50,000 ducks in the area, there are a small number dying of various causes every day, as well as some which may be sick or weak and are easy for eagles to catch. Eagles in fact are quite capable predators, and not infrequently will catch and kill perfectly healthy ducks, gulls, or other large birds. However, with ducks as with fish, they prefer to feed on those that are already dead, injured, or sick, which is why there are so many eagles around Boundary Bay.

The number of eagles around Boundary Bay never fails to impress birders visiting from other parts of North America. However, it hasn’t always been so; in the 1960s, when eagle numbers were very low because of DDT poisoning, you would have had to work hard to find 20 or 30 eagles in the area. Fortunately, their numbers now seem to have rebounded to equal the pre-DDT numbers.

Wayne C. Weber

Chirp,

I would add that there is a landfill dump in Delta that is an attraction to Bald Eagles, especially young birds.

See this excerpt from a newspaper article in 2011.

There is little food around for bald eagles this year, and they are getting desperate

 

By Kim Pemberton, Vancouver Sun February 24, 2011

 

 

Starving bald eagles, desperate to find food after a failed southern B.C. chum salmon run, are gathering in record numbers at the Vancouver landfill, says eagle expert David Hancock.

The wildlife biologist earlier this month counted nearly 1,400 eagles -triple the usual number at this time of year -at one time at the landfill, located in Delta.

"The chum salmon didn't come in and with no other major concentration of food they are gathering everywhere and many are starving," said Hancock.

He said a world record was set in mid-December when 7,200 eagles were spotted on the Chehalis River, which flows into the Harrison River. Hancock said that 10 days after the raptors finished feeding off salmon carcasses, only 345 eagles were spotted on the river.

"They had to go somewhere. They're incredibly mobile -can move 500 to 1,000 miles a day. They're forced to go where they can find food."

He said young eagles are essentially scavengers because it takes them two to three years to learn how to hunt. Many rely on dead salmon and swarming masses of herring.

"To catch a specific fish or duck, that comes later, and is a developed skill."

cheers,  

Doug Brown

A naturalist once corrected me when I said eagles were scavengers, he said “No, they are just birds of opportunity”. JH

Flocks of robins‏ Alan Fritz/Nancy Taylor 2/27/14

Adding to Adena Mooers South Hill observation, I observed it seems like 100s of robins here and there on my loop walk of South Hill Tuesday while enjoying the bright views of snow on Lummi and Orcas Islands. Are migratory robins on their way through?

Alan

Dear birders who are more knowledgeable than I am,

Like Alan, I wondered about the flocks of robins we have been seeing. Are they from our area and getting ready to migrate, or did they just arrive from the north, or are they passing through? I have never heard of a radio tagged robin, so there may be no way to know for sure.

Does anyone know?

Nancy Taylor

Could it be that the snow is causing large congregations of robins in bare spots around houses and bushes, and in berry-bearing shrubbery, where there is food?

John Stark

I rode my bike through a flock of at least 200 robins on and around the grass at Roosevelt Park this morning. Last night, the communication tower in the Public Works yard on Pacific was covered in an equal number of raucous Red-winged blackbirds. NW

I, too, had a flock of robins... not in the hundreds, but far more than I've ever seen before, all at once, in my yard (Alabama hill). They were "digging" in the snow to get at berries on shrubs. Pat Buhl




I do think it's the snow that causes Robins to flock up. Though I didn't see that in my neighborhood this time around, I have seen it in the past. They are probably concentrating on places where food is accessible.

True to style, yesterday I saw the first Varied Thrushes close to home this winter. Snow usually brings them here.

Barry Ulman

I saw 3 large flocks of robins the week before we had snow, so I'm not convinced that the flocking is related to weather. It could be related to day length, which I suppose is a big factor of migration.
Nancy

I suspect that the flocks of Robins are resident birds concentrated bysnow. 

In past springs i had Robins fall out at the muhlberry bushes at the clinic and feed in frenzies on over winter berries- same behavior in the falls.
Fredrick R. Sears

Why couldn't it be both things happening at once: The snow focusing the robins on limited feeding areas, while at the same time there is a migrational thing going on...? JS



John and Whatbirders,



I think you are right  in that both migration and snow concentrates the robins. I wondered, though, if flocks of robins that we see (outside of a weather event) are getting ready to leave, are passing through, or have just arrived. Without study (and I doubt there is much research money for robins), we may not know. I always presumed that flocks of robins that are seen later in the spring are stopping off on their way north, or possibly some or all are staying here. We may never know for certain, but it's fun to surmise.



Now I will go look at my feeders and enjoy the robins' cousins,  Varied Thrushes.

Nancy




John,



I think you are bang on.



A few (!!) years ago, when I was doing field work for my master’s thesis on urban birds at the University of British Columbia, I found that the majority of American Robins arrived in the spring during the last 2 weeks of February. Although Robins are fairly common in the winter, 80% or 90% of those which breed in the residential areas of Vancouver arrive in late February and early March. They are one of the earliest of all spring migrants.



In good weather during the early spring, Robins tend to take up breeding territories, and do much of their feeding on lawns. However, during foul weather, they may abandon their breeding territories and gather into flocks which feed on fruit, much as Robins do in the winter. However, in late spring (from late March onward), even foul weather will not cause Robins to abandon their territories--  there is too great a risk of losing it to another Robin!



I think this explains what is happening with the recent snow in Bellingham and Vancouver. Yes, I noted sizable flocks of Robins in Bellingham myself on Wednesday while looking for the Western Scrub-Jays, which are still near Grant and Connecticut in Bellingham (well, at least one of them is!)



Wayne C. Weber

Robins Adena Mooers 2/27/14

We saw a very musical flock of about 25 Robins singing and eating 
holly berries on south hill this afternoon. Adena Mooers

Hoag's Pond widgeons‏ Tedd Judd 2/17/14

With the ice gone the widgeons are back, well over a hundred in tight flocks; you'd think it was a feeding frenzy. Just one European in with all the Americans--on sabbatical I expect. And the usual 3 pairs of hooded mergansers. No sign of the lonely teal. 

Tedd Judd

Bewick's Wren w/ Unusual Plumage‏ Doug Brown 2/17/14

Chirp,

I have been seeing this curious BEWR in my front yard recently.
On Sunday I was able to photograph the bird.
Note the very dark, almost black flanks, belly, and back.
Any ideas? Thanks for your thoughts on this.




That's a neat looking bird. Opposite of leucistic. Just for the fun of it, I looked up some Latin-American wrens; the closest thing I could find was the Black-bellied Wren, found on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. I really don't think it was that. As far as I know, Bewick's Wrens do not migrate, so there wouldn't be any possibility of hybridization.

Barry Ulman



Follow-up on the unusual Bewick's Wren in my yard‏


Chirp,



I sent two photos of the unusual Bewick's Wren to Cornell Labs.



Here is the reply from Marc Devokaitis.........




Whoa—very cool!!!



A melanistic bird?

http://feederwatch.org/learn/unusual-birds/#color-variants



haven’t seen that one before!



Hope you will also consider sharing on

http://www.flickr.com/groups/birdshare/



Thanks!



Marc





Marc Devokaitis

Public Information Specialist


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BTW, I still see this unique bird almost every day.

Spring activities‏ Tricia Otto 2/16/14

I saw this strange new black spot on the Big Leaf Maple outside my bathroom window. Closer inspection reveals the culprit and now there is a new feeding station outside the window. Sorry about the poor photo. Tricia.

I feel stupid because I do not know what the black spot is. Please inform. Adena

I also can't identify the "black spot" in Pat Otto's photo. anyone know? JK

I would like a better image bur i am going to guess woodpeckers are flaking bark revealing rot/ mold .

Other issue are there fewer swans in north Whatcom now?

Fredrick Sears

Eurasian Collared Doves Fredrick Sears 2/15/14

I see these birds about in the city some and out NW Ave. alot. There is also a growing flock in Birch Bay which numbers about 15 now up from like two last spring.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet‏ Joe Meche 2/13/14

In the sunshine this afternoon at Scudder Pond, I found one very cooperative Ruby-crowned Kinglet.

 

Joe Meche