Posted April 29, 2012 from Seattle, WA Here on Beacon Hill, the first big wave of the Warbler migration hit on the 26th of April. As usual the majority of birds are Yellow-rumped Warblers (one male shown scanning for danger before bathing) headed north and upward...
Posted April 12, 2012 from Seattle Our male Violet-green Swallow came to wait for a mate on March 28, a nice day in a cold stretch, and then again on April 5. But either she came to him or he found her and brought her back...
Posted March 25, 2012 from Seattle, WA Delia and I went up to Two Rivers Wildlife Management Unit south of Monroe, WA yesterday and experienced moments of Two Rivers magic. We got out of the car and were helpfully shown a Bittern in the slough by...
Posted March 18, 2012 from Seattle Not every venture into nature is equally divine. Today Delia and I and our friend Sherry Lee visited the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge and saw lots of great sights but also some signs that some of the critters were as annoyed...
Posted March 11, 2012 from Beacon Hill, Seattle Every year it’s bound to happen to you if you’re a year-bird-lister, It’s only a question of when: That first trip of the year that doesn’t yield anything new for the year. To be fair, going to Alki...
Posted Feb. 29, 2012 from Seattle An Anna’s Hummingbird is nesting in our backyard Italian Plum for at least the third year in a row. We have no way of knowing if this is all the same individual. Presuming it is, two years ago she raised...
Posted Jan 31, 2012 from Seattle. Delia and I started the month off and running with our year- bird list (see last post) but immediately fell off of our last-year’s pace. We did however see this gorgeous Pileated Woodpecker at the Nisqually. You should see the poses...
Posted Jan.9, 2012 from Seattle Delia’s and my BigYear is off to a great start—We passed 100 species for the country in the quickest time ever for us. On New Year’s Day we left Di Ann's Mountain Valley Resort in Rodeo (We stayed there so we...
Posted October 27 2011 from Seattle, WA Delia and I went to Sequim for a long weekend Oct 21-23. We were somewhat sequimish about going when we saw the weather forecast, but whenever we got out of the car and started hiking, the rain let up...
Posted October 3, 2011 from Seattle, WA. Some birds are engaged in a rapid expansion of their range Northward into Western Washington. The Anna’s Hummingbird exploded northward and the Western Scrub Jay is marching quickly north. Other bird species seem to be taking two steps...
Posted from Seattle Sept. 21, 2011 I went down Monday with my friend Brian to the Tacoma tide flats. It always surprises me how big and close Mt. Rainier is from Tacoma since I'm used to the distant view Seattle gets. We were looking for this Asian vagrant Gull,...
Posted September 6, 2011 from Seattle WA. Bird expert Andy Stepniewski has written to say yesterday's Nisqually Plover was an American Golden-Plover rather than a Pacific Golden-Plover. Here are the points he kindly made to help us with our Plover ID: 1-the number of primaries extending beyond the tertials is...
Posted Labor Day Sept 5, 2011 from Seattle WA. Delia and I . went down early to the Nisqually to look for Baird's Sandpipers that had been reported from there and dipped on those but found this Pacific Golden-Plover. This shot was taken practically from the...
posted August 1, 2011 from Seattle, WA. We just got back from the Bootheel of New Mexico, where my parents-in-law live. There were 3 or 4 hundred Hummingbirds holed up at the Ranch apparently waiting for a few flowers to bloom in the outback, including this Broad-billed Hummingbird. And this...
Posted June 26, 2011 from Seattle, WA. Lake Sammamish State Park was teeming with birds and reproductive activity today, although Delia and I dipped on both our target birds. (an American Redstart has been reported there and Red-eyed Vireos are always likely, plus we missed Green...
Posted May 25, 2011 updated May 26 with Lazuli Bunting, et al sightings It’s a paradox of photography and Photoshop software that a gloomy spring can result in some very bright shots. Delia and I have been birding around Washington state lately and we’ve had to retreat at...
May 8, 2011 Weather in Western Washington has been abnormally cold, windy and rainy and that has bottled up the bird migration. The result to this casual observer seems to be that birds are seemingly trying to decide when to move on an almost individual basis. Our...
April 17, 2011, Seattle, WA. We just got back from a week in the bootheel of New Mexico, where we were visiting Delia’s folks. It was a change from Seattle, with hot and dry being words that come to mind. This is looking at the Chiricahua Mountains...
March 30, 2011 updated March 31, 2011 This morning it was so windy and upleasant, I forgot to turn on Butyl Creek, our 8 ft. backyard artificial creek that Delia named for the Butyl it’s made out of. I didn’t even look in the backyard till 3:15...
March 26, 2011 Delia and I made a mid-afternoon visit to Lincoln Park today. This Hutton's Vireo was very accomodating, foraging very low and close and at one point bashing some poor insect to death before eating it. We met Brian and Susan Pendleton at the Park and that...
March 26, 2011 This is yesterday. I looked early this morning and things seemed ok, so I went about my business hoping to take some shots in the afternoon. Then this afternoon I realized the nest was empty, and this was much to early for this to...
MaMarch 21, 2011 Scroll down this page to find shots of this Mom stoically sitting on the nest in a snowstorm. She sure likes having the creek running below her. She's in the running water the minute I turn it on in the morning....