My second day in Seattle was also my last opportunity to spend any significant time birding and I intended to take full advantage of it. I had made sure to thoroughly grill the local birders on the previous day's Audubon trip to help determine the most productive spots given my target birds and my limited transport options. In the end I decided that I would spend most of the day birding on foot, exploring some areas of seattle that had been stomping grounds back in when I was here working on my PhD thesis, roughly 8 years ago now. First stop was to be Green Lake, a large man-made lake north of the Fremont district and just a couple of miles south-west from my lodgings. I had run around the lake a few times in the past but had never birded there and was keen to revisit. I was especially interested in reports of good numbers of Wigeon at the lake as Eurasian Wigeon are occasionally found mixed in with flocks of American Wigeon here in the Northwest. After Green lake I was intending to make my way further west to Discovery Park where I seemed most likely to see the widest range of birds this close to the city.
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Setting out, I was momentarily discomforted by the weight of my backpack given the amount of walking I was anticipating today (~12 miles or more). A more sensible man than myself might have jetisoned the entirely unnecessary laptop for example (seriously, did I really think I'd get a bunch of work done over lunch?). I however, with difficulty, shrugged my shoulders and headed out, eager to start locating the source of the rich mix of birdsong that was already filling the air. A harsh and unfamiliar call cut through the jumble of song and grabbed my attention, the gorgeous electric blue of a Steller's Jay hoping around in the branches of a nearby tree. The dim morning light on this bird does not do it justice, this is a bird that has to be seen to be believed.
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| Steller's Jay |
Before I had finished enjoying the presence of the jay I was distracted by a weird clicking sound. Looking up I found a male Anna's Hummingbird perched directly above me. In this light, and from this angle, the iridescent gorget feathers forming a helmet over the head, throat and neck of the bird appear dull and dark, but when the light catches these feathers just read the entire head glows a spectacular raspberry pink. This is a bird that has expanded it's range north in recent years and now, even in winter, seems to be more common in Seattle than even the ubiquitous House Sparrow. That was to be my experience today anyway, and I not complaining, hummingbirds are always so much fun to watch and observe.
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| Anna's Hummingbird |
As I wandered south I got the distinct impression that this was a very birder friendly city, in fact, I felt that they might even have been rubbing in their local bird wealth a little. Who can blame them.
A few blocks down the road I was treated to a much better view of an Anna's Hummingbird. This time a female feeding at a balcony feeder. Hoping that I wasn't about to accused of being a peeping tom I quickly rattled off a few shots and enjoyed the watching this flying emerald zipping about in an almost unbelievable display of aerial mastery.
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| Anna's Hummingbird |
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| Anna's Hummingbird |
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| Anna's Hummingbird |
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| Anna's Hummingbird |
Shortly after I was given a stark illustration of the unique demands urban birds face as they struggle to survive in a very alien environment to the one they evolved in. This young Bald Eagle, it's proud heritage of ancestors having ruled the skies for generations, can surely not believe that it should have to be the one to change course in this game of chicken with a plane. Oh how the proud have fallen.
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| Bald Eagle |
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| Bald Eagle |
Looking a little closer at our urban dare devil we can see that this is an immature bird, an adult would have a bold white head and tail contrasting with uniform underparts. Bald Eagles only reach full adult plumage in their fifth year, the previous four years of transitional plumage going through a series of fairly well defined stages. The white speckling on the belly and underwing coverts, in combination with the ragged edge to the secondary feathers on the trailing edge of the wing all point toward this being a second year immature Bald Eagle. The irregularity of the trailing edge of the wing is due to the secondary feathers being a mixture of new shorter feathers as well as older longer feathers at this point in its development.
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| Bald Eagle |
Shockingly, less than two minutes later I witnessed another near mid-air collusion between a Peregrine Falcon and another plane. It's an urban jungle out there.
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| Peregrine Falcon |
The Peregrine Falcon turned out to be one of a pair that were flying around in close proximity each other and also to me for a large part of the day. I like to think that these birds were people watching and excited to find a rare european vagrant in their patch, followed me around all day.
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| Peregrine Falcon |
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| Peregrine Falcon |
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| Peregrine Falcon |
Arriving at Green Lake, I spend some time trying to pick out the many birds flitting about in the trees around the eastern edge of the park. American Robins, Golden-crowned Kinglets, Downy Woodpeckers, House Finches and the many, many, Northern Flickers that can be found around the Seattle area. The bright red "malar stripe" on this bird tells us two things: Firstly, this bird is a male, only males have a malar stripe; secondly the fact that the malar stripe is red tells us that this is a Red-shafted Northern Flicker, the more easterly Yellow-shafted Northern Flickers have a black malar stripe.
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| Red-shafted Northern Flicker |
Before getting to the lake proper I was for a while distracted by this American Crow vigorously pillaging and looting from a trash bag. There is something about getting to observe a familiar bird from close up that can be transformational. The American Crow looks uniformly black from a distance and can easily become of those birds you glance at and then ignore. As you can see, that is a real shame, seen up close the plumage is quite intricate, and as I found out today, the scaly look to the feathers on the nape of the neck and shoulders is one way to distinguish the American crow from the Fish Crow if you can get close enough to see that level of detail. Furthermore, these birds are really quite intelligent which translates to fascinating behaviour if you take the time to really watch them.
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| American Crow |
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| American Crow |
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| American Crow |
I was taken by the weird looking, and highly specialised, feathers both around the base of the beak and fanning back from just below the eye. I took the time to do a little research but so far I've been unsuccessful in finding a function for these feathers. The nasal bristles, which are a distinctive feature of the corvid family, have been suggestion to play a role in thermoregulation. Some research, involving trimming of the nasal bristles, has shown that while they probably don't play a significant thermoregulatory role in cold temperatures, they do seem to prevent excessive evaporation at higher temperatures [1]. As for those feathers fanning back from beneath the eye, their location is right above the opening to the birds ear, and perhaps they play a role in funnelling sound in much the same way as the mammalian outer ear does? I particularly enjoyed the way this funky crow has styled his nasal bristles, which are normally straight and extend forward along the bill, in a parody of the late, great, Elvis.
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| American Crow |
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| American Crow |
Finally, I reached the edge of the lake and I eagerly began searching for groups of wigeon, hoping to spot a eurasian rarity. A handful of American wigeon grazing on the lawn caught my eye and I headed over to take some photos and look a little more carefully. Note the green stripe extending behind the eye of the male, along with a yellow mohawk, and pinkish coloration on the breast, flanks and back.
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| American Wigeon |
Within seconds of my drawing close to the handful of American Wigeon I had spotted, a huge flock of wigeon rose up from the lake and headed directly towards me. I prepared to start scanning the flock, but the orange-headed, grey-flanked individual that landed directly at my feet made that quite unnecessary. The European Wigeon is not a bird that is particularly hard to distinguish from an American Wigeon, especially not at a distance of six feet of so. I can only assume it was drawn to my musky European odour.
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| Eurasian and American Wigeon |
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| Eurasian and American Wigeon |
All the field marks were there, the bright orange head, the grey vermiculated mantle and flanks. It was so easy, it was almost disappointing. Almost. However, later when I looked at some of the photos I noticed a hint of green in the feathers behind the eye. Did this mean the bird was a hybrid Eurasian x American Wigeon?
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| Eurasian Wigeon |
A glance in my Sibley's guide to birds seemed to indicate it was, and an email to a birding friend seemed to confirm it. Disappointed, I prepared to notch it up to experience and started to read about hybridisation between wigeon so that hopefully I'd have a decent chance of distinguishing a hybrid in the field next time. What I found was a lively debate going on in birding circles concerning the characteristics of such hybrid birds. Many experienced european birders claimed that if a green tint behind the eye was really evidence of a hybrid then we'd have to conclude that half the Eurasian Wigeon observed in Europe were also hybrid birds based on their own observations. More importantly, they pointed out that hybrid birds typically show intermediate characteristics on all the key field marks. If you have any interest in the subject, you can get a good sense of the discussions here:
It seemed that if my bird really was a hybrid I would see not only significantly more of a green stripe on the head, but also evidence of pink on the back and flanks of the bird. Heading back to my photo's I could see that in every other respect my bird was a perfect candidate for a Eurasian Wigeon with no hint of intermediate characteristics. Just another roller coaster of emotions for birder with a need to KNOW. The following two photographs illustrate the two species and key differences.
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| Eurasian Wigeon |
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| American Wigeon |
After my quality time with the wigeon I started to circumnavigate the lake to see what else I could spot. This American Coot did not present any identification problems
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| American Coot |
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| American Coot |
This Pied-Billed Grebe did not present any ID problems but getting it to stay above water for long enough for me to take a photo was another matter.
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| Pied-billed Grebe |
Eventually, it did take a breather and the view was well worth the wait.
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| Pied-billed Grebe |
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| Pied-billed Grebe |
A pair of Gadwall floated past. The male distinctive with his black butt, white secondaries, grey flank and fancy feathering on the back. The female is a harder bird to pick out and is a great bird to hone your appreciation of shape and form on. The scalloped feathers, while subtle, are also quite distinctive, as is the white square on the secondaries when visible.
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| Gadwall |
I was also treated to a front-row view of what The Birds of North America Online call the "oblique-tossing" display of the Ring-Billed Gull. It's not hard to imagine that it makes quite the impression on the ladies.
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| Ring-billed Gull |
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| Ring-billed Gull |
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| Ring-billed Gull |
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| Ring-billed Gull |
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| Ring-billed Gull |
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| Ring-billed Gull |
Scanning the small flocks of gulls that were scattered about did not turn up anything particularly unusual. The ever present Glaucous-winged Gulls were around along with the odd Western x Glaucous-winged Gull hybird.
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| Western x Glaucous-winged Gull Hybrid |
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| Western x Glaucous-winged Gull Hybrid |
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| Western x Glaucous-winged Gull Hybrid |
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Another Ring-billed Gull allowed for a more detailed study close up. The red-eye ring, yellow eye and bill detail make for an attractive and graceful demeanour on this small delicate looking gull.
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| Ring-billed Gull |
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| Ring-billed Gull |
Another Anna's Hummingbird made an appearance, the light seemed better suited to bringing out the iridescence on this male, but the angle still wasn't right to see him in all his glory.
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| Anna's Hummingbird |
I was quite taken aback at the difference between the Song Sparrows here compared to those back in the Mid-west. This dark individual with thick breast streaking had me thinking it was a Fox Sparrow at first glance. In fact, it turns out that the Song Sparrow is highly polytypic, with potentially between 20-30 subspecies existing across the U.S. and Canada. This particular individual is fairly representative of Song Sparrows found in the Pacific Northwest, which tend to be larger than those in the east, with a dark sooty or rusty coloration, and with a dusky background to the breast streaking.
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| Song Sparrow |
This female Hooded Merganser cut a delicate pose as she revelled in not being shown up by the more flamboyant looking male of the species.
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| Hooded Merganser |
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| Hooded Merganser |
Coming from the Mid-west, I really enjoyed the very different ecology of the Pacific Northwest region. This was particularly evident in the thick, lush, growth of moss on many of the trees in the area.
Another Bald Eagle flyover gave me some more time to explore immature plumage patterns. This young bird is starting to show large amounts of white feathers over the head, although the tail is still predominantly brown, indicating it is probably a third year bird.
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| Bald Eagle |
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| Bald Eagle |
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| Bald Eagle |
Finally, after a surprisingly long walk I had circumnavigated Green Lake to it's southernmost point and it was time to take a walk down memory lane and head down into the bizarre cultural oasis that is the district of Fremont. As you imagine me trudging down the steep hill, groaning under the entirely unnecessary weight of my backpack, and starting to salivate as I anticipate a refreshing pint of Mac and Jack's African Amber Ale, I would be remiss not to leave you a photo of Seattle's most iconic view.
Eventually, refreshed in mind and body, I hopped on a bus and headed to Discovery Park. Before evening making it to the park entrance a Pileated Woodpecker caught my eye as it swooped in front of me in the distance. Disappearing from quickly from sight, I could hear it's harsh rattle for a considerable distance. After that, as is often the way in wooded areas, I did not see many birds at all. The first bird I did see was announcing itself with a long trilled song that could only be coming from a wren. The Pacific Wren, recently upgraded from a subspecies of the Winter Wren to full species status, was a target bird for this trip and so I spent a fair amount of time trying to spot the diminutive owner of this surprisingly powerful voice. Eventually, to my surprise, by trying to imitate one of shorter sounds I frequently heard the bird make, I was able to entice the wren to pop up and check me out. It really is hard to believe this tiny, chunky looking bird with it's characteristic short stubby tail can produce such incredible rich and power song.
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| Pacific Wren |
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| Pacific Wren |
More moss and ferns, it really did feel like I had travelled back in time. I am also pleased to say that the scene was not spoiled by any irritating goths with glittering skin, I had heard that was a risk in these parts.
I tried very hard to turn this rapidly fleeing Ruby-crowned Kinglet into a Hutton's Vireo, but alas, it stubbornly continued to be a Ruby-crowned Kinglet.
Finally! A view of an Anna's Hummingbird where some of the iridescence is visible. It still doesn't quite capture the full glory that this bird has to offer, but you can at least get a sense of what it would look like in full sunshine if you look at the crown.
Finally, once again, sweaty, exhausted and cursing the dead weight of my macbook pro I emerged from the mossy embrace of the woods onto a beach opening up onto the Puget Sound.
Some Mew Gulls with the large white mirrors on the black tips of their wings, their rounded heads and plain yellow bills were flying around close to shore.
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| Mew Gull |
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| Mew Gull |
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| Mew Gull |
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| Mew Gull |
It quickly became clear that I was not going to be identifying many birds out on the sound today. Although there were plenty of birds out there, most were out too far to be identified without a powerful spotting scope. There's no point throwing a tantrum about what you can't change so I took the opportunity to enjoy the view, which was quite spectactular: calm seas, distant shores, the Cascade Mountains to the north.
A small ground of Greater Scaup were kind enough to come in close enough for me to enjoy from the shore.
Another Western-Glaucous-winged hybrid, identified by the solid looking bill and the primary feathers being darker than the grey of the mantle.
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| Western x Glaucous-winged Gull |
These distant blobs can just about be identified as Pigeon Guillemots.
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| Pigeon Guillemots |
A lone Double-crested Cormorant flew by and perched up on a floating cask.
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| Double-crested Cormorant |
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| Double-crested Cormorant |
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| Double-crested Cormorant |
This distant Red-necked Grebe was a nice surprise as I sat on the rocks enjoying the view. I'd only had one fleeting view of this bird before just a few months previously in Northern Michigan.
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| Red-necked Grebe |
Slightly closer to shore, this Horned Grebe bobbed gracefully in the waves; fitting in perfectly in a setting so peaceful and tranquil. It was with great reluctance that I finally dragged myself to my feet and prepared to head back.
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| Horned Grebe |
As the light rapidly dimmed, and I waited for a bus to take me back, I spotted this "Oregan" race Dark-eyed Junco perched up nearby. It had been a long arduous day, and probably not as productive, from a birding perspective, as it could have been. The day had also yielded some great bird experiences and I was feeling peaceful, satisfied and ready for some good Pacific Northwestern beers and a jazz bar to finish the day off.
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| "Oregon" Dark-eyed Junco |
[1] Wunder, B. A. and J. T. Trebella. 1976. Effects of nasal tufts and nasal respiration on thermoregulation and evaporative water loss in the Common Crow. Condor 78:564–567
stunning and clever photography bro. Love it!
ReplyDeleteWonderful post. Wonderful photos. Enjoyed every bit of it. :)
ReplyDelete