Ruddy Duck

On 23 January 2022, Erika and I photographed a pair of Ruddy Ducks on Capitol Lake in Olympia. In the winter we occasionally list this species, but only at this location. The bird in the foreground is a female and the back one is a male. Both are in Basic Plumage. Wahl et al. (2005) write that Ruddy Ducks are locally common migrants and winter visitors and rare or uncommon breeding birds in Washington.

Canvasback

Twice, Erika and I encountered a very large flock of Canvasbacks at Olympia’s Capitol Lake. We counted 43 individuals on 17 January 2022 and 75 on 23 January. These ducks are not rare in Washington, and eBird had no problem with our identification. Another feature of eBird is that it flags unexpected numbers of birds, which is what the app did on both of these occasions. I assured eBird that the birds were carefully counted. Knowing that our report was being questioned, I also attempted to take photos of the flock, although I could not capture all of the ducks in one frame. It never occurred to be to try a video clip, which I will remedy if we find the Canvasbacks in anywhere near these numbers in the future.

Hair Ice

Something completely new to us—Hair Ice. On 27 January 2022, Erika and I explored Nisqually State Park, about 40 miles southeast of Olympia. When we left foggy Olympia, temperatures stood at 39° and steadily fell to 30°—perfect conditions for the formation of Hair Ice. But this story is more bizarre. Although Hair Ice has been known for a century, only in the last decade have scientists realized that this ice forms only in contact with a fungus—Exidiopsis effusa—which grows on dead wood. The fungus appears to release chemicals from the wood that cause the ice to form hair-like crystals instead of normal ice. I am not sure why other fungi do not produce similar results. In any event, Exidiopsis effusa occurs in the Pacific Northwest, the eastern United States, parts of Central America, Europe, and Asia. My sources for this tale include Sciencealert.com and iNaturalist.

Wood Duck

One of the joys of our brand of birding is that every year our list begins anew on the first of January. By the 17th, Erika and I had a respectable species count. We lacked a Wood Duck, a bird that is “always” around, but turns out to be common in the winter in western Washington but becomes uncommon in the winter. The McLane Lake Nature Trail is our go-to location for seeing Wood Ducks, so we made a special trip there. We found one female Wood Duck loafing on a grassy patch in the middle of McLane Lake.

Golden-crowned Sparrow

Speaking of preening and feather care, on 18 January 2022 at the Nisqually national wildlife refuge, Erika and I encountered a fluffed up Golden-crowned Sparrow. The bird looked almost comical, sort of an avian Jabba the Hutt. The sparrow ignored us and returned to feather care.

Rough-skinned Newt

 

This Rough-skinned Newt surprised Erika and me on 20 January 2022 along the Challis Bike Trail near Olympia. January seemed early to find an amphibian. In fact, they breed from December through July along their western range from California to Alaska. These newts are common west of the Cascades in Washington. They are Washington’s most poisonous newt. They only cause mild skin irritation, but can be deadly if eaten. They have the same neurotoxin as pufferfish. This tetrodotoxin interferes with sodium flow and blocks nerve impulses, and can result in paralysis and asphyxiation.

Northern Saw-whet Owl

On 21 January 2022, Erika and I found ourselves looking for a Northern Saw-whet Owl that was reported in the Billy Frank Jr National Wildlife Refuge. We did not hold out much hope for success, since we only knew the general area in which to search. Despite being one of the most common owls across southern Canada, the United States, and the mountains of western Mexico, the owl’s distribution and biology are not well known. (eBird rates them as not rare, but seldom reported.) The problem is that they are our smallest owl, about the size of a robin, and finding their roosting perches is difficult. In fact, we walked right by this owl once before Erika found it. She said that she noticed the white spots above its wings.

Saw-whet owls hunt at night, taking mostly Deer and White-footed mice. These owls have asymmetric ears, which enable them to locate prey at night only by hearing (Rasmussen et al. 2020). They hunt from low perches, which they also use for daytime roosting. At the roost, they can be quite tame. Sometimes you can find these owls at their roosts by watching for “whitewash.” This sign, however, was not present under this bird.

Red-throated Loon

Erika and I witnessed some interesting Red-throated Loon behavior on 18 January 2022 at the Billy Frank Jr National Wildlife Refuge. The photo of the loon on its haunches appears to be an aggressive behavior called Penguin Posture. Most loons show similar behavior. I suspect, however, that this loon is drying and fluffing after feather maintenance. The loon then rubbed its head across its back, a preening behavior.  Loons often spread oil from their uropygial gland across their back feathers (Rizzolo et al. 2020). 

Pacific and Red-throated Loons

Erika and I photographed these loons 14 and 18 January 2022 at the Nisqually national wildlife refuge. Clearly both are belong to one of the three smaller loon species. Neither bird shows a large white splotch at the tail end, so neither is the very similar, but much rarer, Arctic Loon. Examine the image of the more distant loon. The bill, although held above the horizontal in this individual, is straight, not appearing curved upward. The back is barred, not spotted. The front of the throat is not uniformly white and there is a dark pattern of the base of the neck. Last, but possibly not least, the back is relatively black, although a close look will reveal white bars (rather than spots). The closer loon has different field marks, most clearly not like those I just listed for the first. Therefore, I conclude that the distant bird is probably a Pacific Loon, whereas the close one is a Red-throated Loon.

Anna’s Hummingbird

Clark and Russell (2020) write that male Anna’s Hummingbirds “turn their heads from side to side as they sing, flashing the brilliant iridescence as a signal to other hummingbirds.” Erika and I suspect this male, which we happened upon along Olympia’s Capitol Lake on 17 January 2022, was defending his territory. Notice the aggressively raised head feathers in the first image. The bird, at one point flying up to a more exposed perch, refused to yield his space to us. All the while, he flashed his iridescence at us. We did not hear any song, nor did we see any other hummingbirds in the vicinity.

American “Storm” Wigeon

The photo of the single drake American Wigeon has languished in my blog queue since 8 April 2021. This image shows an uncommon plumage variation in this species. Normally male wigeons have speckled gray cheeks, as do the ones in the second image. Ducks with white cheeks, such as this one, are highly prized by hunters, who often call them “Storm Wigeons.” I did not get around to taking a wigeon shot until 14 January 2022. Erika and I found all of these birds at the Billy Frank Jr National Wildlife Refuge.

Red-shouldered Hawk

Red-shouldered Hawks have a strange range. Most birds breed in the eastern United States and southeastern Canada. An isolated population nests from central Oregon to Baja California. These western hawks are smaller than the eastern ones, have a solid rufous breast, and wider, white tail bands. This image is my first of this race.

The western population, Buteo linatus elegans, has expanded its range into Arizona. Birds are also moving north in the winter east of the Cascades into northern Oregon and Washington. The species is considered to be rare, but increasing in Washington, the first record for the state being from the Nisqually national wildlife refuge in 1979. We photographed this Red-shouldered Hawk on 14 January 2022 at the refuge. This and an immature bird have been reported most of the 2021/2022 winter. We previously listed Red-shouldered Hawks at the refuge in September and October 2019. 

Rainier

Rainier continues to be our favorite mountain. Every time we see “our mounntain,” the peak looks different, depending on time of day, weather, and our location. This photo is on 13 January 2022 at the Billy Frank Jr National Wildlife Refuge.

Olympic Range

The Olympic Range from Olympia. We are looking forward to three rainless days this weekend—the first three sunny days in a row since last September.

Short-billed Gull

Erika and I listed this Short-billed Gull on 1 January 2022 at the Nisqually national wildlife refuge. Note the smallish head and relatively unmarked bill. Short-billed Gulls nest across far-northwestern North America and winter from coastal Alaska to southern California. At least I think it is a Short-billed Gull. Last year, ornithologists declared North American populations to be separate species than Common Gulls of Asia and Europe—all these gulls were previously known as Mew Gulls. Across their range, these gulls have been declared to be two or three species. Although genetically distinct, the various species show lots of overlapping field marks—making identification difficult. Perhaps an argument could be made that this bird is Common Gull, since Old World Birds often have "a more distinct blackish ring on the bill, and Kamchatka and Russian subspecies apparently often retain brighter yellow bill color through the winter” (https://www.sibleyguides.com/2021/07/mew-gull-is-now-two-species-how-to-identify-common-gull-and-short-billed-gull/).

Northern Pintail

A brace of sleeping Northern Pintails prove that you don’t really have to see all of their heads of identify them. The drake in the back is proudly showing his white racing stripes up the sides of his neck. The hens sport mottled bodies and lovely, chestnut heads.  Erika and I found these birds on 1 January 2022 at the Billy Frank Jr National Wildlife Refuge.

Belted Kingfisher

Attempts at the perfect Belted Kingfisher photo continue, these taken by Erika and me on 1 January 2022 at the Nisqually national wildlife refuge. The 118 species of kingfishers found around the globe show a lot of diversity, from sparrow-sized to crow-sized birds. Not all eat fish. Ornithologists don’t doubt that kingfishers are classified in the Order Coraciiformes. Kingfishers are, therefore, close relatives to rollers and bee-eaters in the Old World, and todies and motmots in our hemisphere. (I think the name Coraciiformes is derived from the Greek word for rollers.) Almost all the kingfishers in the United States and Canada are a single species. A few tropical kingfishers stray to our southern border.

Western Meadowlark

This somewhat bedraggled Western Meadowlark fed along the Billy Frank Jr National Wildlife Refuge dike path on 1 January 2022. The bird appeared to be famished as it flew back and forth along the path. Upon landing, the meadowlark fed voraciously among the path-side herbs, presumably on small seeds. Many of the meadowlark’s feathers were wet, not a good sign for a healthy bird. Usually a wary species, this individual allowed us fairly close approach.

Red-breasted Merganser

A Red-breasted Merganser fed at Woodard Bay northeast of Olympia on 4 January 2022. This species is among our favorite ducks, not only because of its perpetual bad hair day, but also because it appears to “snorkel” for its food. In shallow water, mergansers swim with their eyes beneath the water surface. They then dive after their prey.

Dunlin

How many Dunlin are in this photograph, taken on 1 January 2022 at the Nisqually national wildlife refuge? We estimated 400 birds in the whole flock, but twice that many may be feeding in the low tide. Dunlin have a similar range as Black-bellied Plovers, breeding in the Arctic and wintering in southern climes. Dunlin have an overall more northern winter distribution than do the plovers. Dunlin winter, in our part of the world, north to coastal Alaska. They are abundant down the Pacific Coast south to California and Mexico. Some even reach northern South America. Pacific coast populations are estimated to be a half a million birds (Warnock and Gill 2020).

Black-bellied Plover

Erika and I photographed two Black-bellied Plovers at the Billy Frank Jr National Wildlife Refuge on 1 January 2022—a nice addition to our growing 2022 bird list. We have several other winter records for Black-bellied Plovers near Olympia. Black-bellied Plovers breed across the high arctic of both hemispheres. They winter in temperate and tropical areas around the world, as far south as southern Australia, central Argentina, and across the Pacific Ocean. Perhaps more surprising is that some winter, in the New World, as far north as Newfoundland and southern British Columbia. Poole et al. (2020) suggest these shorebirds occur so far north in the winter is due to the birds’ relatively large size (compared to other plovers). Larger birds have a smaller surface area relative to their to body size and are, therefore, less prone to lose body heat in cold climates. Another factor that may contribute to their northern range is that Black-bellied Plovers consume a relatively diverse range of prey items.

Snow Goose

Erika and I enjoyed initiating our 2022 Year List on 1 January 2022. We listed a respectable 48 species of birds. Perhaps the most noteworthy was a flock of 60 Snow Geese. These geese are unexpectedly uncommon at the Nisqually national wildlife refuge. The species winters across most of the United Stated and, regionally, is abundant north of Seattle and in central California. Usually we only find a few at the refuge in the winter. We believe our estimate of 60 birds is conservative (there could well have been nearly 80). The geese may be moving south after a few nights with temperatures in the lower teens north of Seattle. Wahl et al. (2005) confirm that this species does disperse to the southwest during cold winters. In any event, the geese flew overhead, circled in the distance, and may have landed in the southwest corner of the refuge.

American Pipit

Although American Pipits can be abundant migrants in western Washington lowlands, they are uncommon winter visitors here. Erika spied this pipit at Capitol Lake on 29 December—one of the last photographs taken on our December 2021 image quest. A couple of other pipits, both from Asia, are rare or causal vagrants to Washington. If I ever find one of these wanderers, I wonder if I will recognize it. Onward to 2022!