Red-breasted Sapsucker

On 6 July 2020, Erika and I spent the morning searhing for the sapsucker nests at our local wildlife refuge, only to band one in the backyard in the afternoon. This find is somewhat surprising, since lately we have not seen sapsuckers in the yard. Although not as brilliant as an adult, This young woodpecker's dusky beauty impressed us. The sapsucker made clear what it thought of the banding process.

Showy Milkweed

Also along the Yelm-Tenino Bike Trail on 5 July 2020, Erika and I encountered Snowy Milkweed, Asclepias speciosa, found from western North America and the upper Midwest. Snowy Milkweed sometimes hybridizes with the eastern Common milkweed. Like other milkweeds, the western species hosts Monarch butterflies and attracts butterflies and hummingbirds. This species is “one of the least toxic of the milkweeds” but milkweed stalkers should be very careful since some similar species are poisonous (LBJ Wildflower Center).

Red-shafted Flicker

Another Red-shafted Flicker photo, again from the Billy J. Frank Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge, this one on 6 July 2020. This individual was one of an apparent family of four. The bird in the first photo is probably an adult female. Flickers are ground-feeding woodpeckers that specialize on eating ants and beetle larvae—their sticky tongues reach out as much as 4 cm beyond the tip of their bills (Wiebe and Moore 2020). In the winter, their diet includes fruit. Flickers hop short distances while they feed. I do not recall ever seeing flickers run on the ground—usually they fly between feeding sites. The young bird in the second image is running after its mother, begging to be fed. Note that, like most woodpeckers, flickers have two toes facing forward, and two face backward.

Fireweed

Along the Yelm-Tenino Bike Trail on 5 July 2020, Erika and I recognized Fireweed, Chamerion angustifolium. This wildflower grows in dense patches. If transplanted to gardens, this plant is aggressive, spreading from underground runners. Bees, moths and hummingbirds feed on its nectar. Very young shoots and leaves can be eaten as cooked greens (LBJ Wildflower Center). Fireweed is found across most of the United States and Canada, except for most of the southeast. It grows is disturbed areas, especially in recently burned areas.

Nuttall’s Larkspur

I think this wildflower is Nuttall’s Larkspur, Delphinium nuttallii, which is common in south Puget Sound prairies. This habitat is exactly where Erika and I found a few along the Yelm-Tenino Bike Trail south of Olympia on 5 July 2020. The relatively unicolored flowers that lack white spots should serve as field marks for this species. I have always though that larkspurs are named for the long back claws of larks.

American Robin

This leucistic American Robin greeted Erika and me at the Nisqually national wildlife refuge on 16 June 2020. Being leucistic is different from being albino. Albinos have pink eyes and are completely white. Leucistic birds, for one reason or another, are patchy white or abnormally pale. This bird was not symmetrically leucistic—the right side of its head was more or less normally colored.

Black-tailed Deer

Upon returning home on 2 July 2020, Erika and I were greeted by this buck Black-tailed Deer. The taxonomic status of this deer is unclear, as I have discussed in this blog. Most biologists consider this deer to be a subspecies of Mule Deer, found in western Washington and Oregon. Black-tailed Deer eat a variety of herbs, shrubs, and trees. They are fond of many of Erika’s garden plants. Bucks grow antlers from April though August. They shed them between January and March. We often see these deer; our neighbors feed them. Where not so tame, Black-tailed Deer are crepuscular, feeding at dawn and dusk, resulting in frequent collisions with cars.

Red-shafted Flicker

At Nisqually national wildlife refuge on 2 July  2020, Erika and I photographed a Northern Flicker. Although not clearly visible in this image, this bird was the expected red-shafted race that inhabits much of western North America. I have discussed racial differences in flickers elsewhere in this blog. This bird appears to be young. Young males may have some red in their crowns—females usually lack this color. In this plumage both sexes can have red mustache stripes. This field mark tends to be more pronounced and brighter in males than in females. This bird, therefore, is probably a female.

Cardinal Meadowhawk

On 24 June 2020, we found a female Cardinal Meadowhawk. Erika and I strolled on the St Martin's University Campus, which contains some excellent storm retention ponds. Identification was cinched by the female flying in tandem with her mate. He guards her assiduously, since the first thing another male does is remove competitor’s sperm from a new mate's abdominal tip. Once mated, Cardinal Meadowhawks lay eggs in beds of low vegetation, exactly the habitat we saw our pair. According to Paulson (2009), females are infrequently observed, at least in comparison with other meadowhawks. 

Queen Anne’s Lace

Queen Anne’s Lace is native to Europe and Asia and introduced into Australia and North America. It is also known as Wild Carrot. When we found it along the roadside in Kennedy Flats on 27 June 2020, I commented to Erika that the plant has carrot-like leaves. Grocery store carrots are derived from the wild variety, and are considered to be a subspecies. Wild Carrot is tough and inedible by the time they flower. Although some people consider this weed to be beneficial—it can attract bees and wasps and provide cover for other crop plants—the State of Washington and other states consider Wild Carrot to be a noxious weed. Wild Carrot is accused of destroying grasslands by out-competing native species, being poisonous to livestock, and producing inferior crop carrots though interbreeding. Consequently, Washington warns that you are “prohibited to transport, buy, sell, offer for sale, or distribute plants or plant parts of [this] species…or sell, offer for sale, or distribute seed packets of seed, flower seed blends, or wildflower mixes” containing Wild Carrot (WA Noxious Weed Control Board).