Great Blue Heron

On our way back from the Whimbrels at the Nisqually National Wildlife refuge on 8 April 2021, Erika and I came face-to-face with a Great Blue Heron. I, for one, was happy to be larger than the wide variety of prey these herons consume. We have watched them swallow snakes, small mammals, fish, and crabs. We’ve seen photos of herons eating birds. Utilizing binocular vision and, perhaps, sighting down their bills, result in their being efficient predators.

Whimbrel

When we arrived at the Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge on 8 April 2021, Erika and I overheard two photographers talking about seeing Whimbrels. “We just saw them about two-thirds of the way to the end of the estuary boardwalk,” they told us. We hustled on out there, Erika commenting that her husband’s walking pace picked up when birds are ahead. “And your point?” asked I.  A second birder told us the Whimbrels were still out there, about three-quarters of the way out. “This is going to be like a needle in a hay stack,” said Erika.  “They are fairly large shorebirds,” I pontificated, “we should be able to find them.” And just then Erika spied four distant Whimbrel. I got on my knees, and balanced my camera on the boardwalk railing.

Whimbrels can be seen at any time of the year in western Washington. They are most common in the fall, but locally common in spring. They breed in the arctic of both hemispheres and are found on mudflats, beaches, fields, and rocky shorelines (Wahl et al. 2005). They enjoy a broad, invertebrate diet, including fish, crabs, crustaceans, and mollusks. They usually feed more by plucking than by probing, although Whimbrels also probe muddy habitats. They are usually visual foragers. Their curved bills match the curvature of fiddler crab burrows (Skeel and Mallory 2020). 

Glaucous-winged Gull

Glaucous-winged Gulls are found around the Pacific Rim, from Japan to northern Oregon. This individual opened mollusks by dropping them on the rocky mud flat at low tide where Schneider Creek meets Budd Bay in Olympia on 3 April 2021. I figure this is a first winter gull, judging by its black bill and white wing tips. Glaucous-winged Gulls are abundant here and inhabit ocean waters and urban areas. In Puget Sound, these gulls hybridize with the more southern-breeding Western Gulls. There are almost no pure birds in the hybrid swarm that breeds here. 

Hooded Merganser

This Hooded Merganser on Capitol Lake in Olympia on 31 March 2021 is another image that Erika strongly suggested that I take. Hooded Mergansers are such flamboyant ducks—passing without photographing is always hard. Although difficulties in censusing cloud our knowledge of the population status of these mergansers, data suggest that current numbers are either stable or increasing across the species’ range (Dugger et al. 2020).

Mountain Bluebird

Mountain Bluebirds were reported on eBird last week from Mima Mounds Natural Area Preserve. Although these bluebirds are common breeders in across much of eastern Washington, they are very local breeders in the western part of the state. The Mima Mounds prairie is about 20 miles south of our home. The preserve is an interesting area but we usually tally few bird species there. A drawback to the park is an adjacent shooting range, which often makes the area sound like a war zone. The area does attract rare birds. 

Mountain Bluebirds were lacking from our Washington bird-list, and we made two attempts to see them.  Our first try failed—the park was closed for road maintenance. Our next trip was on 5 April 2021. We got there early on a cold morning—fog rose eerily from the strange mounds that fill the prairie. As we left the park, we found a flock of both Western and Mountain bluebirds. The birds hawked for insects from perches in prairie bushes. The bluebirds seemed quite wary and did not allow close approach. Male Mountain Bluebirds are unmistakably bright baby-blue. Females are a bit tougher to identify. They are told by their drab Confederate-gray plumage. Some females sport more brown on their breasts than do others. According to Sibly, reliable field marks include a black bill that lacks yellow base and a pale line across the forehead.

Great Blue Heron

On occasion, like on 29 March 2021 at the Billy Frank Jr National Wildlife Refuge, Erika stops and points out nearby photo opportunities—like this Great Blue Heron. I have mentioned in my posts various threats faced by this species. Not the least of which is the fact that, by the 1970s, over half of the wetlands of the United States have been drained (Vennesland and Butler 2020). These authors report that, based on recent Breeding Bird Surveys, North American Great Blue Heron populations appear to be holding their own, increasing in the United States, but declining in Canada.

Double-crested Cormorant

Erika and I have seen many Double-crested Cormorants, but never ones with white ornamental breeding crests running above and behind their eyes. But we saw several such birds on our visit to the Nisqually national wildlife refuge on 1 April 2021. It turns out that these crests are variably colored—black in eastern North America, but mostly (and even totally) white in the West. We are more familiar with eastern Double-crested Cormorants, but we find it odd that we have never noticed the white plumes during our two springs here in western Washington. 

Salmonberry

Salmonberries are brambles closely related to raspberries. Erika and I photographed this one in the Bill Frank Jr National Wildlife Refuge on 29 March 2021. This plant is native to the west coast of North America, from Alaska to California, and inland to Idaho. Escaping cultivation, Salmonberries also grow in parts of Europe. Raw and processed fruit is edible. Native people ate the fruit with salmon and other fish (Wikipedia).

Osprey

Ospreys nest in the Port of Olympia. This Osprey is the first for Erika and my 2021 year list. On 31 March a bird flew around the south end of Capitol Lake. I did not think too much of it until I opened my eBird checklist and discovered the species unreported in the area. Further research uncovers a few other observations in Olympia on the same day. In any case, I did not get a photo until the Osprey flew back towards the north, so this bird was quite some distance from us. Osprey field marks include its white underparts, dark wrist patches, and a long, “crooked,” “M-“ shaped wingspan.

Green-winged Teal

29 March 2021 found Erika and me standing on the Nisqually national wildlife refuge estuary boardwalk. A different bird call waffled through the air. The only bird in the immediate vicinity was this drake Green-winged Teal. Closer observation revealed that the duck’s bill opened and closed as the bird vocalized. These days I usually carry a microphone with me, but, not wanting to fumble around, I aimed my iPhone at the duck and recorded the call with BirdNet—the Cornell app that does a decent job of recording and also attempts to identify the call. I was relieved to read that this call was labled “Green-winged Teal.” I am slowly building a collection of bird calls.