Anna’s Hummingbird

Erika planted Salvia in her garden. Anna’s Hummingbirds immeadiately appeared. As I have previously written, these hummingbirds are relatively new to Washington, having expanded their range from California. Now they often spend the winter, although we do not know if wintering birds are the same individuals as those found in the summer. This photo was of a bird at the Salvia on 28 July 2019.

Western Pondhawk

Male (top photo) and female (bottom photo) Western Pondhawks flitted about the shoreline of Olympia’s Capitol Lake during my sickbed escape on 27 July 2919. This species is similar to the Eastern Pondhawk, but have a shorter, stockier abdomen with dark, not white, terminal appendages. Western Pondhawks are more likely to perch on the ground than other pondhawks. As their name implies, Western Pondhawks replace Eastern Pondhawks, occupying southwestern British Colombia, the Western United States, and parts of Mexico. Where their ranges overlap in the Southwest and in the southern Great Plains, hybrid swarms exist—which probably indicates these two species should be merged (Paulson 2009). Pondhawks are voracious predators of other odonates. Unlike their eastern cousins, Western Pondhawks prefer damselflies to dragonflies. The male in the upper photo is consuming a damselfly that appears to be a Tule Bluet.

Greater White-fronted Goose

My hiking has been restricted by minor foot surgery last week. I was able to sneak out of the house and down to Olympia’s Capitol Lake on 27 July 2017. I was vaguely aware of reports of a Greater White-fronted Goose in the area since June. I spotted it among several dozen Canada Geese. This species breeds in Alaska and the northwestern Canadian tundra. You would not expect one to spend the summer in Washington. It could be a wounded bird—I did not see it fly—but the goose appeared to be otherwise healthy. It was not banded, so it is unlikely to be an escaped bird from captivity. Perhaps it just exhausted its migtratory urge. And, yes, there is such a bird as a Lesser White-fronted Goose. This goose is an Asian duck that once was noted in the Aleutian Islands. Lesser White-fronted Geese have yellow eye-rings.

Western Sandpiper

Western Sandpipers are common migrants along Washington beaches, but this individual was the only one we saw during our trip to Ocean Shores on 20 July 2019. They can be identified by their relatively small size and relatively long, down-curved bills.

Although this species breeding range is restricted to  the tundra of western Alaska and eastern Siberia, Western Sandpipers are abundant. Many winter along our Pacific Coast, but they are also found on the Atlantic Coast and south to Peru and Venezuela. Females migrate farther south than males. Southern birds are larger and longer-winged than northern ones. Northern juveniles are more likely to try to breed in their first summer. Young birds that winter further south are more likely to delay their spring migration and not breed until their second summer (Franks et al. 2014).

Sanderling

During our 20 July 2019 juant to Ocean Shores, Washington, I had no trouble identifying this first sandpiper as a Sanderling. The next shorebirds, with chestnut faces, threw me for a loop. Visions  of rare stints danced in  my head—until I tealized they were Sanderlings still in breeding plumage. Sanderlings breed in the Arctic and winter along ocean coasts, from British Columbia and Massachusetts south to southern Chile and Argentina. A large flock mingled with Semipalmated Plovers during our walk down the beach.

Heermann’s Gull

Heermann’s Gulls are another species with an odd, northward, post-breeding migration. Almost the total population nests fom March through July in a sanctuary in the Gulf of California in Mexico. Nonbreeders appear off southern California coasts at the end of May. Postbreeding birds appear a bit later. The gulls then migrate along the Pacific Coast, appearing in British Columbia during July and August. The gulls then turn south during the fall and winter, occasionally leaving stragglers to remain all year. Some feed along the coast, like this one Erika and I photographed on 20 July 2019 at Ocean Shores, Washington. Mosr feed several miles offshore, where they feed on herring, but are not adverse to stealing food from other seabirds. The Heermann’s Gull is named after Adolphus Lewis Heermann, a nineteenth-century explorer and naturalist (Islam 2002).

Brown Pelican

The eBird website recently optimized some of their pages for cell phone viewing. These changes make it easy to use your smart phone to find nearby birds and birding hotspots. You do, however, probably have to sign up for a free eBird account. The Brown Pelican was a bird I hoped to find during our 20 July 2019 ocean trip. Several pelican sightings were reported in eBird. Turns out the Brown Pelican was an easy target bird. We saw at least six at the jetty at Ocean Shores—and this number was probably a serious undercount. 

The pelican in the picture is an immature. Tbe closest Brown Pelican nesting sites to Washington are along the central California coast. After breeding, California birds, and pelicans from the Gulf of California, wander northward—even as far as British Columbia and southeastern Alaska. Numbers along the northern Pacific coast peak in September and October, before birds return south to their breeding colones in December and January (Shields 2014). A few stragglers remain off Washington during the winter and spring.

Semipalmated Plover

Semipalmated Plovers are common. They breed across Arctic Canada and almost all of Alaska. A few nest along the West Coast south to California. They winter along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts south through Central and South America. Their fall migration lasts a long time, since adults migrate before young birds. Unlike many other shorebirds, Semipalmated Plovers appear not to be declining in numbers. This trend may be augmented by their wide coastal distribution and their not specializing in particular kinds of invertebrate prey. During a day trip to Ocean Shores, Washington, on 20 July 2019, Erika and I photographed this plover running among among hundreds of other Semipalmated Plovers.

Brown-headed Cowbird

Brown-headed Cowbirds from Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge—1 July 2019 and 19 July 2019. The first is a female, the second a streaky immature bird. Both are quite differrent from the brown-headed, black males. Cowbirds are primitive blackbirds; Among the cowbirds that lay their eggs in other birds’ nests, the Brown-headed Cowbird preys upon the largest number of hosts. Brown-headed Cowbirds wader widely during the breeding season, laying up to 40 eggs per season. The list of parasitized hosts is over 200 species. Hosts range greatly in size, from creepers to meadowlarks (Lowther 1993).

Rufous Hummingbird

Rufous Hummingbirds breed from Alaska and Western Canada to the northwstern United States. The are the most northern-breeding hummingbird. Alaskan birds have a short breeding season but exceptionally long days. Rufous Hummingbirds have an eliptical migration route—up the West Coast in the spring, but furthern east, through the wildflower-laden Rocky Mountains in the late summer. In British Columbia, most males begin their fall migration by early July, moving up to higher elevations. Females follow after their young fledge (Healy and Calder 2000). We photographed this immature bird in Olympia, Washington, on 5 July 2019, In Washington, males appear in early March, followed by females in the next couple of weeks. Numbers decline in August, becoming uncommon by September (Wahl et al. 2005).