Horned Grebe

On 24 September 2019, inspired by reports of rare grebes, Erika and I checked out Olympia’s Capitol Lake. Upon our arrival, a very pale, long-necked grebe greeted us. We both identified it as a Western Grebe, but we become increasingly uncomfortable with our conclusion. The bird seemed to be too dusky to be that species. The bill seemed too small to be either a Western or a Red-necked grebe. Red-necked Grebes are much darker than this bird. Also, Red-necked Grebes do not seem to have red eyes, which the mystery grebe definitely sported.That pretty much leaves Horned Grebe.

I wrote our local eBird reviewer for his opinion. He replied, “Your suspicions are correct. It is a Horned Grebe for the reasons you mentioned. I'm constantly reminded of the impact that my first impressions have on my identification skills. It can be so hard for me to shake a first impression…I have been bedeviled by the occasional Horned Grebe in stretch mode.”

House Finch

A fiarly common species, a female House Finch taken during my 25 September 2019 Common Tern quest. The bird on the bent fence just seemed to be a Kodak moment. House Finch females are told by their unmarked heads and overall drabness. House Finches were once native to the desert southwest. A few California birds were relaeased from a New York City pet store in 1939 and spread back towards the west. Washington birds, however, are the result of natural expansion from the southwest. Highly adaptable, House Finches now occupy “one of the widest ecological ranges of any extant bird” (Badyaev et al. 2012).

Common Tern

A Common Tern has been reported on my eBird Needs Report for about the past week. Erika and I have unsuccessfully chased after it a couple of times. On Wednesday, 25 September, I found five Common Terns at a small park that looks out over Puget Sound. The terns were on a tidal mud flat quite distant from me. I was able to get some images, which I could blow up. The black nape, black shoulder patches, and relatively long legs (at least for a tern) are all Common Tern field marks. The faintly white-scalloped back indicates an immature bird. Common Terns breed in central and eastern Canada and in the northern Great Plains. They migrate along both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of the United Coasts and over eastern North America to the coasts of Mexico, Central, and South America.

Lesser Goldfinch

A pair of Lesser Goldfinches bathed in our Ashland, Oregon, hotel birdbath on 20 September 2019. This photo is not the clearest, but I took it through a window with my cell phone. This western species occurs south into northern South America. Their range is extending northward.

In the United States, males in the eastern part of their range have black backs, whereas western males, like this one, have greenish upperparts. Females do not differ. Almost all Lesser Goldfinches in Latin America are black-backed. These types are currently considered to be subspecies, but have different molt timing and breeding behaviors. Intergrades exist where their ranges overlap in Arizona and New Mexico (Watt and Willoughby 2014).

Harlequin Duck

Oregon’s Boiler Bay State Wayside lies on a point that sticks out into the ocean. During our short visit on 18 September 2019, I took this photograph of four distant sea ducks. I assumed they were Surf Scoters, but, upon enlarging the image in my camera, I was surprised to discover that at least the bird on the far right is a male Harlequin Duck. This duck breeds in turbulent mountain streams, where they eat larval insects from the stream-beds. After mating, the females have sole responsibilgy for brooding the young. The males desert the mountains and loaf in the sea. The males forage near the shore, where the forage on a variety of small sea-life.

Western Gull

A small flock of Western Gulls loafed at a picnic area at Boiler Bay State Wayside, on Oregon’s Pacific Coast on 18 September 2019. This gull breeds from central Baja California north to Vancouver Island. Although often seen on the West Coast, the Western Gull has a smaller population than any other North American gull—there are only about 40,000 pairs nesting in some 200 colonies (Pierotti and Annett 1995). The warming of ocean waters, oil spills, and pesticides all threaten Western Gulls. To further complicate the situation, in Washington, Western and Glaucous-winged gulls form a hybrid swarm, with few, if any, genetically pure individuals. The hybrids are often called Olympic Gulls.

Leucistic American Crow

Erika and I are back from a five day trip with friends to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon—a rare non-birding jaunt. We found ourselves on 18 September 2019 driving along the Oregon coast. The ocean was stunning, and we made a few quick stops. The second photo is at Seal Rock State Wayside, where we saw few birds and no seals. At Boiler Bay State Wayside, we were greeted by a leucistic American Crow. Leucistic is sometimes used to mean partially albino. But the two terms are different. To be albino, you have to sport pink eyes, a color clearly lacking in this crow. Leucism is defined by varying degrees of failure of pigment cells. Both conditions are occasionally reported in crows.

California Spreadwing

On 16 September 2019, a California Spreadwing flew between perches along Olympia’s Capitol Lake. You may recall my recent account of our finding this species for the first time, when David and I found an early-flying, immature female. This spreadwing is an adult. Males of this Western damselfly are usually found near water and “often conspicuously perch in open on dead twigs, and defend small territories” (Paulson 2009). Females lay eggs in plant twigs, even a few feet above the water. When not defending territory or laying eggs, California Spreadwings can be found far from water.

River Otter

This River Otter was one of four that Erika and I saw on Olympia’s Capitol Lake on 20 August 2019. We did not expect to see otters in a city lake. These weasels fare poorly in the face of pollution and habitat destruction. Being at the top of the food chain means that they also depend on a variety of prey items, mostly fish, but also almost anything they encounter—amphibians, mollusks, turtles, crayfish, and even small mammals. With environmental protection, otter populations are recovering across much of North America.

Great Blue Heron

I am surprised that Vennesland and Butler (2011) in The Birds of North America do not mention that Great Blue Herons yawn. After all, this resource covers most of what is known about the birds of our continent. But I think that is exactly what this heron is doing. We came upon this bird as it slept along Olympia’s Capitol Lake on 10 September 2019. The heron nestled its head under its wing coverts. Unfortunately, the bird woke up before I could capture its image. The heron yawned, but did not fly away.