Bufflehead

Here is my latest effort in Bufflehead photography. The image was taken on 26 January 2020 at the Nisqaully National Wildlife Refuge. Perhaps not the ultianate photo of a Bufflehead pair, but it does show what a handome pair they are. Buffleheads breed in forested areas of central Canada to Alaska. Buffleheads also breed here and there through much of the western United States. Their winter range occupies ice-free waters from central Mexico north to Alaska and Newfoundland. 

Bald Eagle

Along the estuary boardwalk in the Nisqually Natiobal Wildlife Refuge on 26 January 2020, Erika and I came remarkably close to a Bald Eagle. The eagle was only a few feed from us and appeared to be unconcerned about the crowded walkway. Was this bird healthy? At the time, I noticed the ruffled feathers on the upper-right side of the eagles breast. This was a windy day and I thought these feathers were blown aside. It is possible that the bird is wounded. Hunting season is almost over and the bird could have been shot at by competing duck hunters.

Other possibilities exist. About a hundred feet along the boardwalk were a pile of gull feathers. Conceivably, the eagle had struck the gull and wounded itself on the boardwalk railing. The hyphesis I prefer, however, is that the eagle stuffed itself on the gull and is now recovering from over-eating. Whatever the answer, the gull was at its perch for over an hour, both when we went out the boardwalk and when we returned. We made no attempt to flush the eagle. I called the refuge a couple of days later and they were unaware of any wounded birds. “Birds of prey sometimes act oddlty,” they reported.

Hooded Merganser

A drake Hooded Merganser greeted Erika and me on 26 January 2006 at the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge. The duck swam under the walkway leading to the refuge headquarters. The the bird dove and came up holding a bullfrog by the amphibian’s leg. After a bit of thrashing, the frog died and the merganser swallowed its prey whole. The small pond in which it swam sworms with bullfogs all summer. This January day was briefly sunny and, at 52 degrees, relatively warm. I suspect the frog was woken from its winter slumber. The frogs are introduced to western Washington and are a scorge to native aquatic wildlife. Mergansers’ culling the frog population is a good thing. As a result, perhaps we will see more dragonflies in the spring. In these posts, I have images of Hooded Mergansers also consuming small fish and crayfish.

Witches’ Butter

Because of this mushroom’s shiny, slimy appearance, Erika and I first thought it might be a slime mold. We found it on a small log along a paved path near Olympia’s Capitol Lake on 24 January 2020. After taking the photo, I asked my phone what this fungus was. My phone replied, “Genus Tremella, probably Tremella mesenterica—several similar species exist.” This species often goes by the common name, “Witches’ Butter,” and it occurs across much of the world. The habitat was perfect—a recently fallen deciduous log, where it is a parasite on wood-rotting fungi in the genus Peniohora. Witches’ Butter often appears after rainy weather, which is just what we’ve been enjoying. Mycologists argue if this fungus in inedible or merely non-poisonous. At best, it is said to be flavorless—unknown wild mushroom should never be eaten. Nevertheless, mycologists have found glucuronoxylomannan, a substance found in Witches’ Butter, to have a number of biological activities, including “immunostimulatory, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, hypocholesterolemic, hepatoprotective, and antiallergic effects” (Wikipedia).

Orange-crowned Warbler

I banded this Orange-crowned Warbler in our Olympia backyard on 19 April 2019. Ornithologists describe four races of Orange-crowned Warbler across North America. Because of its bright yellowish and relatively unstreaked underparts and yellowish head, I suspect this bird is Oreothlypis celata lutescens. This bird seems much brighter and less streaked than Orange-crowned Warblers that I banded in Minnesota. This race breeds from coastal Alaska south through western Washington to southwestern California. This race mostly winters from central California south into Central America. Orange-crowned Warblers are cold-tolerant and are recorded in the winter north into Oregon, with vagrants even reaching British Columbia. To date, however, I have not seen a wintering one in Olympia.

Dunlin

Four Dunlin asleep on a raft of timber on 20 January 2020 at Boston Harbor, just north of Olympia, Washington. This was my second trip to the harbor in search of an illusive Harlequin Duck. All four had at least one eye open, a habit common among birds. Note the black legs. I suspect their breasts would appear darker if their necks were not twisted to their sides. Dunlin winter south through Mexico and Central America, and are also winter along the American coasts, even as far north as Alaska. They are common in western Washington They breed in the Arctic around the world; nonbreeders are found further south.

American Coot

Although coots are common year-round residents in the Olympia area, their numbers appear to fluctuate a bit across the year. Erika and I took this coot image on 21 August 2019 on Capitol Lake. The bird is waving its webbed toes at us, proving that coots are, indeed, not ducks. They are, instead, rather large rails. I have occasionally written about these apparently discombobulated birds in my blog pages. This post is one of a backlog of a couple of dozen posts that sit patiently in my computer, awaiting publication. A rainy forecast for the next week suggests ample time to whittle away on these posts over the next few days.

Bufflehead

A flock of male and female Buffleheads swam by us along Olympia’s Capitol Lake on 25 December 2019. Buffleheads are North America’s smallest diving duck. One reason for this small size is that this tree-cavity-nesting duck often uses Northern Flicker holes. The ducks will also use human-made nesting boxes. Buffleheads are one of the few ducks that are almost entirely monogamous. Mates often pair for several years. Depite hunting being a significant factor in their mortaility, Buffleheads numbers have increased in the last fifty years (Gauthier 2014).

Bald Eagle

Bald Eagles are common throughout the year in western Washington. This apparent pair perched in the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge on 26 Decermber 2019. Bald Eagles are surpassed in size in North America only by California Condors. Bald Eagles are generally larger in the north and smaller in the south. Although the sexes look similar, females tend to be about 25% larger than males (Buehler 2000). This disparity is typical of most hawks, and, presumably makes aggressive males behave themselves at the nest. In this photo the bird on the left appears to be larger than the one on the right, so I guess the left bird is probably a female.

Mergansers

Identifying male mergansers, like Red-breasted above taken at Woodard Bay near Olympia on 9 January 2020 and Common, found on Capitol Lake on13 January 2020, is not difficult. (The females can be tricky.) Their long, serrated bills make mergansers among the most specialized ducks. Ducks are notorious for their propensity to hybridize with other ducks. Mergansers apparently hybridize less frequently than do other ducks. My graduate professsor, George Lowery, was fond of commenting that, given the opportunity, Mallards will mate with fence posts—and, in fact, hybrid Mallard x Merganser have been reported (Pearce et al. 2015).