Western Meadowlark

When I took this photograph of a Western Meadowlark on 27 October 2020 at the Billy Frank Jr National Wildlife Refuge, I meant to show how camouflaged this species is against a grassy background. Even though Erika and I have seen many meadowlark backs, we were surprised by the  stunningly latticed pattern. We appluded and the meadowlark flew up and took a few encores.

“Meadowlark” is an odd name for this bird. It is not a lark, but in the same family as Red-winged Blackbirds and grackles. We have two species of meadowlarks in the United States and Canada. Eastern and Western meadowlarks can be difficult to tell apart. Fortunately, here in western Washington, we only the Western Meadowlark that sings his distinctive and gurgled, “Have you planted your wheat yet?”— Eastern birds give a drawn-out whistle. Several additional species inhabit Latin America.

Gadwall

Gadwall breed across the prairies of North America and the steppes of Asia and Europe. Erika and I chanced upon these Gadwall as they fed on Olympia’s Capitol Lake on 24 October 2020. I think of Gadwall as being abundant ducks across their range. One of the interesting aspects of eBird, however, is that their mobile apps indicate how often species are reported. Common species lack notation, infrequently reported ones sport a yellow dot, and rare ones are indicated by red dots. These symbols can cause some confusion, since they do not represent the birds’s actual status—they only indicate the frequency of their being reported. (If a bird is really rare, the app demands supplemental information.) I was surprised that my Gadwall were followed on the eBird list with yellow dots. When this happens, I always try to whip out my camera and take a photo.

Golden-crowned Sparrow

Golden-crowned Sparrows are abundant winter visitors to Washington, Oregon and California. They stray elsewhere in North America. This sparrow feeds in shurblands and urban thickets. The species can be destructive to gardens and cultivated vegetables. Despite increasing populations and their deitary propensities, Golden-crowned Sparrows are relatively little studied (Norment et al. 2020). Erika and I photographed this vain male at the Billy Frank Jr Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge on 19 October 2020.

Anna’s Hummingbird

All year small numbers of Anna’s Hummingbirds visit our hummingbird feeders in Olympia—this one on 25 October 2020. I have written before that the bird’s scientific describer wrote that this species was one of the most gorgeous hummingbirds, as he named it after the Duchess of Rivoli, Anna de Belle Massena. Males turn their head from side to side, flashing the brilliant iridescence as a signal to other hummingbirds (Clark and Russell 2020). In recent years, this species's range has expanded from California into Texas and British Colombia. How does a nectar and insect-seeking bird survive Washington’s cold, wet winter? (It was 30 degrees this morning.) These conditoons do kill these hummingirds, which can not suriviie an entire day without food. Starvatopm os a major cause of mortality. Biologists assume that the expanding range is due to the hummingbirds living in human-altered landscapes where people often feed provide bird feeders.

Varied Thrush

Strolling in the Darlin Creek Preserve south of Olympia on 21 October 2020, Erika and I kicked up the Varied Thrush in the top photo. These robin-sized birds breed in the deep, old-growth forests. They venture out of this habitat in the fall and winter, when flocks may gather around food sources—like the Evergreen Huckleberry in our backyard. For us, former Easterners, seeing Varied Thrushes is always exciting, even though they are “fairly common” across much of Washington in appropriate habitat and season (Wahl et al. 2005). On 24 October, we were amazed to see seven Varied Thrushes feeder under a bird bath in our front yard. The thrushes appeared to be feeding, but we are not sure what was out there to eat. There is no feeder in the front—perhaps the birds were scavenging items that other birds dropped after carrying food from the back yard.

Double-crested Cormorant

 

On 15 October 2020, Erika and I walked down a lesser-populated stretch of Olympia’a Capitol Lake. Double-crested Cormorants often lounge about a stump near the lakeshore. I did a double-take at the wide, white line behind this bird’s yellow throat. Could this bird be a Neotropical Cormorant? I think the yellow stripe from the bird’s eye connecting with the upper mandible of the bill precludes such a rash identification. This bird’s bill is too robust for a Neotropical Cormorant and the bird is too large for that species.

Two days later found us at the same location. About a half-dozen Double-crested Cormorants perched on and swam near the stump. Two of the birds vigorously bathed nearby. Was this some sort of cormorant courtship? I can find no mention of such behavior in a quick review of the literature. I think these two birds were just bathing near each other. Bathing in cormorants involves a lot of vigorous wing slapping on the water surface. The resulting shower of water wets the birds’ backs. 

Cackling Goose

Historically the systematics of the bird formerly known as the Canada Goose were a mess. About 200 races of the bird were described in the literature. The situation is still not resolved, but is a bit clearer now. The smaller geese have been declared a separate species, the Cackling Goose. Genetic studies showed that these birds are not closely related to the larger ones and that there is limited gene flow between these size classes. Currently four races of Cackling Geese are recognized.

On 19 October 2020, Erika and I searched for Snow Geese among several hundred Cackling Geese at the Billy Frank Jr Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge. Most of the Cackling Geese looked like the bird in the first photo, but I slowly realized that many had dark chestnut breasts like in the second image. Two of the four Cackling Geese races are unlikely to occur here. The Aleutian Cackling Geese is a rare bird and usually sports a white white band at the base of the neck. The Richardson’s Goose winters mostly in Oklahoma and Texas and breeds in the eastern Canadian Arctic—it has a rounder head and lighter underparts than the bird in my first photo. Consequently I think the first photo is a Taverner’s Goose, which breeds in Alaska and northwestern Canada, and winters from Oregon to southern California. There remains the final Cackling Goose with the dark chestnut breast—a field mark of the Pacific Cackling Goose. These birds have very small bills and short necks. This race breeds in western Alaska and winters along the Pacific coast from Washington to southern California. 

Wilson’s Snipe

We were surprised that this photo is half-decent. This Wilson’s Snipe fed along the far side of a large lake at the Billy Frank Jr Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge on 19 October 2020. Snipe feed in marshes and are usually elusive and camouflaged. Yet they are one of the most abundant and widespread shorebirds in North America (Mueller 2020). Snipe feed by probing their long bills under the mud. They enjoy a number of feeding adaptations. Their nostrils are at the base of their bills, allowing them to breath while their bills are deep in the mud. Their bills have sensory pits near their tips, allowing them to locate their invertebrate prey. Snipe eyes are far back on their head, allowing them to see behind and above them while their bills are under water—a handy ability in a predator-filled world.

Chinese Chestnut

Erika and I encountered a row of strange (to us) trees along a boulevard next to Capitol Lake in Olympia on 15 October 2020. Large, spiny fruits littered the ground around the trees. We figure the the trees are Chinese Chestnut (Castanea mollissima). They are native to China and Korea, but are planted extensively in the United States. Why wouldn’t Olympia plant native trees, we wondered. Well, they replace native American Chestnuts that were decimated by Chestnut Blight—although I doubt American Chestnuts grew in Washington. In any event, these trees grow well with minimum maintenance. Their fruit is “delicious and low fat” and can be eaten raw, roasted, or baked (fastgrowingtrees.com). The chestnuts you buy from street vendors or specialty stores are usually Spanish Chestnuts (Castanea sativa). On the other hand, the fallen fruit burs are spiny and “pose a significant litter problem, and often make walking barefoot in the lawn a real adventure.” (Missouri Botanical Garden).

Anna’s Hummingbird and Salvia

On 9 October 2020, I watched an Anna’s Hummingbird feeding in the Salvia at the end of our porch. We bought the pink and white flowered Salvia more or less by mistake. We aimed to purchase “normal” Salvia like the flower in the second photo. We also have a dark purple Salvia that you can see behind the multicolored flowers in the first photo. I was surprised that the hummingbird stuck its bill high up on the flower, not towards the end of the corolla like in the second photo.

Taking a closer look at the multicolored Salvia, the entrance to the corolla is actually at the top of the back of the flower, with stamens hanging overhead—exactly where the hummingbird probed. (I have no clue what the small, hole-like structures at the bottom end of the flower might be.) This plant seems to be Baby Sage, Salvia microphylla, of Arizona and Mexico. Horticulturalists have bred lots of hybrids of this plant, and this Salvia must be one of those nursery-store products. I do not know the name or the origins of the red Salvia.