Western Tanager

Yesterday you saw the rare Southwest Hepatic Tanager. You can see other types of Tanagers all over the US. The Summer Tanager lives everywhere east of the Cascades as does the Scarlet Tanager. The most common Tanager also lives here in the Northwest- the Western Tanager. This one on our feeder is either a female in full breeding colors, or a male that is turning. Unlike other types of male Tanagers, only the head turns red rather than the whole bird.

Hepatic Tanager

Here's an amazing bird to see- the Hepatic Tanager. We saw this mated pair in Ash Canyon, Arizona.

The adult male is a beautiful red color.

Not to be outdone, the adult female is a brilliant gold/yellow. Side by side, they make a pretty pair.

Elegant Trogon

We first tried to see the Elegant Trogon outside of Tucson, Arizona at Lake Patagonia in March of 2011. But on the day we had scheduled someone to take us up to find it, a huge wind storm arrived. We met our tour guide in the WalMart parking lot just prior to dawn nervous that he would cancel. And woe, he did. It was just far too blustery to drive a long way to look for the two (yes, just two total representatives living there) trogans that were themselves probably hiding for shelter. It was a sad morning. This is one of the birds we were planning on seeing and the reason we bought the ticket. We did, however, see many other amazing birds on that trip, and even on that day. But alas, no Elegant Trogon.

So we were pleased to be able to get another chance when we booked an excursion with the famous guide Alejandro when we traveled to Puerto Vallarta in January of 2012. Thanks to him, we saw many many many birds. On one day we drove through La Bajada and saw the Elegant Trogon!

We were also lucky enough that day to share the tour with Mark Patry, a bird enthusiast from Ottawa. Thanks Mark for the photo! Ours never looked quite right.

This picture is cropped a little for the sake of the blog, the full photo is below that.

Photo by Mark Patry

Photo by Mark Patry

Snowy Owls

Thank you again to Stephanie Rossi for sharing her pictures with us!

Here are some of the Snowy Owls that we made a special trip to go see. There were about 15-20 that we saw, but heard that were more in the area. These rare visitors were just amazing. They were all together very  near to the path when we got out of our car at Boundary Bay- so convenient!

They are large, fearless birds with stoic expressions. It's as though this group were on a meditation retreat.

Photo by Stephanie Rossi

Photo by Stephanie Rossi

Lots of people were there to see them.

The more white a Snowy is, the older it is. Most of the ones we saw were mottled like these- younger birds.

Photo by Stephanie Rossi

Photo by Stephanie Rossi

Northern Pintail

Named for its long tail feather, the Northern Pintail is another less common duck that we were fortunate to see at the Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary in Delta, BC. I'd only ever seen this as part of a mixed flock on large lakes, always at a distance and only seeing the long tail feather through my binoculars, so this was very special.

Two Pintail drakes showing off their breeding plumage. 

The Internet tells me that the Northern Pintail has been having some trouble making its way in the world today. It flies far and wide for its migration and is having trouble finding places to nest due to fewer wetlands and prairie to farm conversions. Hear more about it on birdnote.

What a nice tail feather you have!

I put these next two side by side because they so clearly illustrate that not only do I need a new camera, I clearly need Stephanie to operate it for me :). Look at the improved color and detailing on Steph's picture. That beak just shines and the brown is very warm. A very good looking bird! What do you think that suspicious glint in his eye is all about?

Pintail drake photo, courtesy of Stephanie Rossi

Pintail drake photo by Michele Leslie Potter

Wood Ducks

Once Charlie and I spent the whole day paddling around Seattle's Arboretum in a rubber dinghy boat looking for the Wood Duck we heard was there. After seeing many great birds, we finally gave up and headed back to the car, only to find a pair hanging out on the lawn next to our car.

Gorgeous Wood Duck drake photo courtesy of Stephanie Rossi. Drake is the term for a male duck.

It's obvious looking at the bird, why we'd spend all day trying to see one. It's definitely our most dramatic local duck. Listen to what the Wood Duck sounds like, how it got it's name (hint: it's the outfit), and the story of how the species was saved from extinction here.

Drake and female Wood Duck, courtesy of Stephanie Rossi

We were fortunate to come across a large group of these when we visited Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary. Unfortunately, our camera was fogged up and all of our photos came out blurry. Even the funny one of two of them attempting to eat off a feeder together. Too bad, but thanks Steph for sharing your amazing photos with us!

Wood Duck giving us the over the shoulder glance, courtesy of Stephanie Rossi

Short-eared Owl

Another unexpected delight from our recent trip up to Boundary Bay Regional Park in Delta, BC, was our very first Short-Eared Owl sighting.

While our camera is pretty good, it's nothing like the amazing 500+ mm lenses many birding photographers use. We can only zoom to 150 mm, so this bird is actually pretty close to us and still a bit blurry. We were admiring him from afar when he took an interest to something in our area.

You may wonder what time of day we went birding at to see such an active owl. This was taken around 11 am. The Short-Eared Owl can actually be diurnal, making one of the few sometimes daytime owls. We were delighted to get a chance to see an owl actively hunting.

I want to give a shout out to our fellow birders for helping us see this owl. We were in touch with the tweeters (pre-twitter) community for advice prior to our trip north and I received an email alerting us to the presence of the Short-Ear while we were driving up. I kept my ear open and struck up a conversation with two more experienced birders who were looking for it and this lead to our successful sighting. I am really thankful to have such a good birding community in the Pacific Northwest.

Another interesting fun fact is that these birds are believed to only be day-hunters when voles are extremely active, which might be why he's hanging out with the Snowy Owls. No one has come up with a concrete theory as to why the snowies came south this year, but food source is the obvious choice, plus I like to point out that Alaska is having a particularly bad winter. I like to head south when the weather sucks, so why wouldn't the Snowy Owls? They don't even need a passport. Except in Hawaii.

Short-Eared Owl landing on a scouting spot.