Awesome Yard Birds!

Well it's been a while since I have had a new post here at Bird Lady Blog.  I've been a bit pre-occupied with becoming a first-time Grandmother, with baby boy Cyrus due on Thanksgiving Day!  Also, I was having an issue with getting car sick when I would go out birding.  But today, as fall has officially arrived, the birds decided to come to me!  Awesome bird days like these are few and far between...

As I stepped out on my balcony to get a wiff of that cool, crisp fall air, I heard a familiar sound.  It was a Pileated Woodpecker, one of my favorite birds, my 'Spark' bird, the one that got me interested in birding over 27 years ago.  As I scanned the ground where the woodpecker was, I catch a glimpse of another one!  Two Pileated Peckers foraging for ants most likely.  Ants are the main diet of these woodpeckers.  I ran to get my binoculars and camera to try and get some footage of these awesome birds.  When I got back, I noticed there was a third bird a few trees away from the other two.  When I took a break from the binoculars, I saw a fourth woodpecker fly on to the scene!  Likely an entire family!  And to top that off, there was also a Northern Flicker hanging with the gang of Pileated.

I took four different videos I will share.  Pardon the shakiness.  While I was videoing the birds, my son let the darn cat, Stanley Oliver outside.  Immediately he ran over next door and started stalking my lovely woodpecker family!  OMG, I would be devastated if he was to get one.  I did send my son out to get him when he proceeded to get too close to them.

After all the excitement of the four, well five woodpeckers, I went inside to download my videos.  Not long after that, I went back out on the balcony when I heard some birds calling back and forth.  For a quick second, I thought the Pileateds were back, but the sound wasn't quite right.  Then I thought perhaps it could be a Belted Kingfisher, they have an interesting call like what I was hearing.  I scanned the trees, over and over, looking for any movement.  Back and forth the birds were chatting with each other.  It took quite a while for me to finally see one of them when it flew to another tree.  I got the binoculars, but it was difficult to see, and mostly was hanging out behind a bunch of pine needles, so I couldn't see it clearly.  I snapped a couple of photos, thinking I might be able to zoom in on the computer and see better.  The photos weren't clear either, as the pine needles were in the way.  So I get out my trusty iPhone iBird app and do a search based on the criteria I do know.  Came up with three possibilities, an American Kestrel, which I knew it was too big.  A Sharp-shinned Hawk, which I have seen here once before, and a Merlin, which I have never seen.  Not knowing which of the two it was, I listened to the call of both birds.  Sure enough, it was not the Sharp-shinned, but indeed it was the Merlin!  A life bird for me!

A Shy Merlin hiding

So between the four Pileated Woodpeckers, the Northern Flicker, and a pair of Merlins for yard birds today, it makes for an A-W-E-S-O-M-E Bird Day!

Chickadees in the Yard

Slideshow Banners

First, I would like to bring your attention to the new slideshow banner at the top and bottom of Bird Lady Blog. I've been wanting to do something like this for a while, then I remembered some slideshows of some of my older bird photos out on Photobucket.com that I used to use for my MySpace profile. So I'm trying them out here.

Hope you enjoy them!

~ Sherrie (Bird Lady)

Chickadees in the Yard

On New Years, I hung a new feeder on the balcony, that had just been sitting around not being used.  I found some Black-Oil Sunflower Seeds in the cupboard and filled up the feeder, hoping to attract some different winter birds to my yard.  The birds are used to coming to the suet I have hanging about 15-20 feet from the balcony, but I wondered if they would be comfortable enough to come up closer to the house, as the new feeder was only about 4 feet from the slider door.  

Well, it's been a couple of weeks now, and finally I have visitors to the new feeder, the Black-capped Chickadees! Which are new on my Big Year list and my Yard list.  They are so cute when they come into the balcony area, they usually land on one of my wind chimes before going to the feeder for a seed or two.  Even a Red-breasted Nuthatch came and clung to the ropes hanging from the wind chime.  I wanted to get a picture of one of the birds doing this, as it would make for a great photo.  So I decided to set up my camera on the tripod just inside the slider door.  The plan was to get everything all set up, wait for the birds to start coming, and then open the slider up for picture taking.  Mind you it is only in the mid 20's outside.  When the chickadee finally came, then left and I opened up the door, but it didn't come back.  So until they get used to me and the tripod so close to the feeder, I would try to get a decent photo with the slider door closed.  I did recently wash the glass door since it was filthy dirty with dog nose prints from my chow chow Cubby Bears, who's bed is on the balcony.  I wanted to actually be able to 'see' the birds out of the window.  I wasn't able to get a good shot of the wind chime landing, but did get a few half way decent shots through the glass door. This chickadee sat there for the longest time with the seed in his beak, and posed for several photos.  

RAW edit

jpeg edit

Photography Talk

I did edit both the RAW and the jpeg versions, and am displaying both after some cropping and editing in Photoshop Elements 7.  I adjusted the levels, increased the contrast slightly, adjusted the brightness and sharpened the photo. I don't really like shooting in RAW because of the lag time on my camera when it saves the large files.  But I understand the importance of being able to have access to the RAW version of the photo especially when the shot is less than perfect, which many of mine fit that category just perfectly!  After looking at both photos, I'm leaning towards the jpeg edit.  It just looks crisper to me, but the colors in the RAW edit are better.

I am really trying to learn my camera manual settings better, so I experimented with the ISO, doing some of the shots at 400, and others at 800 as my lighting faded.  I set my mode to Shutter Speed Priority and tried to set the camera at the fastest shutter speed and lowest aperture that I could and still maintain the exposure. I then also took some shots in Auto Scene Recognition mode to compare. This particular photo was taken at ISO 400, f/7.2, 1/20 sec. It's not a half bad shot for being through the window, with the available light. The bokeh is nice. I like how you can see some frosty spider webs on the feeder right under the birds wing. Check it out in the larger version (click on the photo). Funny the things you notice when you are so close with the camera.  I am looking forward to more photo shoots on the balcony with the chickadees!  See if I can improve my pictures.

Don't forget to check out the slideshow down below...

Now That's What I Call S-N-O-W-!

Tomorrow is the first day of winter, but I think someone forgot to tell Mother Nature because she sent the snow a bit early!  We live in a snow belt and got dumped on here in Loon Lake over the last couple of days... 29 inches over night!  No worries about having a white Christmas this year.  But I am a little worried that I didn't get my Christmas shopping done, and we have family festivities to attend, and driving into town (we live about 30 miles from the big city of Spokane) could be difficult to say the least.  Only one of our cars has snow tires, two have 4-wheel drive and my poor husband's van has neither.  He had to stay home from work today because there was just too much snow this morning to go anywhere, and someone has to dig us out!

The poor pets are having a hard time getting around in all of this snow.  You would think our chow Cubby Bears would be better at it then our chihuahua Jack E. Cheez, but no... Jack's not scared at all, it's Cubby who is the pansy!

Even the cat Stanley Oliver is fascinated with the snow.  He hopped and skipped right out in the deep snow and over to under the picnic table.  Getting back he wasn't so bouncy.

Earlier this week, we didn't have quite as much snow, but enough to cover the ski docks.  There was one day that a Great Blue Heron spent most of the day roosting on the ski dock, sleeping as it snowed. 



This isn't the first time I've seen the heron out in a snow storm.  A couple of years ago, when the fish pen was in the bay over the winter, the resident Great Blue Heron named Bruchis would hang out daily.  Check out this video I took of Bruchis in a snow storm...



Bird Lady Blog Activity

I've been reviewing my stats on my Bird Lady Blog and was excited to see I have almost 900 pageviews since my blog started in June 2010, 87 views last month, and 37 this week.  It's surprising to see the different countries my readers are from... the United States of course, Poland, Germany, United Kingdom, Russia, Canada, Latvia, South Korea, China, India, Guam, Philippines, Brazil, and South Africa. 

I'm trying to give my blog some badly needed attention, and with my new Great Washington State Birding Trails project for the new year, I hope to increase my posts and my audience.  Shooting for 1000 pageviews! 

To my readers, thank you for checking out my blog.  One thing I would like is to get more comments from you on my blog.  My faithful reader Jana D. always leaves me a comment :O) 

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Sherrie (Bird Lady)

Goodbye Osprey, Hello Fall!

I have to say that I am happy to see the Osprey go for the winter!  They showed up on the day the ice melted in the bay last spring, and stayed all summer long to raise two chicks, who stuck around until just the other day.  Finally, their incessant squawking is gone!  Day in and day out of these birds begging their parents for food, or begging each other as they got older and started catching fish for themselves.  It was fun watching the young birds attempt to catch fish when they were first fledglings and leaving the nest!  They weren't real good fishers at first, and the parents would leave them alone during the day, so that they would 'fend for themselves'.  I would watch them as I did my swimming this summer.  They would perch in the trees and complain about their hunger.  As they became better fishers, they would perch on various trees and eat their catch.  Many times, right in front of our patio, they would dine and then then drop their trash on our beach.  Lovely for my chihuahua to get ahold of a stinking fish carcus. As summer goes on, the sounds of the Osprey goes on until one day you realize you haven't heard the Osprey for several days.  I find myself wondering... where do the Osprey go for the winter?  Do they fly to the coast of Washington, where they can continue their fishin mission?  Or perhaps they fly way south to California or even Mexico?  Well, I think I will just have to go research it.  First I will try my iBird app to see if it tells me anything. 

iBird says basically, Osprey are known to live around large bodies of water world-wide, except in Anartica.  As the map above shows, they breed here in the northwest United States and in Canada.  They then migrate across the United States and winter along the coast of California, Texas and the most southern states.  Year-round residents are in Florida and in Mexico.  I'd like to think our summer resident Osprey travel down to the California coast, and enjoy the warmer weather down there, while we stay here in the cold and experience the nasty winter months.  Kind of like our other summer neighbors from California!  But we know that when the warm weather comes back around our way, our Californian neighbors, and the Osprey will be back in the hood, ready for another lovely summer!  For now, we will enjoy our lovely autumn colors as the leaves change with the seasons.

The Best of Birding Adventures...

Yesterday I had one of the best birding adventures ever!  Let me start by saying that the very first bird that got me into bird watching was the Pileated Woodpecker.  I had seen this glorious bird when we lived in Suquamish (Poulsbo) Washington back in 1988.  It fascinated me then, and still brings excitement to me today.  So to my delight, when I was out walking this week I decided to go further than I normally do.  

So happy that I did, because I came across one of these magnificant Pileated Woodpeckers.  She was drumming away on a huge Ponderosa Pine a couple miles from my home.  The tree was a regular stop for her you could tell because the bark was missing from large areas on the tree. 

Of course, I slowed and quickly got my camera going on my iPhone.  I got some pictures, but none to write home about.  I thought it was a male when I was out there, but after reading up on my iBird app, determined it was a female because she lacked the red mustache.  She let me get closer than I thought she would.  Of course, I had my dogs with me and they were right under foot.  She flew off to a nearby tree, and we trotted on with our walk with that high that you get when the endorphines are running good, and you've just witnessed something in nature that stirs your soul. 

Cut to yesterday, me and the dogs are out walking again eager to beat my mileage from yesterday's record of 3.76 miles.  As we approach the area where the Pileated's Ponderosa Pine is, and there she is again, working away at that tree.  I move closer and closer until I am within just a few feet of this tree and this bird, my favorite bird!  I am able to shoot photo after photo, and videos too.  Such excitement, I can't even explain!  Like that feeling of holding the hummingbirds while they drink!  Experiences you won't ever forget.

We finally moved on and continued on our walk.  The longest walk yet.  A round trip of 4.33 miles!  All the way to Cedar Beau Bay at the south end of the lake.

When we got back to the tree, Ms. Woodpecker was still there. This time I was able to creep up to the tree within 2 or 3 feet.  I was standing on the edge of a block wall with the beautiful bird right there almost within arms reach.  I took lots of photos and a video and spent quite some time with her. 

Another walker with a couple of dogs came walking nearby and she flew off to a nearby tree.  I spoke with the elderly lady, who was 80, and we chatted about the woodpecker.  She told me she had seen some Cedar Waxwings recently, a once in a blue moon bird in this area, and exciting to see also (although I think it was probably a Bohemian Waxwing).  As I continued home, my heart was full with nature.  What a great feeling it is to have such great birding adventures to share!

Wonderful World of Walking

As part of my new healthy lifestyle modification, I have been walking in my neighborhood several times a week.  I have really been enjoying being out in nature while I work on getting more activity into my life.  The woods around my home is home to lots of critters and birds.  There are pathways that I haven't been on since my childhood around here.  My pet trio loves to come along with me.  Cubby Bears, the chow, is our security guide.  He makes sure there is nothing out there that is gonna hurt us.  The other day, Cubby sprang into action...  he went scavenging around in the bushes beside the road, and I could hear something else in the bushes too.  Sure enough, out springs a young buck, hopping through the forest and dashed across the road right in front of us!  Saved!  From a rouge deer on the loose!  That's my Cubby!

Then there's Jack E. Cheez, the chihuahua, my shadow.  He thinks he's tough, but gets scared of other dogs out there on our walk.  Jack has learned to hitch a ride with Grammy when we encounter stranger dogs. 

Stanley Oliver is our lake cat.  He loves to follow along, just like he was a dog.  He doesn't like the 'stranger dogs' either, and will hide in the woods.  Me and the dogs will continue on, and when we get back, Stan will still be in the bushes waiting for us.  A few meows, and he'll come hopping out and start following us again.  Lately, I've been leaving poor Stan home, because he really does slow me down.  Poor kitty, he has been real ticked about it.

I use the iPhone MapMyWalk app to log my distance and time when walking.  The upgraded version allows me to take photos within the app along the way.  So I thought I would share some of my photos from my walks.  Hope you enjoy!

This is the Great Blue Heron seen down in Cedar Beau Bay.

 This shot was taken to show how far we had walked that day.  My cabin is around the bend from that point across the bay!

Just another beautiful sunset in our bay.  I never tire of this scene, whatever the season, it is beautiful, peaceful, and best of all... my home.

The Beginning of Summer 2012

Memorial Weekend 2012...

Here it is Memorial Weekend again, and 2012! Another long winter behind us, another anticipated summer in front of us! It is this time of year I especially enjoy the nature around me. Some excitement here recently, I wish I had some pictures to go along with, but sometimes I just decide to enjoy the moment, instead of missing much of it, because I am trying to get my camera and a picture snapped off before it ends. One of those moments happened yesterday morning, when my husband woke me up at 6 a.m. to tell me there was a moose swimming in the bay. Even I would get up for that exciting news. So cool to watch the young moose swim across the middle of the bay, headed out into the vast lake. It was right out in front of our cabin when it started, and we stood there and watched how quickly it swam out to the middle of the lake. Wondering where it thought it was headed? There was no land in the direction it was going! A neat early morning experience we have shared more than once before. We figured this was at least the 3rd moose we've seen swimming in our bay. Then there is also the moose rescued by my husband, and other moose sightings I can remember. The moose love to hang here in Moose Bay.

June 2012 - Frequent visitors

Today, when I was cleaning out the "storage" corner of our patio, a dear sweet hummingbird hit the large picture window where I was working and landed on the step. I went to see if it was okay, and it fluttered into the shrubs when I approached. I still wanted to check to see if it was okay, so I went around the other side of the bush, and the poor thing was hanging by a foot upsidedown. I reached in to see if I could free it's foot, and it got loose and flew off. I was happy it was able to flee, yet just a little disappointed I didn't get to see it a little better. It all happened so quick.  These little birds are so courageous, and not afraid of much.  In the past, I have been able to get some video footage of the hummers as they dine on my feeder hung on my "birding balcony".  So I will share that with you today...

A few days after the hummingbird incident, I had another little birdie hit our window. This time I was inside with the slider door open, and the birdie flew into the house and hit the window beside me. I got up out of my chair to see if I could find it, and it flew and landed on my husband's chair. It was a sweet little baby Red-Breasted Nuthatch! So darling! A family of six red's have been feeding at my suet lately. Four babies and the parents often visit for feedings. So cute to watch the babies flutter their wings for their share of the food. Sometimes the babies will stay up the tree a ways and the parents have to run back and forth from the suet to the baby. Other times, the baby will follow the parent to the suet but still wait for mamma or daddy to feed them. Then sometimes, eventually, they will start picking at the suet themselves.

1/2 of the family of Red-Breasted Nuthatches

I love it when families come to the feeders.  Here is a pair of Downy Woodpeckers coming to the feeder.  I know it was a male and female, but not sure if it was a mating pair, or possibly a parent with a baby.  You have to watch them for awhile to tell, and usually the babies act like babies.  Shivering, fluffing up, begging for food, etc.

A pair of Downy Woodpeckers

Another family of birds I've been watching is the Tree Swallows.  They arrive every year as soon as the ice melts off the lake.  This year, I am happy that a pair has chosen my balcony bird house for nesting.  It's been vacant for the last couple of years, when the swallows have taken up residency in my wooden bird houses, or the many other neighborhood bird houses, and any nook and cranny they can find!  When they nest in the balcony bird  house, it's perfect for picture taking when the baby birds emerge!  One of my best baby bird shots was from this bird house.  I even got the photo published in the Birds & Blooms magazine!  Here is a more recent photo of one of the parent Tree Swallows watching me and waiting to go into the balcony bird house.

Tree Swallow (the one nesting in my balcony bird house)

Also frequent visitors my bird tree are the Black-headed Grosbeaks.  This pair look nothing like each other.  The male looks like a Black-headed Grosbeak, but the female has very muted coloring and blends well into the background so she can hide and protect the baby Grosbeaks when she's on the nest.

A pair of Black-headed Grosbeaks

This song sparrow has the sweetest melody he chirps from the branch of my bird tree.  You can tell it is a song sparrow by the brown 'spot' on the chest.  You can many times hear them first, because their song is so sweet!  Next time you hear a lovely melody being chirped from the trees... look around, you may be able to spot one!

Song Sparrow

And one last visitor that I never get tired of seeing, the majestic Great Blue Heron.  No longer do we have a fish pen in the bay for the heron to hang out daily, but they still visit the bay frequently.  The wingspan on these birds is incredible!  I caught this guy, just as he was taking off from the neighbor's dock.  Since his wings are just out of the shot, you can't quite see the impressive spread.  But I love flying heron pics!

Great Blue Heron

So there is my blog update for now.  I'll try to be better at grabbing my camera to get some more wonderful bird adventures to share with you!

- Sherrie (Bird Lady)

Back to Blogging

I'm a little behind on my blogging, huh?  No posts for over a year! 

Well today, a friend from high school messaged me on Facebook to tell me her 9-year old son, Cameron, loved my bird blog!  He is fascinated with the birds here at Loon Lake, and likes looking them up in his bird book.  So this has inspired me to get to my blogging!  I have started a couple of posts this spring, but not finished them because I needed to process the pictures.  But no more waiting...

Mother's Day 2012...

My sweet children, Jillian, 20 and Beau, 16 gave me a great Mother's Day card and gift.  They know me well.  Both the card and the gift were owls!  One of my favorite birds!  Check out this sweet lil' fella...

I also picked up another cute lil' guy for my flower pots...

And this sweet chick...

My garden is not complete without some friendly birdies!

Thanks Cameron for following my blog!

- Bird Lady (Sherrie)





Bring on Spring!

Spring has for sure arrived finally. I have been busy with our new chihuahua puppy Jack, planting my flower garden and pots, and enjoying time spent outdoors on my patio watching and listening to all the bird activity. I've also been attempting to get some practice in on my 'new' camera and have finally deciphered how to shoot in manual and set my own aperature and shutter speed. I am also trying to master my tri-pod. One would think it would be a simple device to operate, but it can be tricky with all of its knobs. So even though I have not taken any spectacular shots lately, I have been getting in a bit of practice for when that perfect shot opportunity arises! Here is the relaxing view from my patio this last weekend.

This afternoon I heard some commotion outside and went to check. It was two male Mallard ducks 'discussing' some business. I thought it might be a fun picture, so grabbed my camera. By the time I got back, the discussion was over, but there were now three male Mallards, and another unidentified duck. They were far enough away that I knew the pictures wouldn't be the greatest, but took a few snaps anyways. The unidentified duck turned out to be either a female or young male Common Goldeneye. I'm gonna assume it was a female given the behavior of the three male Mallards!

Every time I leave my house or come home, I drive by a particular Red-necked Grebe's 2nd annual nest atop of a floating orange life jacket. It's nothing fancy, but seems to provide these pair of grebes a suitable nest each year. I was excited to get pictures this year since I have a better zoom camera now. I parked my car behind the cabin that the nest is by, and used the cabin as a blind while I adjusted all my settings. Zoomed right in on this pretty lady duck, as she sits on her nest. Her mate is never too far away. The nest is only about 25 or 30 feet from the shore. I'll be looking forward to seeing the baby chick. Only thing is, once the chick hatches, they are off to explore the lake and will no longer hang around the nest. My main chance to get pictures of a baby grebe riding on it's parents back will be in my bay with the resident grebes nest there each year. They defend the bay as their own most of the summer. I think I saw a grebe possibly nesting on the island when I looked through the binoculars the other day. The bay pair I was just talking about was over by the island squabbling and raising a rucus. As I looked through the binoculars, I saw a grebe (I think) ON the island. Maybe I can confirm that at a later time.

We are gearing up for the big Memorial Day weekend here at the lake. The official beginning of summer. Actually, it is just the beginning of the busy season, when all the summer neighbors show up. After the long winter, it is good to see everyone. By the summer's end, it's good to see them go and have the place to ourselves again! The weather is not supposed to be great this weekend, of course. When is it ever great on a holiday summer weekend? So we are in for 60'ish and 40% chance of showers. Enjoy your Memorial weekend!

Happy Bird Day!

Yesterday was the best bird day! Yep, that's what I mean when I say "Happy Bird Day", nobody's birthday or anything. After enjoying the snack fest between Bruchi's the Heron and the otter yesterday, I continued to have some great bird moments throughout the day. I had been wondering how long it would take the Osprey to catch on to the un-netted fishpen, and take a dive into the pen. Not long at all! As I stepped out onto my balcony to get a better look at a loon (my first of the season), I heard the giant splash, and as I look over to the fishpen, the Osprey emerges from the water and flies off. It didn't look to me like it had a fish. But hey, it was the first try. I'm sure there will be more attempts. Also, new to the bay yesterday was a swarm of American Coot. I love these tiny funny ducks. They always hang in a huge crowd. They duck, and splash, and play around in the water and are a joy to just watch. Here's a bit of video for you to appreciate the experience. Much better than just a photo. Of course, the highlight to my day was the Heron and the Otter snacking on fish together. (See yesterday's blog for video) I also got a video of just the otter eating a fish. It is such a treat to have this guy visiting our bay again. Never, in my life on this lake have I seen an otter before this one came last fall. Probably won't be the last time we'll see him. I have a feeling he'll stick around as long as the fish pen is here. They usually release the fish in May sometime. So until then, I will enjoy my little friend the otter and watch him gorge himself on free fish!

Visitors at the Fishpen Buffet

Last night I happen to look out my window, and saw something on the skidock. It was really dark out, but I immediately thought it could be our friendly otter that we haven't seen since before the ice formed on the lake last winter. Sure enough, it was our fella! I watched him through the binoculars as he preened himself and snuggled down on the dock, looking like he was gonna hold up there for the night and have a nice sleep.

Well, first thing this morning when I got out of bed, and looked out my window like I do every morning. There was a swarm of American Coot, probably 100 of them out in the bay. Bruchi's the Heron was at the fishpen as usual. I was also watching an Osprey flying around the area. The Osprey returned just a week ago or so, to inhabit their nest for the summer, which is just a few trees away from our house. Around and around the Osprey flew, finally choosing to land in a tree right in front me. I suspect that the Osprey will eventually catch on to the fishpen's lack of netting and take a dive into the pen for a snack. If you recall, during a wind storm this winter, the netting blew down and had to be removed. This opened the way for many visitors to sneak in and steal a fish, or two, or three! I wonder how many of the 10,000 fish that were planted will be left when they go to release them in May?

Within a couple of minutes, my Otter friend appears and swims up to the fishpen to visit Bruchi's and share some breakfast. He climbed right up on the pen, just a couple of feet from Bruchi's, dunked down in the water, and imerged with a fish! I sat there and watched the two catch fish after fish and gobble them down together. I snap a couple of photos from my balcony, and take a quick video.

Deciding this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, I decide to quickly dress and get my shoes on and take the tripod and camera down to the beach to take better photos/videos. I sneak around the pucker brush, and behind our neighbors boat house. Realizing that I forgot the mount for the camera for the tripod, I find something to lean on for a steady hand. I see Bruchi's, but not the otter. I take a quick photo. Then the sun came out and lit up the scene just perfectly! I snap a couple more photos before my husband, who is off from work today decides to come down there for a closer look. He just comes waltzing across the beach and kept walking towards the dock after clearing the boat house I was hiding behind. I was like "What are you doing"?!?!?! He slips behind a tree, as the bird flies off... Ah, too late dude, you already scared him off. I was not pleased with hubby at this point. The otter was no where to be found either. Grrrrr.... Here is one of the sunny photos I managed to get before he scared off my damn bird!

Still waiting for Spring

I'm still waiting for Spring to come. Yes, officially Spring has been here for a few days. But I continue to see snow and rain just about every day. As soon as the ground clears, another snow storm will be upon us. The lake is still frozen over. I should be happy that the ice on the ground is clearing and at least I can walk around some places outside, and I can park my car down our steep driveway again. I am anxious, to get out with my camera and enjoy the warm weather and the photo opportunities that it will bring. Flowers and birds, birds and flowers. Blue skies! No coats, or boots, or gloves. Today, it looked sunny outside, but you culd still feel the chill out there. But I could not wait any longer. My friend the Great Blue Heron had been at the fish pen for some time today. So I grabbed my camera, the tripod, and a jacket and ventured outside. I snuck around the neighbor's puckerbrush so as to not alert my subject. Tip-toed behind the boat house and set up shop. I even went high tech and got out my new iPhone with the iBird app and played GBH vocals and calls. He knew I was there, and kept a watchful eye on me. That eye was my focus. I only had a few minutes of battery and had lunch cooking in the microwave, so I decided to try and get a flight shot. I moved up a few feet, and then proceeded to make a fool of myself with awkward vocals and calls of my own. It worked, because off he flew and landed out on the ice. I pretty much missed the action, so I packed up and went back inside for lunch. The rest of the day, I watched from inside, my friend spent the entire afternoon there. Never did see a fish being caught. I really do love how cool his beak looks here. Very appropriate for catching fish.




I decided I really must name my Great Blue Heron friend since he is a daily visitor. The name "Blue Cheese" came to mind. But it is a little too literal, so I decided on "Bruchi's", which is a local restaurant and a play on Blue Cheese. So everyone, meet "Bruchi's".

I also used my new iBird app to identify a new bird that I saw a couple of days ago. Whenever I go to town, there is a certain fence in the Half Moon area that I always watch for birds. So far, I have added three life birds to my list by watching this fence. The first bird was a Say's Phoebe, then a Western Meadowlark, and now a Northern Shrike. A gray bird with a black mask. Simple enough to ID. An interesting fact about the Northern Shrike is that it is also known as the "Butcher Bird" because it stores food for later by impaling it on a thorn or barbed wire. The following is NOT my picture. Just posting so you could see what a Northern Shrike looks like.

My life list is now at 89. My goal is to get to 100! Of course you know I won't stop there. My life list is on the right, be sure to check it out! How many of these birds have YOU seen?

Rain or Shine, Sleet or Snow...

Just when I thought spring was on its way, we get hit with a monsterous snowstorm. Today, the snow was especially thick with huge flakes coming down. I could not see the island or the cabins across the bay. Through the snowstorm, I could see our favorite fish pen attendant, the Great Blue Heron. A daily visitor come rain or shine, sleet or snow, the heron sits quietly for hours on end, waiting for his opportunity to snap up a fish or two. Shortly after I took this video, he caught a fish! Every time I see a heron swallow a fish, I wonder how that would feel, with that fish swishing around in your stomach? How long do you think it takes for the fish to quit flopping around? And how does it feel to poop out those fish bones? Yikes!



So here I sit, dreaming of springtime, when I can get out in the neighborhood and really enjoy my new camera. Meanwhile, I am having fun with my new iPhone, hanging with my favorite pets, Boof, Cubby and Stan. Next week Cub & Boof go in for their shots. That should be fun.

The Moose Rescue Video

A couple of years ago, my husband and lake neighbors saved a mamma moose who had fallen through the frozen ice on the lake. I mentioned it in an earlier blog. I had posted a video of the rescue on YouTube, and occassionally will get a comment on it. Out of the blue, I get an email yesterday from a TV producer from the UK (Southern England). They produce a series called "Real Rescues" and are wanting to start a new series about animal rescues. They would like to use my moose rescue video for their program. After thinking, "Is this for real"?, I checked out the company, confirmed their validity and emailed back the gal. She assured me it was legit. The program is still in its early stages, but she said if the budget allowed, they might even come interview us. They want all of the footage that I have, which includes video of the baby calf that was with the mamma moose that day.

Anyways, it's kind of exciting! If you haven't had a chance to see the incredible footage (and even if you have), be sure to check it out!

Walk This Way...

My friendly neighborhood Great Blue Heron was helping me test out the video capabilities on my new camera. Figured out right away, that the settings were not right. Next time I will shoot at a higher speed. This one looks like it's in slow motion and a bit jerky. But, I still love this video of the Great Blue Heron walking on the ice to the fish pen. They are so graceful! If only I could figure out how to get some still photos from this clip of the heron creeping around the edge of the fish pen.
OK, so I tried and tried to upload the video, but it is 9MB's too large! Wahhh! I don't have a way to edit it and keep it in an uploadable format.

Mid-winter Blues

I don't know about you, but I've had about enough of winter. Spring has been on my mind lately. Ice covers the ground and the lake. Well, almost all of the lake. The neighborhood fish pen stays unfrozen, as they keep the water moving inside the pen. So like I've said before, there is a Belted Kingfisher that hangs out at the fish pen, and catches a snack or two every day. Now the last couple of days, we have a new visitor to the fish pen... a Great Blue Heron! It's an unusual time of year to see one of these magnificant birds here on the lake. I am loving the added wildlife and birds that have been attracted by the fish pen. If you haven't already, check out the otter that visited before the ice took over the lake in my earlier blog. This Great Blue Heron spends hours patiently waiting on the ledge of the fish pen. And I have spent quite some time patiently waiting for the heron to do something exciting like catch a fish! I have seen it about to strike, but then doesn't. I couldn't get quite close enough on my balcony to get a decent shot, so I decided today to get my boots on, and some warm clothes and head outside with my camera and tripod. Now this is quite the feat, because it is very icy around my house, and now we have a new cover of snow, so it's hard to see where exactly the ice is. So I grab my ski-pole, and head out with my gear. Unfortunely, the little dog gets out when I open the door to get my tripod through. Darn it, I didn't want the dog to scare the bird. But I continue on my task, and head across the icy ground and sneak behind the bushes and hide behind a boat house on the beach. Here I set up my tri-pod and get all focused in on my special winter visitor. I snap a couple shots. Maybe half a dozen, and our big dog comes to see what's up. Oh hello! I see you are trying to photograph that big bird over there... Let me help by running out on the ice and scaring him off! Do you think I might have been lucky enough to get a flight shot? No, no, no. I was in the middle of saving a 7-shot series, and missed the window of opportunity. Thanks doggy!

Well, at least the shots were a little better than the ones way up from my balcony. I still plan to stalk this fella to get a better shot. Would be nice if the weather wasn't quite so gloomy!

After the dogs had scared away my chances of getting any more heron pictures for the time being, I still wanted to take advantage of being out in the snow in the woods. So I set up my tripod on the patio and decided to get a few shots of the Red-breasted nuthatches that were at my suet feeders. There were 4 of them there at one time, how fun! Do you think I could get a shot of them, before little dog, and his Unlce kitty ran over to the tree and off went the nuthatches. Next time I will have to be more careful about the pets getting outside! But hey, they were excited about the bird visitors too! Little dog barks at the birds when he sees them outside. All is not lost, there is a Song Sparrow that has been in the gang with the nuthatches, and it is still in the bushes. I take a couple of crappy shots of it, before I hear a Raven overhead bickering at it's partner. This causes the Song Sparrow to freeze and hide behind the branches for a couple of minutes or more. The Raven takes off, and down the tree comes a Downy Woodpecker. They seem to hang with the nuthatches and the sparrow, all of them coming to the feeders at the same time. I am happy to be on the patio, with the tripod and the camera all ready to go. Didn't last long with my friends the pets outside. Oh well, it was an adventure that I enjoyed. Got me out of the house, and was good for the winter blues.

New Camera

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! I sure did! Santa brought me a brand new superzoom camera! The Fuji Finepix HS10 with a 30x zoom lens (up to 720mm). Great for birding! I couldn't wait to get a shot at the Belted Kingfisher that has been hanging daily at the local fish pen. My old camera just didn't have enough zoom to get in as close as I'd like. But with this new camera, I was sure to get up close. Today, I look down at the fishpen to see if my buddy was there, and what do I see? The fishpen has collapsed! The frame and netting above water level had fallen. Then this afternoon, I see two guys in a canoe, paddling with snow shovels while they broke the ice around the fish pen. That's something I'd never seen before, canoeing with snow shovels! They were able to get the frame off of the pen for repairs. So I'm wondering where my kingfisher friend is today? Then I see him, perched on our dock on the high dive frame. He loves that spot, but has been favoring the fish pen lately. With the fish pen in repair, his roosting spot was gone! Good for me though, because he is now much closer, and a perfect scene for my new camera!!! I rush to get it, and am happy to snap a few photos of my friend. I haven't ventured outside of the Auto mode with scene recognition. But after I got a few shots, I decided to try the multiple shot mode. Boy, oh boy, did it shoot 7 shots quicker than spit! Then I tried the mode that shoots 3 shots at closer zoom each time. I think I'm gonna like that mode. Since we are in the middle of a snow storm, almost blizzard conditions at times, my pictures weren't as clear as I would have liked. But they are certainly the closest shots I've ever gotten of a Belted Kingfisher!

Thanksgiving is over!

Now the turkey's show up!

We haven't had the turkeys here for a couple of years. But they used to roost in the neighbors cedar trees, and roam the beach daily. I'm glad to see them back. The turkeys and other birds will come up on my patio. Sometimes I'll throw my cockatiel Dixie Chick's left over seeds outside in the winter, so of course they love that. My cat Stanley Oliver loves to stalk the turkeys. They act like they couldn't care less if Stan was there. Here is a picture of him taken a couple of years ago by my friend Jeannie. Stan was hanging with the gang of turkeys... I call it Turkat...

Also hanging with the turkeys, are a covey of quail. Such sweet little birds. I always hear them before I see them. Every time I'm like... what strange bird is that I hear? Only to discover the quail nearby. They make such sweet little birdie noises. I love the little bobble on their heads, although I think only the males may have them. Nope, just looked it up, and the females have a small plume, the males a larger plume and black faces with white. Here is a male, that I just took today.

Here is my favorite of my quail pictures. I shot this in the parking lot of Shopko, believe it or not! Doesn't the weather look fabulous??

Today while I was fixing myself a little lunch, I heard a loud tap, tap, tap outside. Sounded like it might be a woodpecker under the eaves of the house. The Red-shafted Flickers have been hanging around lately. Never have I heard them tapping at my eaves here at this house, but when we used to live in Poulsbo, Washington, they roosted on the edge of my window and sometimes peck at the house. We were renters back then, so didn't care if they wrecked the eaves. But now, we are in our forever house, I really don't want them ruining it. My friend Jana hates the flickers for just that reason! I have a hard time hating them, cause they were one of the first birds that got me interested in birdwatching. And it was because of them roosting on my window. I had to know what these birds were! The other birds that peaked my interest was the Pileated Woodpecker. The big Woody Woodpecker kind. I'm working on getting a decent picture of a flicker to share.

Winter Visitors

Female Hairy Woodpecker

I hadn't had any decent bird adventures for quite some time, but since we've had snow, things seem to be getting busy! I had a great sighting today, but unfortunately no pictures to share. Just a binocular's view away, across the bay, a fairly large dark bird was flying around and caught my eye. When it landed in a snowy pine tree, I immediately got my binoculars out, and searched the branches until I found it. It was difficult to decipher what it was. For awhile, I thought it might be an owl, wishful thinking I'm sure. After staring at it til my eyes were buggy, and searching in one of my favorite bird books (Stokes Field Guide to Birds - Western Region), I identified it to be a juvenile Bald Eagle. No white head or tail, but definately an Bald Eagle. They keep their immature plumage for up to 4 years. The young eagle roosted in the pine tree for at least an hour or so. I was disappointed that I didn't see it fly off.

Another visitor, that has been spending quite a bit of time around here, is a Belted Kingfisher. I love these short squatty, noisy fishing birds! Every since our neighbors volunteered to host the fish pen on their dock for the winter, the kingfisher can be seen several times a day, perched atop the fish pen. Every once in a while, he will dive down through the gaps in the netting at the top, and catch himself a snack fish. I am certain there will not be 10,000 trout to let loose next May!

This was taken several weeks ago, before the snow came.

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed something on our skidock rolling around in the snow and playing on the dock. At first, I thought it had to be a muskrat, but it just didn't fit. Muskrats aren't that big, and they don't play like that. They swim in a straight line, and duck under the docks. Not get out and do somersaults on them. Beau thought it looked like a weasel. I thought it looked like a little sea lion. When my husband got home from work, and we told him about the 'muskrat', he looked outside and there it was again! He was convinced it was an otter. After looking online, for sure, it was an otter. Certainly, the critter was visiting the fish pen too! I haven't seen him now for a few days, but he was here on and off for a week or more. I did manage to get a distant picture and some video.

Once the ice forms on the lake, I will miss all of my duck friends. I am amazed at how many types of ducks come in the fall and winter before the ice hits. There have been a pair of male Common Mergansers in the bay this last week. One day I saw a large duck roosting on the snow on the ski dock. When I looked in the binoculars, I thought perhaps there was another smaller duck on the edge of the dock, and snuggled up with this larger duck. But the detail in the pictures showed it was just the merganser and the 'smaller duck' was it's tail. You don't normally see the tail when they are in the water swimming. They really are a beautiful duck.

Christmas is on it's way... on my wish list is a DSLR camera. My old 4 megapixel FujiFilm camera needs upgraded badly! Sure hope Santa comes through for me!