Birds of Prey Show

I was excited to hear that there was going to be a Birds of Prey exhibit at the Big Horn Show at the Spokane Fairgrounds this weekend. Promptly, I had Bird Lady Assistant put it on our schedule. When Saturday came, we showed up at the Big Horn Show and I practically ran (well, not really) from the information booth to the annex where we were told the Birds of Prey would be. The show was to start at 5:00, and we had about 25 minutes before the it started. There were a few things to look at while we waited. But I wanted to get good seats, so I didn't want to dilly dally too long. Here are some posters that showed the stars of the Birds of Prey Show.

The Stars of the Show

They had this sweet looking little American Kestrel, named Sadie in a cage that did not seem to mind all of us photogs trying to get a snapshot of her. Here I just used my iPhone because it seemed to fit right in between the wire cage. Come to find out, Sadie is the center's loudest and meanest bird! Can't judge a 'bird' by it's 'feathers', I guess.

Sadie, the American Kestrel

When the show was about to start, they started bringing out the birds. The first bird to come out, I didn't recognize. It wasn't until later, after the speaker started, that I found out it was a Harris's Hawk named Stanley. They aren't from around here, only the very most southern part of the US in Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico and into Mexico and Central America.

Stanley, the Harris Hawk

The bird handlers ranged in age from about 9 or 10 it looked like, to teens and 20's. There were two experts who took turns doing the speaking, one on hawks, the other on owls. The youngest handler, who looked to be about 9, worked with the birds daily at the Hawk and Owl Sanctuary at West Valley Outdoor Learning Center. He seemed very confident in his handling skills.

Young Handler and Stanley the Harris Hawk

I did recognize the next star of the show. It was One-eyed Willie, whom I had

seen on TV on KHQ 6 news, advertising the Birds of Prey exhibit at the Big Horn Show. He was a beautiful male Barn Owl. The males have a mostly white belly, while the females have more spots/streaks on their bellies. The teenage handler of Willie said his favorite part of the Barn Owl was their heart-shaped facial disk. I was surprised to learn that Barn Owls only live one or two years and eat up to 1000 mice a year!

One-eyed Willie the Barn Owl

I've only seen one other Barn Owl, and that was at my friend Jana's. She had one roosting in the peak of her house one year, and invited me over for lunch one day so I could see the owl they named Baxtor. Just recently I found out that the males have mostly white bellies, and the female's bellies are more spotted or streaked. So I think Baxtor was most likely a female, so maybe Baxtorette is more appropriate? You can see her at the bottom of this blog on the scrolling banner.

Willie, Barn Owl

The next owl star to appear on stage was a Great Horned Owl named Hanovi. The handler stood right behind Willie so I couldn't see worth a darn. Did I mention we had front row seats? They were still in setup mode, and the speaker gal was looking to the audience to see if we could see, so I gestured that we couldn't see. Then she directed the handler to bring Hanovi down in front of the stage just a few feet from where we were sitting. Our front row seats became up close and personal seats in a snap!

Hanovi, the Great Horned Owl

Hanovi was quite the character during the show. He kept flapping his wings and ending up hanging by his feet upside down until the handler could get him back right side up and perched on her leather-gloved arm. His feather covered feet were so cool. They looked more like dog paws.

Hanovi flipped upside down

Apparently, Hanovi is well behaved enough that he can be kept out of his cage, although tethered to a pole. He does snap and hiss at people, but doesn't bite. His beak is so strong he could snap a broomstick in half.

Hanovi, the Great Horned Owl

You can imagine my glee when the next bird came out and it was a huge Rough-legged Hawk! Yep, my newest life bird (see yesterday's post). They came and stood right in front of me just about 3 feet away! I swear I was in hawk heaven! The main speaker said this was her favorite, and her name was Pantelones, which is Spanish for Pants, which happens to be her nickname. She was named this because of the feathers on her legs make it look like she is wearing pants.

Pantelones (Pants) the Rough-legged Hawk

This hawk was really a gorgeous creature, and to be so up close and personal was truly a special moment. The fact that I had just added this hawk to my life list yesterday, made it all the more special. Pants made the sweetest little chirps, and her handler would whisper to her throughout the show.

Pants, the Rough-legged Hawk

On the other side of the stage, down on the floor was another owl. Oroville was a mixed hybrid. Spotted Owl x Barred Owl = Sp+arred Owl. 

Spotted Owl x Barred Owl = Sparred Owl

The owl expert told us that the dark-eyed owls always have a pale beak, and the light-eyed owls always have a dark beak. They aren't sure why. Are you scrolling back to see the previous owls? Yep, the Barn Owl has dark eyes, pale beak. The Great-Horned Owl has light eyes and a dark beak.

Oroville, the Sparred Owl

The following picture is of a Long-eared Owl. Notice the eyes look a little dull? That is because it is a stuffed (taxidermy) specimen.

Long-eared Owl (stuffed) on display

Some other fun wildlife from around the Big Horn Show...

Friendly Skunk

Porcupine

Black Bear

Coyote 

Mountain Lion

Brown Bear

Black Bear

It was a great time spent with the Bird of Prey at the Big Horn Show. I wasn't much interested in all the other hunter related stuff, but did enjoy doing some taxidermy birding while I was there. Scoping out all the stuffed ducks and birds and trying to identify them. I stopped by one booth that had some spotting scopes and binoculars displayed. Told the guy I was into bird watching, not hunting. He pointed out a pair of binoculars and said they were the top bird watching bins. I took one look through them and it was like looking through the cleanest window you had ever seen with the freshest eyes! He told me they run about $18.99. I was sold! I was about ready to whip out my debit card when I realized he was talking eighteen hundred and ninety-nine dollars!! I laughed, and told him he was a big tease! Now, Bird Lady wants some obscenely expensive bins! Oh boy...

~ Sherrie (Bird Lady)

Happy Bird Year!

New Year's Eve most people are getting ready to go out to parties to toast in the new year.  What was I doing?  Filling up my two empty suet feeders making sure they were ready to go.  Hanging a barely ever used bird feeder outside my balcony and filling it with some black oil sunflower seeds that I happened to find in the cupboard when I was looking for the suet.  Hardly saw any birds on New Year's Eve day, probably because my suet had been empty, and the bay was freezing over.  Only saw three Common Goldeneye. But now that my suet cages are full and my feeder has seeds, I am raring to catch a glimpse of the first bird on my 2013 list!

Woke up to a totally frozen bay, and most of the lake. Disappointing because that really hampers my waterfowl sightings.  There are still a couple of areas on the lake that are clear for now, but not that I can see from my house.  I was up earlier than my usual, since my husband is still off from work, it being New Year's Day and all.  First birds I see are the pretty much daily visitors, the Red-breasted Nuthatches.  There are two of them, no three, no... four in all.  And a female Downy Woodpecker joins the group too.  Pretty common yard birds for me.

Decided to take a trip into Spokane, have some lunch and visit with some old friends.  I see it as an opportunity to do some birding!  I grab my camera, just in case I see something exciting.  Wishing I didn't have to drive, but if I don't, I usually get car sick.  I would rather be logging any birds I might see.  My family doesn't like it when I'm driving and commenting on my bird sightings.  They feel I should be watching the road, but I can't help but observe nearby birds!  Today I was lucky, because my husband was handy, and I talked him into pressing the record button on my iPhone so I could voice record myself some memos of the birds I saw while I was driving, then I could add them to BirdLog and eBird later.  It worked out great!  

First bird sighting on the highway at the Loon Lake Summit, was an American Crow, and I saw two more just down highway 395 a bit into Clayton, and ended the day with 7 crows.  Figuring I would see several Red-tailed Hawks along highway 395, and I did.  A total of  9 of them between Clayton and Spokane.  Another given, was a Black-billed Magpie, they hang out around the Deer Park area.  It wasn't long before I saw a couple here and there and ended up with 6 magpies.  Surprise sighting of at least a dozen Rock Pigeons around Burroughs Road.  Some miscellaneous birds around town in Spokane were a gull of some sort at Wandermere, I thought possibly a California gull, but after looking at my iBird app, I think given the winter range, it is a Herring Gull.  Twelve black birds of some sort, possibly starlings.  BirdLog lists starlings, rock pigeons, and house sparrows as birds you may want to hide the sightings, because they are quite frequent.  

I talked hubby into taking the long way home so we could drive by Mt. Spokane High School to see if the Snowy Owl that I saw back at the end of November might still be around.  I bribed him with some coffee.  My assistant birder for the day!  We drove up Bigelow Gulch Road, which is where my husband grew up.  The old homestead is still there.  Spotted a couple of American Kestrels along Bruce road, and saw two huge groups of Canadian Geese, estimating 60 of them.  They were in the same spot as they were right before Christmas when we traveled to my sisters house.  Not too much farther was the Snowy Owl hang-out, but no Snowy in sight today. My best friend sent me the following email. Her son goes to Mt. Spokane High School where the Snowy Owl has been hanging out.

From the Mt Spokane High School Newsletter:

"WILD LIFE ON THE PRAIRIE CONTINUED

Henrietta (the snowy owl) is still with us and is most likely to be seen in the morning hours around 7 a.m. - 9 a.m. and afternoons from about 2 p.m. - 4 p.m. She is usually seen on the light and power poles looking for her prey in the fields south of the school."

So apparently she is still there, and her name is Henrietta!  Definitely going back!

After arriving back home in Loon Lake, I stopped the car at the wetland just a mile from our house.  It's not quite frozen yet, as this portion of the lake gets some sun during the winter.  There were 30 or so ducks in the dusky afternoon.  I wasn't sure that they were American Coots, thinking they were mostly black and had a little white on them.  Not enough white to be Common Goldeneyes like I had seen yesterday.  But after looking in iBird, I don't know what else they could be, so I logged them as Coots.  Probably the most exciting sighting, that I let out a gasp and a "What was THAT?", was the Wild Turkey, just one, that flew out of the woods and into a tree as we drove by on our private road.  I was hoping it was an owl!  Hubs said that our chihuahua Jack E. Cheez chased about a dozen turkeys right next to our house this morning when he let him outside.  So if I count my birding partners turkey sightings, than we have a baker's dozen turkeys for New Years Day!

All in all, it was a busy bird day with 11 species, and over 147 birds.  Didn't take any pictures on New Years Day, because I spent most of the time driving.  So first thing, the following day, January 2nd, I snapped the above photo of the Downy Woodpecker at the freshly filled suet.  Let this photo serve as a not very clear example of the photos I would like to be taking.  Heck, you can't even see her beak!  The photo below is of some Mallards I saw in Cedar Beau Bay, the only outing I had today.  Most of the lake is now frozen with a light layer of ice, except a couple of areas such as this.  I like how the bench is sticking out from the snow, welcoming you to come visit my winter wonderland!

Little Hawks & Birding Trails

*2/12/13 UPDATE:  I have discovered that American Kestrels are falcons, not hawks!

The cutest and littlest hawks are American Kestrels.  While I was searching for the Snowy Owl this week (see previous blog post), I happened to see an American Kestrel, but didn't get any photos of it, so I posted one from my archives.  Well today I went back up to Mt. Spokane High School to see if I could see the owl again and get some more pictures since I really only got one close up.   The owl wasn't there, so again I continued on towards Mt. Spokane thinking perhaps I would see the Red-tailed hawks that were out that day and could try and get some pictures of them.  But no, the Red-tails weren't out either.  I did see some American Kestrels though, and since I only have two pics of a Kestrel, I was going to get me some more!  This time, I had my sunroof opened, camera ready, no cars behind me as I was traveling down the road.  When I got close enough, I zoomed in, and off it would fly.  Usually not very far though so I would followed it the short distance, and again try to snap a photo, but by the time I would get zoomed and focused, it would take off again.  I managed to get a few shots, but not as close, or sharp, or as many as I would have liked.  As I was loading the Kestrel pics to my computer when I got home, I looked more closely at them and noticed that the little hawk I was chasing had a poor little rodent that it was trying to eat in peace.  It is in every picture I took of the bird!  I love seeing things like that when you finally get the time to look at the pictures in detail on the big screen. 

Here is the first picture I got, a silhouette of the American Kestrel, that made me think, what's he got there?

The next one clearly shows that the little hawk has a rodent for a snack, and I am interrupting the feast.  No wonder he kept flying off.

This pic below is a little clearer and shows how pretty these tiny hawks really are.



I decided that trying to take photos from the road was probably not the best or safest way to do this.  So I turned off on a graveled road that I vaguely remembered from the other day, but this time I read the sign better.  It was called Feryn Ranch Conservation Area and I drove over 1/2 a mile on the gravel road to the parking area to investigate.  I was surprised to see a sign that said it was part of Audubon Washington's The Great Washington State Birding Trail.  Palouse to Pines Loop. 

Below you can see more of the habitat... 168 acres of wetland, meadow, and fields with Ponderosa Pines.  I want to go back and do some hiking and see what other birds I can find.

Recently, my husband and I took a weekend trip to Leavenworth and while we were there we did some walking along the Wenatchee River and I remember it being part of the Cascade Loop.  Now I'm seeing the Palouse to Pines Loop.  I thought to myself, I'll have to do some research about these Loops when I get home, see if they are related and what they are all about. 

Come to find out there are 7 'loops' in The Great Washington State Birding Trail.  There are 51 birding trails that make up the Palouse to Pines Loop.  Feryn Ranch Conservation Area is number 5 in the loop.  The last trail listed just happened to be 51 Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge, near Cheney, WA which I have visited twice with a friend of mine.  Last time we were there in Spring of 2010, we saw two baby Great Horned Owlets with their mamma in an abandoned Osprey nest.  Great sighting! 

The walk my husband and I took along the Wenatchee River in Leavenworth, WA I found out was part of the Cascade Loop, 15 Waterfront Park.  This bear warning was posted at the start of trail.

The autumn colors were at their peak at this time of year (the end of October), so the entire trip was full of the beautiful seasonal colors, and was one of the main reasons we went on this getaway.  I had hoped to get in more birding, but the weekend was rather rainy, and even here in these pictures, we are walking in the rain.



I also discovered that another park we stopped by on the way home from Leavenworth, Wenatchee Confluence State Park, was the 17th destination trail on the Cascade Loop. 

So already I have visited four of these birding trails, without realizing it at the time, with the exception of Turnbull, which I visited specifically to go birding and knew it was a recognized birding trail.  I'm off to a good start!

Now that I know about the Great Washington State Birding Trail, I have decided to start a new project.  I plan to start visiting these birding hotspots, and tracking all the birds I can find.  I recently signed up for eBird, and plan to also start recording my sightings through that at the beginning of the year.  After 20+ years of birding, I have only recorded about 90 or so different species of birds here in Washington, where there are 346 annually recorded bird species.  So my goal this year will be to get as many new species as I can and going out of my comfort zone and explore as many of these birding trails as I can.  For those of you who aren't familiar with the movie The Big Year,  Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman and Owen Wilson are bird enthusiasts who compete to try and become the world record-holder in a year-long bird-spotting competition.  2013 is gonna be my "Big Year"! 

Searching for Snowy

On Facebook the other day, my favorite news girl Shelly Monahan from KHQ6, wrote that she had seen a Snowy Owl across from Mt. Spokane high school.  I knew right away that I wanted to see that owl!  The owls must be following lucky Shelly, because she saw the Snowy owl more than once, and also had a visit from a Great Horned Owl.  She has told the story before about a Great Horned Owl killing their poor African Grey Parrot a few years back, so they don't much welcome the Great Horned.  I couldn't get to town the first part of the week, because I was suffering from a constant headache, but when Wednesday arrived, I felt good enough to go to town in search of my first Snowy Owl.  It's been awhile since I have had a new bird on my life list.

I arrived at Mt. Spokane high school right after 1:00 pm, which was the time Shelly had seen the owl before.  As I drove by the school, I was a bit disappointed that there was no owl.  But I thought it would be worth my while to keep going down the highway to see if perhaps the bird was exploring other territories.  A mile or two down the highway, I saw a Red-tailed Hawk.  A bit farther down the road, I saw another Red-tailed hawk, and another, and another, and another!  Five Red-tails in less than 1/2 a mile.  The last four were every other telephone pole!  Although it isn't uncommon to see 4 or 5 Red-tails in one trip along the highway, I have never seen so many so close together.  There was also a little American Kestrel in the same area.  They are the smallest and cutest little hawks.

From the Archives

Red-Tailed Hawks

 

American Kestrel

After seeing all the Red-tailed hawks and the Kestrel, I headed back towards the high school to see if the owl had possibly showed up.  I was out of luck though, there was still no Snowy Owl.  So I headed into town and ran my errands.  After I was done with my grocery shopping, getting gas, and more grocery shopping, I thought I would head back up to Mt. Spokane before I headed home to Loon Lake.  As I pulled up to the high school, I see in the short distance, an outline of a light colored bird.  If it was a Red-tail, it would be darker.  I think quickly, oh shoot, I don't even have my camera ready.  I quickly pull out my super zoom camera, get it turned on, zoomed out, sunroof window open, pull up right under the light pole, and snap a shot!  The owl quickly decided she didn't like that, and started to fly off.  I tried real hard to get a picture of her flying, but with no luck.  But when I looked back at the shot I had got, it was a good one.  I was happy with it, given it was such a quick flick!  And so excited that I had actually seen the Snowy owl, and could add this beautiful bird to my life list of birds.  You can see my life list on the right of my blog.   --->>>

The Snowy Owl

I pulled around into the school parking lot, and watched as the bird flew back onto the light pole across from the school.  Again, it flew off into the field and over to an outbuilding/barn.  As I watched, I saw the owl fly and land in the field, and could barely make out the white blob off in the distance with the zoom on my camera.  But I knew it was there.  I pulled back onto the highway and parked on the shoulder, hoping the owl would come back to the light pole.  It was perched on the tip of the roof of the barn, and I was able to get a silhouette of the beautiful owl before it got too dark.  I finally left with excitement in my heart and the exhilaration of a new life bird!  Thank you so much Shelly Monahan for the great tip!