Mistaken Identities... The Beginning of Spring!

Now that it is officially spring, I'm eager to get out and about, but it is still too cold and breezy to be outside for more than a few minutes. So car birding it is for me, until that weather warms up. Since I had such good luck in Deer Park on Enoch Rd., I headed back there today to see if I could get some more birds in.

The first bird I saw after I turned off the busy highway was a small rusty-breasted bird with a dark body sitting on a phone wire. I snapped a quick pic, thinking it was a Barn Swallow. But after looking at the shot on the computer, it didn't look quite right for a swallow. With the rusty belly, and a grayish, blue tone back, and a notched tail, I knew right where I wanted to check next in my Stokes guides. Sure enough, I had mistaken the identity and had actually captured a Western Bluebird. Makes me happy because I haven't seen one since 2004. So almost 10 years ago. Nice to put one on my 2013 list.

Western Bluebird

As usual, I saw lots of Red-tailed Hawks.

Red-tailed Hawk

Thought I saw a Bald Eagle, in the same area where I saw two Bald Eagles last week (the one in the photo-merge pic from my last post). I was thinking maybe it was a juvenile eagle who's white head had not quite come in all the way. There were two of the large birds out in the field close to each other, both looked like they were in different stages of molt or different ages. Wasn't sure if they were Bald Eagles or Red-tailed Hawks. It looked like too much white on the chest for a Bald Eagle when I looked through the binoculars. So I took several pictures, and when I got home, I enlarged the pics on my huge 23" screen computer. Consulted my old Stokes Field Guide to Birds Western Region (1996) and my new Stokes Field Guide to Birds of North America (2010).  Did some research online and determined they were neither Bald Eagles or Red-tailed Hawks.

Finally, I came to the conclusion that they were indeed hawks...




















Of the Rough-legged variety (with feathers on their legs).







Rough-legged Hawk... a new life bird for me #101.

Of course spring means lots of American Robins.

American Robin

Also, new for this year, were a dozen Killdeer out in the field hanging near some European Starlings. They were too far off for pictures, so I had to use the binoculars and could still barely see them. They are such cute little birds and their sweet little faces that stood out even in the distance. A fun fact about Killdeer is the parents will fake a broken wing and start chirping real loud to distract predators from it's nest. It's a hoot to see!

These sweet little bunnies were busy getting ready for the big Easter weekend coming soon...

Best of all, I didn't even get a hint of car sickness wearing my motion sickness bands! I feel like Super Bird Woman with them on!

Oh yeah, forgot to mention that Bird Lady Assistant (hubby) is taking me to the Big Horn Show this weekend to see the Birds of Prey Exhibit! They showed a one-eyed Barn Owl named One-eyed Willy on the news today. I'm excited to go and hope to get some close-up pictures of some cool Birds of Prey! Stay tuned...

~ Sherrie (Super Bird Woman)

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!

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?