Favorite Moments and Popular Posts

I would like to thank all the new followers and readers here on Bird Lady Blog.  The Grow Your Blog party was a great way to make new friends, follow some new blogs, and get some new followers.  I'm really excited to have over 20 new followers in just a few days time and looking forward to getting to know you all better.

Due to a dead car battery, and frigid cold weather, I haven't been out birding much at all this last week, or this New Year for that matter.  So I thought perhaps I would share with you some of my favorite or most popular posts here on the Bird Lady Blog.

One of my recent great birding moments was seeing the Snowy Owl after getting a tip from my favorite news gal Shelley Monahan at KHQ6 News.  Searching for Snowy describes my adventures to see the beautiful owl, whom I have since then learned is named Henrietta.

Henrietta, the Snowy Owl

My most popular post, and I'm not sure exactly why, is Little Hawks and Birding Trails. Perhaps it's because I talk about the Great Washington State Birding Trails and the search engines pick it up?  Not sure, but it has the most views of any post here on Bird Lady Blog, but not a single comment, that wasn't spam.  It does have some cute pics of an American Kestrel with a rodent, and the sweet Great Horned Owls I saw at one of the birding trails.

Great Horned Owls at Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge

This last fall I had one of the closest encounters (aside from holding the hummingbirds) that I have had with one of my most favorite birds, the Pileated Woodpecker.  This is the bird that got me interested in bird watching, and has always fascinated me.  The Best of Birding Adventures shares my excitement as I get within a couple of feet of this magnificent bird with my iPhone.

Pileated Woodpecker

Another popular post has been the post about the Tree Swallows, Tiny Egg Shell.  This picture of a baby Tree Swallow was published by Birds and Blooms magazine.

Baby Tree Swallow

A great memory of mine was when an otter came to visit the resident Great Blue Heron when we had a fish pen at the neighbors dock for the winter.  Visitors at the Fishpen Buffet has a great video of the two snacking on fish together within a couple feet of each other.

Great Blue Heron & Otter at the Fish Pen

Another great video of the Great Blue Heron hanging at the fish pen in a major snowstorm is in Rain or Shine, Sleet or Snow.

I hope you enjoyed a look back through some of my favorite birding moments and most popular posts here on Bird Lady Blog.  I can't wait for the weather to improve so I can get out to those birding trails, or even just out in the neighborhood would be nice.  It's supposed to get down to 12 degrees Fahrenheit tonight and only got up to about 22 degrees today.   That's just a tad too cold for this chick-a-dee!

~ Sherrie {Bird Lady}

Grow Your Blog Party

Welcome Grow Your Blog Party goers!  

My name is Sherrie, and they call me the Bird Lady.  Bird Lady Blog is about my birding adventures here in eastern Washington (US).  I have blended my favorite hobbies together, bird-watching, photography, and computers.  I love sharing my love of bird watching, wildlife and nature with you!

I was excited when I stumbled upon the Grow Your Blog idea while reading a fellow bird bloggers post, but disappointed that the deadline had already passed a couple of days before.  By chance, I asked to still be included and Vicki, over at 2 Bags Full, was kind enough to let me join in on the fun.  I am looking forward to meeting other bloggers and readers and expand my reading list of interesting blogs.

Recently, Bird Lady Blog has had a bit of a makeover, with several new features added and a new scrolling banner at the top and bottom, as well as a new Photo Gallery page.  It's a great way to check out some of the older posts. Another neat way to explore Bird Lady Blog is Blogger's new Snapshot View or Magazine View.  There are several other views available that you can choose. There is no sidebar available when in these special views, so to get back to the normal view, just click on "Bird Lady Blog" at the top of the page.   I noticed that these 'views' don't work on my iPhone's mobile browser.

If you are on Pinterest, there is now a "Pin It" button on the sidebar at the right, that pins a link to Bird Lady Blog on your Pinterest.  I'm planning on adding a button to future posts so that you can easily pin a post you are interested in also.  Bird Lady Blog is also on Facebook.  So be sure to stop by and 'like' the new page.  There you will find links to all the posts here on the blog.  

I have been gearing up for a Big Year birding project for 2013.  My goal this year is to see as many bird species as possible, and to visit as many of the Great Washington State Birding Trails as I can. I've been tracking my bird sightings daily with my iPhone app BirdLog, which submits my sightings to eBird.  My sightings show up here on the blog in the sidebar to the right under the BirdTrax gadget.

Red-breasted Nuthatch, a daily visitor at my suet feeders

I hope that you enjoy reading about my birding adventures, and hope that you will continue to follow as I blog about my 2013 Big Year.  I'm always interested in meeting other bird minded folks, or those that just enjoy nature, photography and blogging.

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Sherrie {Bird Lady}

Great Blue Heron

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...



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)

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.

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.

Definition of "A Good Birding Day"

Sometimes, when my husband gets home from work, I will say to him "It's been a good bird day". Usually this means, I have seen several types of birds throughout the day, participating in various birding activities. Yesterday, was one of those days... and it also just happened to be our 24th anniversary! I can remember back to our 5th anniversary. We were staying in a rental apartment in Leavenworth, a sweet little German town in central Washington, while on a white-water river rafting trip with some friends. I happened to visit a quaint little bookstore, where a bought myself my very first bird identification book, in hopes it would help me identify a couple of birds I had seen at our home in Poulsbo. The book was called "The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds (Western Region)", and I still use it to this day, as well as some others I have added to the collection. The birds, I finally identified where a Pileated Woodpecker and a Red-shafted Flicker, also of the woodpecker family. They are still exciting birds for me to see, even after all these years.

Back to my "Good Bird Day", on our anniversary day, I spent quite some time out on my balcony trying to get the perfect action photo of the Great Blue Heron that was patiently fishing on our ski dock. I set my camera up to take multiple shots at once, so I could get some pictures of the heron flying when he decided to leave. I even got my mini-tripod and setup on the railing of the balcony so I could get just the right shot. As, I was getting things prepared, the family of white-breasted nuthatches showed up to feast again. They make several visits each day.

Also visiting, were the Black-headed Grosebeaks and a Downy Woodpecker.

A female hummingbird kept buzzing me while I setup my tripod, as it was right below the hummingbird feeder. While I was taking pictures of the heron, the hummer would be right there by my hand. When I have someone to help with the camera, I can film the hummers landing on my fingers to drink. Such a cool feeling for sure. But today, I was snapping away at the heron, who several times flew off of the dock and dove into the water to try to catch a fish, only to come up with nothing, and then fly right back to the ski dock. Each time he did this, I took bunches of photos, or so I thought. I was sure I had my camera set to take multiple snap shots, but found out later, it was only saving the last 3 of the shots. So all my action shots of it flying and diving were not recorded. I only ended up with this one shot.

I try not to judge my good bird days by pictures alone, because some of the best birding adventures happen too quickly for the camera. Sometimes, it is worth just sitting and enjoying the moment, rather than trying to capture it with the lens. Now if you can do both, that is the BEST!