Confusing Identifications

I have come to the conclusion that identifying the birds I see everyday is not an easy task.  Sure I know more birds than your average Joe and there are some that come easy to me.  The common ones I have memorized and can I.D. by sight or sound.  But then there are some real challenges, like trying to I.D. birds that are very similar, or too far away to get a good look, or fly by so fast, you don't get a chance to see their features.

A new yard bird for this week presented a challenge.  A couple of days ago when I looked out my back window, I saw a large bird fly into one of the snowy trees in the back woods.  I ran and got the binoculars and tried to locate it, but couldn't seem to find it.  Finally, I opened the window, looked and listened, and I could hear that it was either a raven or a crow.  Grabbed my iPhone and geared up my iBird app to listen to the calls of the raven and the crow to see if I could distinguish between the two and what I had heard.  Difficult to say the least, I determined at that point.  A little while later, I was letting the little dog (my chihuahua Jack E. Cheez) outside, and there was the crow/raven in the tree right there in front of me.  It looked at me, and I looked at it.  It let out a few caw, caw, caws.  I'm thinking it is a Common Raven, but then again it could be an American Crow.  We exchanged a few glances, the dog a few barks.  I was downstairs at the time, and all my 'gear' was upstairs.  So back upstairs I went, hoping to view it in the binoculars or get a quick snapshot, so I could further analyze it on the computer.  But no, it was gone by then.  Later, I could still hear it in the neighborhood, so out came the iBird app, and I love turning on the sound bites and flirting with the neighborhood birds!  Out on my balcony, in the snow, caw, caw, cawing with the crows!  But, after playing my bird games, consulting my bird apps, I concluded it was a Common Raven, bigger than the American Crow and known to hang out in the area.  The iBird recording and the back and forth between the bird and I was the clincher   Sounded just like a Raven, and not quite like a crow.  So adding to my Yard Bird List for 2013 is "The Common Raven".  I really think he was eyeing the little birds at the suet feeders, seeing if they would make a tasty little snack for a great big black bird.  The nuthatches and Downy took off until trouble left the hood.  Although I am confident that this I.D. was accurate, honestly when I only see a quick glance of a big black bird, I do my best to distinguish between the two, but can't be 100% sure.

I decided since I needed to go to the grocery store, that I would do some birding while I was out and about.  First hotspot near my home is the Walter and Betty Davis wetland about a mile from my home.  The lake is totally frozen now except for a small area at this wetland.  There were about 25 ducks there, a few easily identifiable, the rest, not so much.  Yep, another identity challenge!   I determined I really need a set of binoculars to leave in the car.  There were a pair of Common Mergansers, a male and female I am assuming.  They were apart from the rest of the group.  Also, some Mallards, and then there were the dozen or so unidentifiable ones.  So I took a few fuzzy snapshots in hopes I could I.D. them later after scrutinizing them on the computer.  I did discover several of them to be Ring-necked Ducks.   I have been questioning my I.D. of the American Coots just after New Year, and wondered if they were something else, and now I'm thinking they may have been the same group of mixed ducks, which included at least one coot with the rest of ducks. Still I'm not sure on some of the other ducks.  The females are even tougher to identify.  I'm thinking about posting a couple of the shots on Google+ in my birding communities to see if I can get some help identifying them.  This is where a better quality camera and nice zoom lens would come in handy.  Oh a bird lady can dream can't she?

*After finally going to bed at 2:45 a.m., I'm up with the hubby as he gets ready for work at 4:45 a.m.  Again looking at the fuzzy pictures I took at the wetland yesterday of the ducks I was having a hard time identifying.  I figured it out, after consulting my Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds.  Funny how a different reference can cinch the I.D.  Anyways, I am happy to report that there were several American Wigeon along with the Mergansers, Mallards, American Coot and Ring-necked Ducks.  And that is a new life bird for me!!  My first new bird of the year!

Ring-necked Duck and an American Wigeon

I didn't see many Red-tailed Hawks out today, just one actually, which is unusual.  I normally see several on a trip into town between Clayton and Wandermere.  Just after I saw the Red-tail, a Red-shafted (Northern) Flicker flew by that I identified by it's flight pattern and coloring.  A couple of those big black birds were cleaning up a deer carcus along side of the highway.  I assumed they were Ravens, and not the smaller American Crows, but it was just a quick id, as I was driving.

Next I was headed up to Mt. Spokane High School to see if I could see Henrietta, the Snowy Owl that I was lucky enough to encounter last November.  The school's newsletter said she likes to hang out between 7-9 a.m. and 2-4 p.m.  I showed up about 3 pm, and she wasn't there.  On the barn that I saw her roost upon last time, I saw three medium sized birds roosting, but couldn't make them out. Looked a bit like pigeons to me, and I thought I saw them there last time too.  Geez, if I had some binoculars, I could probably have an easier time!

A little further up the road is the Feryn Ranch Conservation Area, that I discovered when I originally came to look for the Snowy Owl.  It is part of the Great Washington State Birding Trails.  On the way, I saw an American Kestrel eating some prey on a light pole at the roundabout on Bruce Rd. and Hwy 206.  To get to the Feryn Ranch, you turn off the highway and go 3500 ft (that's what the sign says) to a parking area.  Along the way, there is a farm home with a bunch of ducks, geese, chickens and turkeys in a fenced in area just off the road.  I stopped and took some photos of the big ol' Tom Turkey that was strutting around showing me his stuff.

Black Spanish Turkey

A pregnant lady came out of the home to see what all the ruckus was about.  I said "I hope you don't mind if I take some photos of your ducks" and mentioned I was on my way to the birding trail. She was nice, and didn't mind at all.  We chatted for quite some time, and I asked about what kinds of ducks they were, hoping to score some birds for my list.  But how does that work with domestic ducks?  If it isn't in my bird books, then I won't count it.  But of course, I am still interested in any birds, not just 'the count'.   There were Toulouse Geese,  The turkeys were Black Spanish Turkeys.  She told me one of them was a Harlequin Duck, which would have been a score if it wasn't a Mallard.  I wasn't gonna argue with her.  I looked at the pics when I got home, just to make sure, and it's a Mallard all right.

Mallard

When I got to the parking lot for the birding trail, the snow was starting to fall and it was windy out.  So I didn't get out of my car.  I read the signs about the Feryn Ranch Conservation Area and how the water gets there.

The grasses are tall around the parking area, so it's hard to see without getting out of your car, but I did see an old barn and what looked to be a small stream or water of some sort amongst the rolling hills of farmland.  I just spent a few minutes, and then went back to the main road, where a sweet little American Kestrel, one of the three little hawks I saw in that area, sat and posed for me for several pictures.

Still no Henrietta the Owl at the school, but I did see a couple of Black-billed Magpies in the area, and that was about the last of birds for the day.  I went shopping shortly afterwards, and even tried a couple of stores looking for binoculars, but only found a cheesy pair, so that will be a project for another day!

As I'm finalizing my post today, I am adding a Dark-eyed Junco to my Yard Birds and Year Birds.  Just one lone Junco checking out the other regulars at the suet.

Sherrie's Lakefront Yard Birds

1. Red-breasted Nuthatch

2. Downy Woodpecker

3. White-breasted Nuthatch

4. Black-capped Chickadee

5. Common Raven
6.Dark-eyed Junco

Sherrie's 2013 Big Year Birds

1. American Crow

2. Red-tailed Hawk

3. Black-billed Magpie

4. Rock Pigeon

5. Herring Gull

6. American Kestrel

7. Canada Goose

8. Common Merganser

9. Mallard

10. Ring-necked Duck
11. American Coot
12. Wild Turkey

13. Black-capped Chickadee

14. Northern (Red-shafted) Flicker
15. American Wigeon

Total 21 species for Sherrie's 2013 Big Year!

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"!