Birder PapaRrazi
An Amateur Birdwatcher's tally
Continue to check my Birding Gallery at Birding Gallery - Yarn Cats Birds & More (weebly.com), and my Facebook page, Birding Paparazzi for updates!
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A NEW STARTFinally. Finally. With the new year came fresh energy, a few more birds, and promise of better birding here in King County, WA.
Up to 20 birds in one trip My sister and I, with our dogs, went out one Sunday morning and counted 20 bird species for the first time in a long while. Our counts had gotten down to 6 species. What did we see on this trip?
It is true many of these birds should be on our every birding list ever. But many have been scarce. We only saw Canada geese twice this month. Where did all the pacific northwest Canada geese go? I’m still exploring that question. Some of our trips still logged low counts – 10 or more. My dog Maggie is in charge of remembering the count and she prefers smaller numbers to fall asleep on, uh keep track of. Katie puts out the memo about our trips– or would if her Mama let her use the computer. As it is, she barks at everyone we pass to let them know we are on the road. She also wriggles out of her harness so when we get to the park it usually hangs around her waist. But she is buckled in, so she is safe. At home Of course, if you’re lucky enough to have a yard or patio you don’t have to go out in the cold to bird watch. Take a fast moment to put out various bird food holders and they will come. My yard this month had held gold finches, house finches, white crown sparrows, black cap chickadees, doves (five at once!), starlings, scrub jays, juncos and two somewhat rare birds -a hummingbird and a handsome thrush. I have a comfortable chair by my bedroom window and can sit for hours, watching and snapping photos. Check out my birding gallery for January photos. Conclusion With January starting the new year so well, I have great hopes for February. I’m starting to follow an eagle’s nest, but I don’t know if the eagles are actually nesting there this year or not. I saw activity one day, but none since. I follow Jackie and Shadow on Facebook, as well as other eagle cams, and so I'm always hopeful I can follow a family on my own. Last year I was lucky to watch two young eaglets. Without a cam in the nest, I missed a lot. But I'm not going to try to climb an 80+ foot tree on property that isn't mine, so I have to accept that limitation. I'm still going to try. My usual complaint holds for July. It’s hot. The birds aren’t out much. But. I’ve been enjoying trying to watch my eagle’s nest. And. I’ve been watching a western wood pee nest. In my own yard, chickadees, sparrows, starlings, and scrub jays have appeared. Just today, after I put out a new finch sack, house finches showed up, too. So, I’m doing good this July bird wise.
The eagles aren’t hanging out at their nest when I go out to see them. I assume the 2 juveniles have fledged and are out exploring their world. I made a movie of the western wood peewee nest. Are you familiar with the Roanoke colony mystery, where the whole colony vanished back in the 1700s? My western wood peewee nest has met a similar fate. Check it out. I uploaded a video on my birding gallery page, Birding Gallery - Yarn Cats Birds & More (weebly.com) This month is a short list month. Below are the birds I saw in King County, WA.
It can be hard to birdwatch in the summer if you don’t like heat. June is early summer, but a heat wave has taken over the Pacific Northwest at the end of this month and I don’t feel like going outside unless I can get in the car with air conditioning. Considering the price of gas, that has to be limited. Birds don’t feel like doing much in the heat, either. Still, I saw quite a few this month while out and about, and at home. Here is my bird list for June.
While at home one afternoon I saw a family of scrub jays. Two at first, then 3, and then 5 all total, hanging out around the bird feeder. I enjoyed snapping their pictures as they played and dined. According to What is a group of jays called? | SIMILAR BUT DIFFERENT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM (similarbutdifferentanimals.com) a group of jays is called a party or a scold, and either would be appropriate for these loud, cute, rambunctious birds! Even as I write this article, I hear a jay outside my window, out of sight but very audible! That sums up my regular report of birds in the PNW. But I promised two articles this month, and I’m delivering those as promised. The Eagle story is on my birder gallery page. It will be updated over time. Below is my article on bird sound applications! A review of bird sound applications
I have been working with 2 bird sound ap on my cell phone and this report describes them. Both aps were created through Cornell. Here’s my story so far. Finding Birdnet It started last year when I got a new smartphone. It’s not necessarily the fanciest, most advanced smartphone on the market, but it was an upgrade from the flip phone I had used for emergencies before. I scrolled through the amazing options of software available and naturally hit upon bird watching aps. Birdnet was described as a bird song identifier. I downloaded it and tried it the next time I went birdwatching. When you pull up the application it starts recording. You can see the audio spectrum as noises go up and down. Press a button to stop the recording. There is an option to save and one to analyze. You can do both, but you must save first. Then the program analyzes what it heard and recorded. If birds are recognized in that analysis, a list comes up announcing them. If no birds were heard or the other noises were too overwhelming, it will say “humanoid”. I fell in love. Looking Further Unfortunately, I bird in loud places. My home is near a railroad and a busy street with a lot of construction. When I go birding my dogs usually come along and they bark cheerfully and endlessly – and loudly. A small airport is not 15 miles away from a lot of my birding spots. So Birdnet is limited. It also doesn’t work immediately in most of the state parks and outside of wireless paths. It will save the recording, but not analyze it. While researching for this article, I did find there is an IOS app and a way to upload sound on a computer through the website, which expands its usefulness. When I got an upgraded phone because the first one was broken, I downloaded Birdnet again, but I also found Merlin – which is a full birding program with photo and sound identifiers. I downloaded it as well. Finding Merlin The sound identifier is what I use most. Cell phones don’t get good pictures of little birds at a distance. But the audio is great. Even as the sound is recording (and reflecting in a spectrogram on the screen) it is analyzing. A song sparrow sings – the name pops up. A red wing black bird croaks – its name pops up below the song sparrow. The sparrow is still singing – its name is highlighted. There have been times when 8 or more names came up, and the names lit up multiple times. It could be a game, but it’s much more exciting to me. You can save the audio for later listening as well. I use both programs when I’m birdwatching, though I lean more towards Merlin these days. They are both useful and fun. I recommend both. Bird songs filled the air. Calls of all sorts seemed to come from all over. Some were melodic, some were shrill and sharp. I have 2 bird audio identifiers on my phone, and each went into overdrive identifying birds on my Sunday country drive. I was already excited. High in an 80 foot tree an eagle was bringing his mate a meal for the kid or kidlets. She was screaming with delight, “helping” him with directions sharply given. Closer to me, in a meadow right by my car were goldfinches – my first for the season. The identifiers also confirmed my suspicion of Killdeer. Robins and song sparrows were singing and calling. This place could be called a birders heaven for that moment. May brought adventure to my birdwatching in the form of an eagle’s nest, several babies of different types, and the sound identifying aps. How many bird species did I count?
This month has gotten me excited. I plan to present an article on the bird song identifiers as well as a movie reflecting the eagles’ story in the next month. Hope you will check them out! I managed to fit in a lot of birdwatching this month. It’s not hard, in the spring, with a few days of vacation. No new birds were added to my life list, but I enjoyed the ones I did see. I also re-visited 3 state parks that I’ve only been to once before each. My goal was to assess them for their bird watching activities. Lake Sylvie is a Washington State Park with a lake, as it suggests. It’s pretty, with paths around the lake. Many of the paths are easy which is good for me. This was my second visit to the park. I didn’t find many birds, but the dogs enjoyed the walk, and it was very scenic. I look forward to checking it at different times in different seasons. Canada Geese were on the lake, but no ducks. Robins sang all over the park. But there were no other birds at that time. Nolte Woods runs alongside Green River and seems to be on multiple levels. I wasn’t prepared to make the climbs up into the woods or down to the river although the paths were paved and probably easier than I imagined. I plan to try it again. Then I went to the tulip festival in Vancouver and La Conner, WA. Beautiful tulips, but not as many fields as I thought there would be. The fields that had flowers had plentiful blooms, though. Nearby, I visited the Wiley Wildlife refuge center. It makes me a little nervous to be in a park where hunting is allowed. I stayed in the opening of the park where shooting is not allowed. My dog Katie was walking with me, and I didn’t want to risk getting her shot, or myself either. There was a hawk, greater lesser legs, mallards, mergansers, wigeons, and northern shovelers in this area as well as robins and red wing blackbirds. I also watched a bunny rabbit hopping along for a moment. The view is spectacular – similar to Nisqually Wildlife refuge which is a federal park. This is a place I want to go back to. At Flaming Geyser Park, I found a downy woodpecker and tree swallows are returning. The daisies have not popped up yet – that is my final sign for spring. But I expect them any time now! King County and more – in Washington State – is a fabulous place to bird in April. Here is my list for the month. Black capped chickadees blue herons Chestnut backed chickadees Crows Dove Eagles Finches, house geese, brandt geese, Canada gold finches Greater Yellowlegs Hawk, red tail Juncos kestrels Killdeer mallards Mergansers, common pigeons Redwing blackbirds Robins scrub jays seagulls Sparrow, golden crown Sparrow, house sparrow, white crown Sparrow, yellow crown starlings Stellar jays Woodpecker, downy Wrens Three exciting birding adventures occurred during the month of March. One was ongoing, a part of an investigation I found myself in. Not a murder mystery, or a robbery. No, this was a bird’s nest.
The nest has been on my route to Flaming Geyser Park for 2 or 3 years. I believe it was built by blue herons. For this time, we have driven by and looked at the empty nest. At the end of February, that changed. When we drove by, we saw an eagle in the nest. I’ve been watching eagle cams on Facebook for quite a while and grew excited about the opportunity of an eagle family in my own neighborhood. I know they’re raptor birds, but they are also majestic and beautiful. Two days later I drove back by that tree. No eagle was to be seen. I was disappointed, assuming an eagle had just lodged temporarily. Yet a few days later, there was an eagle near the nest. I eagerly looked around as I snapped pictures with my little digital camera. Another eagle posed across the street. Were they together? A few days later the nest was again empty, with no one nearby. What were these eagles doing? Was this a hotel, allowing short breaks on their way? Further down the road another big nest, which was just created about a year ago, held an eagle! I took more photos. This has been an ongoing investigation for the whole month. Eagles are not uncommon on this road which runs near the Green River. But I still hold hope of finding an eaglet. It hasn’t happened yet. So, I keep watching my cams on Facebook, and I keep driving to Flaming Geyser Park. It’s one of my favorite birding spots and I love the trip there. What will happen in April with this question? My next birding expedition involved the Heronry in Kent, WA. For the past few years, my sister and I have visited this place twice every March. Blue herons have established over 30 nests in a small range of trees, and they raise their babies there. By April the heronry closes, and the blue herons take off on their solitary sojourns. I read a report at a477874.pdf (dtic.mil) which indicated that heronries continue for 6 months, but this one is usually empty by the middle of April at the latest. The report was still fascinating because I didn’t know so much about blue herons. I got several good pictures from this sanctuary, which is near the Green River Conservation and Boeing Ponds. Finally, at the end of the month I went to Nisqually. It’s one of my favorite federal reserves but I’m usually only able to get down there once or twice a year. Because I have a bum knee, I usually just go the five-mile loop, and perhaps a little further to the river. One day I plan to cover the whole park. But as usual, I came home with a ton of great bird pictures. Want to check out Nisqually? I recommend it. The website is Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (fws.gov). There is a fee, or a pass required. It can get busy so go early if you can. I had great hopes of identifying more birds with the two new softwares I’ve discovered, Birdnet and Merlin Sound Identifier but I wasn’t so lucky. My phone is limited and so the softwares seem to be as well. But I know what I saw, and I’m putting a list at the end of this report, as usual. Check out my Birder Gallery pics as well! Birding Gallery - Yarn Cats Birds & More (weebly.com) March birds Black capped chickadees Chestnut backed chickadees Cormorant, Double breasted Crows Dove eagles Finches, house geese, Brandt geese, Canada gold finches Hummingbird, Annas Hawk, red tail blue herons Juncos kestrels Kingfishers mallards Mergansers, common pigeons Ring neck ducks Robins scrub jays Stellar jays seagulls Sparrow, house sparrow, white crown Sparrow, golden crown starlings Thrushes, varied Wood ducks wrens February 2022
My bird list did not expand much this month, but I sure had fun trying. Here is what I saw in King County, Washington, bird wise. February 2022 Black capped chickadees Chestnut backed chickadees Cormorant, Double breasted Crows Dove eagles Finches, house Finches, gold Geese, Canada Hummingbird, Annas Hawk, red tail Hawk, Swainson blue herons Juncos kestrels Kingfishers mallards Mergansers, common pigeons Ring neck ducks Robins scrub jays Stellar jays seagulls Sparrow, house sparrow, white crown Sparrow, golden crown starlings Thrushes, varied wrens The big news – an occupied eagle nest. Last week I filmed an eagle nest with no bird in it. Two days later I saw a head in the nest. Is it a baby? We can’t tell from the distance. But we plan to watch! I’m going to post updates on Facebook and Twitter, and possibly Instagram. Keep an eye out! We are also watching a Canada Goose pair. We don’t really know what we’re looking for, but we know we’re hoping on babies! Last month I posted brant cormorants. This month I captured double breasted cormorants! Three exciting birds on a log caught my attention in a drive by birding. I took a dozen pictures, none of which turned out well. I was so disappointed! But two weeks later, they were back! I got them good that time. There was a small dusting of snow, gone by noon on 02/24/2022. Winter is not over yet. My yard birds are glad for the food I put out. But spring is on the way. We just must get through March and April here in the Pacific Northwest. These are tough times. We are all sad for the Country of Ukraine and frightened for the very lives of everyone there. Bird watching gives me a chance to catch my breath. I’ve been trying to share pretty pictures on social media with hopes of picking up some spirits everywhere. In time there may be more definitive things to do – charities to help with and contribute to. But for now, I’m praying and I’m sharing my pictures. As I said - watch Twitter and Facebook for any ongoing baby stories, and also check out my birding gallery at Birding Gallery - Yarn Cats Birds & More (weebly.com) a fresh approach to my monthly blogging reportThis month, I decided to present my blog as a report by video. Hope you enjoy it. You may have a few questions after looking at it. Here are the answers to what I thought up.
How can I find out about these 2 parks? Check out their websites! https://www.parks.wa.gov/578/Saltwater https://www.parks.wa.gov/504/Flaming-Geyser How can I find out about some of these cool birds? Cornell offers a ton of information about birds. Check out eBird - Discover a new world of birding... Or check our local King County website, Birds in King County - King County Want to see some wonderful bird pictures? Check out my birding gallery at Birding Gallery - Yarn Cats Birds & More (weebly.com) . I try to post new pictures every month to reflect my current bird watching interests. December 2021There is nothing like a good snow especially if you are a birdwatcher. Yes, you worry about the little guys. At least I do. But then I stand in awe after filling the feeders and watch as they happily dance on the snow. White branches shake with their enthusiasm. Their little footprints lead up to the ground feeders. It is a delight to watch. In less than 5 minutes I note crows, starlings, robins, white crowned sparrows, juncos, goldfinches, a western scrub jay and a black capped chickadee. This was backyard birding at it is best. Over the years I have expanded and then reduced the number of feeders in my small city back yard. Too many feeders are a nuisance to keep filled and maintained. Too many bird species at a time can cause troubles. I do have several different feeders for several types of birds. A pretty “house” design holds standard seeds for a range of songbirds. A thistle sack supplies the chickadees, sparrows, pine siskins, and gold finches. A suet rack takes care of the starlings. A hummingbird feeder is a requirement – I only get a couple of hummers but I try to keep them coming back! My scrub jays use several of the feeders. The rare but occasional flicker likes the suet. This means there are usually 5 feeders to keep track of. Luckily, I hang most of them near each other as their feeders do not mind. For the snow, I put out two extra plates – just to ensure everyone got enough. Of course, we have squirrel visitors who are cute though annoying at times. Recently I have learned hot pepper keeps them at bay and so I have been able to protect my box where I keep the food and supplies. Some of the suet that I put out does not have hot pepper and I intend that for them. Winter magic – snow, pure and beautiful, stilling the world followed by the songs of happy birds. It was a good combination. But it was too cold for me to stand around for long! I went in and peered from the windows with my cat. She likes birdwatching too! And squirrels… Since she is indoors only, I tell her thoughts are free. She has the right to enjoy her winter entertainment too! While it snowed, I was forced to stay inside. Ice is not my friend and it built up under the snow which made me cautious about stepping outside except to put out bird food. Those little creatures do not know what I went through to take care of them! I reviewed my birding experiences in early December before travel restrictions. Gulls and swans and ducks in the fields. Raptor birds in the trees. With the leaves off the branches hawks and eagles are easy to spot and photograph. The rivers run high in this area, but ducks and herons still enjoy the water. I went through this year’s bird pictures sitting in the warm house. On my birding gallery I posted a few photos every month this year. I counted 23 bird pictures in 2021. But 5 of them were blue herons! On my jaunts I seek out birds I know to be in the area. Herons like King County, WA because of the weather – wet and rainy. They haunt swampy marshes, sopping wet fields, lakes, rivers, and even the Puget Sound! Blue herons are solitary, and they do not mate for life. Yet I see them frequently in pairs or hanging out with other water birds. Because they are big birds, they’re easy to photograph. They are also slow, meandering, and not fluttering all over the place. Yes, I like blue herons. I look forward to February, when they mate and nest in batches to raise their young safely. Herons seem very passive, making them easy targets for raptors. Three of the photos from 2021 were of sparrows. Those little brown birds are such characters. I look for the white crowns, golden crowns, red hues that indicate house sparrows, and little round bodies of song sparrows. They love my yard. A flock of them live in some overgrown bushes, and feed daily from my feeders. They’ve grown a little easier to identify over the years. After their size and shape I always look first at the head, then the breast if I can see it. Sparrows are an affirmation that practice is what makes perfect in identifying. Three more of the pictures are of finches – gold and house finches. I look for rosy finches but do not get to see them every year. Finches are also brown birds with flair. Juncos and chickadees hang out with them and enjoy getting pictures of them as well but did not include any on my board this year. There are plenty of them from the past though! My rarest bird this year was the Lazuli bunting. I got it in my head that these were “lapis lazuli” which is because of the blue jewels that are lapis. I just check to make sure I named this correctly this time! The buntings are beautiful, and I delighted to see them and capture their likeness this year. A new bird that I met this year was the western wood pee. I would probably never have found these darling little birds without the help of Merlin, a birding application I started using this year. Merlin has options to help identify birds by photo or by song. Once it showed me a picture of what I was looking for I could see them! It’s still new, and not perfect. If the WI-FI connections aren’t good neither is that part of the program. It will have you hunting for birds that have never been in your area. But when it works, it works great. That’s true of most technology, right? The year 2012 is done. My gallery for the year is complete. I have tons of other pictures that I have shared with Facebook and Twitter. My count for the year? 49 bird species. Canada geese crows dove eagles finches house herons juncos. kestrels killdeer king fishers mallards mergansers pigeons robins scrub jays seagulls song sparrows starlings stellar jays Swans thrush towees western scrub jays blue herons cedar waxwings chickadees eagles finches gold golden crown sparrows goldfinches hawks house sparrows humming birds juncos kestrels kinglets mergansers red tail hawk red wing blackbirds ring neck ducks robins seagulls sharp shin hawk starlings swallows western wood pee wees white crown sparrows wrens To any I forgot, may I try to catch you this year of 2022! |
AuthorI love birdwatching. It's relaxing and fun. Even though I've been birding for over 10 years I classify myself as an amateur birder. I plan to write a blog each month about my experiences. Hope you enjoy them! Categories |
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