What's this sound?

Click to hear the interesting call we heard last year at Carson Pass. Having heard this call a few times, I finally decided that maybe it was a grouse? Checking the excellent Cornell Bird Lab it turns out that it is; the Blue Grouse (Dendragapus obscuras) is indeed a resident of the higher mountains around here. It would be truly fun to see one.

Spotted Sandpiper Spotted above Wrights Lake

While hiking above Wrights Lake (El Dorado County) last fall, we encountered this bird. It sounded and acted very much like a killdeer but it didn't seem to be one! It flew low and landed, again, calling and acting like a killdeer luring us away from a nest, but this bird was a mystery.

Now I have learned that it is a Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularia) and that it is common in the high country around lakes.

Having never seen one before, I'm glad to have had the chance to see this guy up close, and listen to the calls.

About that Tanager...

The bird in the upper left corner is a Western Tanager (Piranga ludoviciana) and is one of my favorite birds to spot in the higher forests. One day last July I happened to be stopped along Cheese Camp Road to watch butterflies at a drying pond. I suddenly got treated to a group of five tanagers that were darting about and landing in the grass to catch some critters, which they then took to the rock to dine on. Watching them fly out for insects and then back to the branches was very entertaining. I am starting to think a bigger telephoto lens is in the near future.

"The red pigment in the face of the Western Tanager is rhodoxanthin, a pigment rare in birds. It is not manufactured by the bird, as are the pigments used by the other red tanagers. Instead, it must be acquired from the diet, presumably from insects that themselves acquire the pigment from plants." — Cornell's All About Birds

"Carotenoid pigments produce ornamental red, orange, and yellow coloration in plumage. They are unique among pigments used to colour feathers in that they cannot be manufactured by birds and must be ingested. Expression of carotenoid-based plumage coloration has been proposed to serve as an honest signal of male quality that is used by females in choosing mates." — Mate choice, male quality, and carotenoid-based plumage coloration (PDF)

Day-to-day Bird Watching

For several years now I have maintained bird feeders in the few trees that are in front of my office in an industrial park. It's surprising just how many different birds I have been able to attract to these feeders, considering that it is a fairly non-native area! It so happens that a hundred yards away I can see an oak woodland that has a decent pond where a gaggle of Canadian geese remain year-round; I watch them flying off to work in the morning and returning in the afternoon, so I suppose they go visit a nearby lake?

The bare branches of the big blue oaks adorned with large balls of mistletoe tempt me to go build a blind to wait for a chance to see Western Bluebirds (Sialia mexicana). I know they have to be out there because I get a quick sight of one just every now and then. If I had a place to do it I would certainly add a bluebird box to my property to encourage bluebirds; alas, I have no property. But maybe you do? And if you live in the Sierra foothills, so much the better: that's where the birds are! And look, I've found you a page all about building a birdhouse specific for the Bluebirds. Look, this is cheap fun, so take a look at how it works and spend next Saturday cutting up some wood and making bird boxes. That would be a great way to spend a day.

Birding in an Industrial Park

I wonder just how many hundreds of pounds of sunflower seeds I have scattered or dispensed via tube-feeders over that last few years? I can sometimes fill the tubes twice in a day, and I know I have gone through the latest two twenty-pound bags in under a month. Still, that's fine with me because this is a fun way to take a break when I need to think through a design; I step to the window and watch the finches vying for a place at the station. Several years ago I wasn't even aware that goldfinches were anywhere in this neighborhood, then I saw one land on a seed head outside my office window. Since then I have continued to keep attractive seed available and now there must be 20- or 30 birds at any time. Of course I was buying the recommended thistle seed that is promised to be a goldfinch favorite. I also used a mixed birdseed for non-finch birds, but eventually was shoveling it out the door to satisfy the blackbirds, basically feathered vacuum cleaners. Eventually I read that blackbirds don't care so much for sunflower seeds, I switched, and It worked. Then I saw that goldfinches ate sunflower seeds too, so I quit paying for nyjer.

What surprised me most about switching from the premium bags of "thistle seed" to the generic one-seed-fits-all black oil sunflower seeds was that the Lesser Goldfinches, about as big as my thumb, moved right over from the tiny seeds marketed as nyjer seed to go right on with feeding on seeds that seemed way to big for such small birds!

The Nyjer seeds are not thistle seeds as they are sometimes labeled. In fact a site called eBirdseed.com (this is not an endorsement!) posts: "Q: How can you offer your Nyjer thistle seed at such a competitive price? A: We get this question a lot. We work hard to buy our products in bulk so that we can pass the savings on to our customers: 20 lbs. of Nyjer/Thistle seed only $37.60". Uh, that's no saving. I have been complaining about spending $10/10 Lb. Thistle Bird Seed at Lowe's. (That is an endorsement!) And if you live in Placerville, you can get it right here in town at Clifton and Warren on Placerville Drive for about the same price. (BTW: 40 lbs of sunflower seed? $16.00)

...Back to the Bird Feeder...

With the help of the well-known Sibley Western Birds guide, I have figured out what I've seen and then looked them up on the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the site you will visit from any of the links below:

I have observed the following: Lesser Goldfinches, Pine Siskins, Oregon Juncos, Lark Sparrows, House Finches, Oak Titmouse, California Towhee, California Quail, and a number of Mourning Doves who show up every morning and again every afternoon. Of course there are always Brewer’s Blackbirds, and often one to several Western Scrub-Jays around for the sunflower seeds. I get visits from a Northern Mockingbird from time to time. I have even seen a Sharp-shinned Hawk that was perched on the front of my truck, watching for activity in the shrubbery. Add to these the following one-only sightings...

Observation: 17 Apr 07

I used a different mix of bird seed for awhile that had corn kernals and other grainy delicacies that were not fully appreciated by the finches. It didn't take long before the ground was covered with discarded food that was tossed from the feed tray.

I looked out the window this day to see, to my surprise, Skippy the Squirrel, busy eating corn and sunflower seeds as fast as he could manage. This was certainly unusual, especially since I am several hundred yards away from the closest squirrel tree (the oaks in a field down the street). How had this guy found the stash of underappreciated corn? Hmmm. I grabbed a photo, sure that he would leave soon. I looked again several minutes later: there he was. Half and hour later, I looked once more. No squirrel! But then something caught my eye out in the street. Ohhh noooo! Let's just say that Skippy was eating like there was no tomorrow, then he failed to look before crossing the street. RIP, Skippy. No tomorrow for you. You were an amusing moment. You will not be forgotten.

Observation: 28 May 06

If it quacks like a duck, it stops me in my tracks. Looking out to see what was visiting now, there they were: a pair of mallards i had emptied the last of a sack of crushed corn out along the strip next to the parking lot; it never seemed to be too popular with the birds that come every afternoon, but some how this little stripe of yellow-white corn had attracted the attention of these mallards as they flew over. They stayed awhile, calmly having some lunch while there was no competition. I grabbed the camera and snapped a few telephoto shots to keep my records up to date.

Observation: 16 May 06

The distinctive sound made me stop what I was doing and step outside. I waited only seconds before hearing it again, and looking toward the sound I immediately saw the silhouette on the top of the birch tree across the street: an acorn woodpecker had left the oak woodland several hundred yards away to come look around in the industrial park!

I was able to grab my camera once again and snag a "for reference only" photo, but by the time I had the camera in hand, how could I not notice that the bird had left the tree top and was now hanging onto the cement wall of the building? This surprises me, having noticed once before that a northern flicker (see note below) had stopped by to actually spend some effort to investigate several cement pillars in front of that same building.

The sound of the woodpecker (not the pecking, the call!) sounds to me like the sound of a kitchen knife being stropped on a steel sharpening rod. Of course woodpeckers are a common sound in the foothills and low forests, but it was an unexpected bit of fun to hear one outside my office. It was only a minute or two of diversion from my work, but a nice break from tapping away at a keyboard.

Observation: 30 Apr 06

I was standing at the edge of a field (the corner of Mother Lode and Greenstone) looking at the display of flowers and concentrating on pictures of the Lewisia rediviva, when a very curious bird call captured my attention. I looked up to see a very pretty bird that was acting like a flycatcher. I had no idea what the bird was but I brought up my Canon S2 and forced the telephoto zoom to 48x (!) and caught the picture shown at right. The picture is far from great but wow, I am surprised again at how a "grab shot" has provided me with the info I needed to track down an identification; it is a Western kingbird. It's my first sighting and I enjoyed the moment. Visit the Cornell site to read about this common bird and especially to listen to its amusing call notes.

Observation: 21 Apr 06

The Western Bluebird was added to my list of visitors. While the Cornell Lab of Ornithology describes the western bluebird as a "common sight in park lands of the West", I have only seen them a very few times in several years, and watching one spend even a few minutes in the tree outside my shop was a nice surprise.

Update on the waxwings described below: the tree was stripped of berries in a matter of a few days; the waxwings have moved on, in search of more berries in some unknown place.

Observation: 12 Mar 06

What a strange few weeks. We had enough February warm weather to kick off a sense of Spring Fever, then in the last few days the temp has dropped and we have had several days of snow at this 1200-foot elevation. It's been fun to watch but it has also put me to the task of keeping seed available for the many birds that sit waiting in the leafless trees. I regularly fill two finch tubes (the finch population has increased from a first surprising pair a few years ago to what now must number 25 or 30!) and I provide a standard seed feeder for standard birds. Hey, this is running into serious refill cost!

Along with the goldfinches, blackbirds, and mourning doves that arrive to feed, I also saw some newbies to the scene: redwinged blackbirds (not too common here) joined in, plus some uninvited European starlings! Happy to say that the starlings moved on. The big surprise for today was to see that the cedar waxwings have returned, and they were arguing with an American robin to see who got control of the tree loaded with berries. The robin left and I was able to catch one picture of the waxwings before they took off too. I was able to use my new Canon S2 with is 12x telephoto. How nice to be able to grab a shot of these active birds. The season is underway.

Observation: 16 Oct 05

I have added a second sighting of a Northern Flicker, an unusual sight for sure in this industrial park. I was just remembering last Spring when I saw a bird poking around in some disturbed soil under a tree at the edge of the parking lot. A flash of red certainly caused me to reach for my binoculars, and imagine my surprise to see a Northern Flicker! Checking my Sibley Western Bird Guide, I learned that a bird I had only known as a forest sight can also appear in open spaces and will feed on ants and bugs. I also doubted I would see the bird a second time.

This morning, while gazing out the window I saw what I mistook for a quail (!) across the street. A fast look had me mistaking the upturned large bill as the quail's top-knot, but field glasses confirmed that my flicker was back.

The strangest behavior came next: it flew up from the puddle where it had been drinking and actually grabbed hold of an exposed aggregate cement post in front of an office. Just as if it were on a red fir, the bird moved around on the pillar looking for bugs, then flew to a second pillar to do more of same. It tested a third spot on the cement building and then flew across the street to investigate some wooden porches.

Most unusual to my eyes, and certainly fun to watch.

Las Palomitas

I have traveled in Mexico for many years and have seen the dance called “Paloma Blanca” (white dove) many times. I must admit, after watching the mourning doves arrive and leave, I finally “get it”! Watching the fluttering motion and the tail feathers splaying to control their sort of slow-motion landing, the doves do display the same action that is mimicked so well by a Mexican dancer's fluttering costume.

I need to go back to Mexico and pay attention to the “popcorn pigeons” that are so abundant in any Mexican plaza. It’s research, right?

Appreciating Bird Songs  

Who doesn't pause at times to just enjoy a musical interlude while walking along in a natural setting? Trying to glimpse the bird that has our attention is usually unsuccessful (for me, anyway), so it seems worth learning how to identify the song. And wait until you discover the “hidden” (inaudible to our poor human ears) qualities of the music, now made audible on the CD that is included with Kroodsma's book, Life of Birds.  

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