The Meadow Lark, King of Songbirds

To my ears, meadow larks are among the greatest of singers. While hiking at Lake Del Valle, I stopped to rest on a ridge-top bench. A meadow lark was perched in the tree above me and his timing was impeccable.

click and listen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BWMLDNe4kk&feature=youtu.be

Meadow larks seem to be singing most of the time, especially in spring.

 

(click to enlarge the photo)

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When Red-tails Die

Normally we see red-tailed hawks soaring.

This is a young red-tail. His tail will become red after he’s about 2 years old.

Very seldom do we see dead red-tailed hawks. If we do, it is usually along side a road. Red-tails often hunt from a perch and there are plenty of perches along the sides of our country roads. If a hawk dives on a ground squirrel or other rodent, it may do so into a passing car. A couple years ago I collided with a red-shouldered hawk that way.

My friend Joe checked out a road-killed red-tail recently and found it to be banded by the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory. This is a group that calls the Golden Gate National Recreation Area it’s home and bands birds of prey each fall. I apprenticed for them about fifteen years ago. It was a fun way to put my hands on a few hawks. You can’t get any closer while they’re alive.

As unusual as it is to see a dead red-tail, it’s even less likely that you will observe a red-tail dying, but that is what I did a couple days ago.

While walking along my usual hiking trail, a red-tail appeared face down just off the trail. Curious, I walked over and poked the bird with a stick. It moved. It appeared to be barely alive, but not wanting to interfere, I left it alone and checked on it again on my way back to the truck. At that point the bird was dead.

This hawk was dying when I found it beside a walking trail.

I couldn’t help but wonder what had happened to this bird. It appeared to be a healthy bird, with all it’s plumage in place and no apparent wounds. Could it have died in a mid-air collision? Not likely. Could it have received a wound from a competing hawk? Small chance of that.

When I spoke with my biologist friend, Joe, I asked him what he thought. That’s when he told me about the dead hawk along the side of Vasco Road. He added that the most likely killer of a mature red-tail hawk is secondary poisoning from rodenticides. Having observed the slow death of this hawk first hand, poisoning is logical.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodenticide

Who puts out rodenticides that can poison predators? Ranchers use rodenticides to kill California ground squirrels, so that is a possibility. Since this trail is near a golf course, I’d have to imagine that the greenskeepers might use rodenticides to kill gophers and ground squirrels that invade the fairways.

http://www.dfg.ca.gov/education/rodenticide/

It’s now common for marijuana growers to use rodenticides to kill rodents that attack their valuable crop.

When it comes to the death of this red-tail at Del Valle Reservoir, my judgement is very speculative.

I’m not a fan of rodenticides.

Secondary poisoning is one of the reasons we don’t use them on our ranch.

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Ducks in a Circle

Ever see a flock of ducks in a circle seemingly in a feeding mode – even a frenzy?

That is was I observed on a local pond last week. I’ve observed this type of feeding in the past, usually with shovelers. The first time I ever took notice of this type of feeding was at Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge about 25 years ago. The ducks were spoonies.

Last week I spotted a group of widgeon doing this. Here’s a photo.

These widgeon were definitely feeding. My theory is that they were feeding on invertebrates that live near the bottom of the pond. Because these are dabblers, they don’t dive for food so critters on the pond bottom are not available to them. Somehow the ducks have learned that by feeding in a circle, the food rises towards them.

The reason for this? As they paddle towards the center of the group (circle) the ducks paddle water away from the center of the circle. This creates water movement away from a point at the center. As the water moves away, it must be displaced by other water. The displacement causes water to rise from the bottom. This is a similar effect to a low pressure weather system.

Water movement from bottom to top brings up the critters. I think this type feeding is more commonly found in winter as food sources diminish. Here’s another photo.

If you click on the photos they will enlarge.

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Archery Opener More for the Birds than Bucks

This buck watched as I drove by. He was about 50 yards off the road and was one of five encountered.

On the way to my deer stand, I passed this buck bedded beside the road. This was the closest I came to a buck on Saturday, but I did get some good bird photos, so here they are.

Approaching my tree stand, I pair of bandtail pigeons lifted off from an elderberry tree. I hoped that they would return and present a photo opportunity.

Later I was granted my wish and the two birds landed not more than twelve feet from me and sat there for an hour.

But first a Stellar jay dropped in on me and began to squawk. (You can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.)

Stellar jay in flight

The femail pigeon showed off the band for which they are named.

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Very Rare White Coot

I’ve seen many mud hens in my life. But yesterday, I observed and photographed one unlike any other I’ve ever seen. Here are a couple photos.

The flock was swimming away and the light wasn't right, but it is clear that the coot at the top is different from all the rest.

Today I returned to the same spot and saw the bird again, but unfortunatly, I didn’t have my camera today. Here he is again.

Here it is again.

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The Common Yellowthroat

As I hunted ducks last weekend, a common warbler with a mask whipped around the pond nearby. I have observed this warbler on many occasions, but have never successfully photographed one.

The warbler seldom stays still long enough for a good photo and these birds seem to never be available when I’m prepared to get a good photo. Here are a couple shots from last Saturday.

The warber was hunting along the waterline near my decoy.

 

This photo is not perfectly clear, but the angle is nice.

 

This is the best photo, but the angle is not so great.

 

I’ll keep trying, but these birds are tough subjects.

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The Towhee and the Woodpecker

It was one of those mornings when the birds were out. Maybe the moon phase or changing weather. A towhee caught my eye, so I pulled out my small pentax camera and managed to get off a couple shots.

This is the rufus-sided towhee. We also have the brown towhee and, inland, the green-tailed towhee.

When he disappeared behind a car, I shifted my attention to a woodpecker in the tree above the towhee.

I snapped a couple quick photos before he disappeared. When I got home, I found that the towhee was in the photo with the woodpecker. I had taken his photo without knowing it. Here is the woodpecker.

The woodpecker is a female Nuttal's woodpecker.

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Another Day Up in a Tree

First archery deer hunt of the season. I had no idea what to expect as I hadn’t been up to the ranch in over a month. As far as deer hunting went, it was a total bust. The winds were blustery and the deer didn’t show. Not one.

However, I did take some photos and three were worthy of publication. Here’s they are:

As I watched a covey of quail feeding along the edges of nearby brush, a raptor swooped in and the quail scattered in all directions. It was a female northern harrier (used to call them marsh hawks).

 

This harrier circled several times, but never got hold of the quail it was after.

With the harrier in motion, my only chance for a good photo was when he passed in direct sun. The shutter speed on my camera was fast enough in auto mode to produce a sharp photo.

 

Late in the day, several birds landed near me in the laurel tree my stand was in. One of them was a chickadee.

 

This chestnut-backed chickadee moved about quickly.

Then came a pair of plain titmouses. In the fading light, I struggled to get a sharp image, but these two were worthwhile.

In the shade, I wasn't sure if I'd get an acceptable photo of the titmouses, but one of the shots worked out.

 

 

 

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Swainson’s Hawk in Flight

Last week we were out in the Altamont and came upon a pair of Swainson’s hawks. From nearly a half mile away, I snapped a few photos with my 200mm Nikon lens. They came out OK, so here they are. You can see the charactaristics of the Swainson’s hawk quite well.

For comparison purposes, here’s a redtail photo from my files. Redtails are the most common buteo in our area.

Soaring red-tailed hawk.

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Bucks and Birds

On Friday Rob and I made a trip to the ranch. We noticed that the does were scarce, but bucks were in the open with antlers growing larger. On the way home we came upon this buck. (Click to enlarge.)

These birds were finding a meal on the back of this buck.

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