Blog Archives

The elegant Pintail

1/31/2021

Shhh! I'm hunting ducks (with my camera, not with a gun).

I love Northern Pintails! I love their rich coloring, their elegant style, and the way water sticks to their bills and heads like a shiny, acrylic coating. With their slender build and migrating speed of about 50 mph, some people call them the "greyhounds of the air". The name Pintail comes from the drake's (male's) central tail feathers. The feathers are quite long, constituting about a fourth of the drake's body length.

Take a look at the photo with the two females swimming side-by-side. The one with the yellow bill is a female Mallard. The one with the dark bill is a female Pintail. Note the subtle but distinct differences.

From coast to coast, and everywhere in-between

1/28/2021

Oh, how I loved living on the East Coast! Don't get me wrong - I do love the Midwest and the Pacific Northwest just as much, but I love each region in a different way and for different reasons.

While living in Virginia, I loved birding in the Outer Banks, getting up-close and personal with bears and venomous snakes near Dismal Swamp (yes, you read that correctly), taking in the views at Shenandoah, and of course having the pleasure and honor of working for NASA Langley.

The Atlantic beaches are loaded with colorful shells, delightful crabs, miles of smooth sand, and scores of shorebirds playing keepaway with the waves. The nearby mountains are older, more weathered, and therefore smoother than those of the west, so the sweeping mountain views are more peaceful and gentle, rather than rugged and exhilarating. The roasted peanuts are to die for, the farm stands dotting the roadways have a delicious array of produce, they had the best Scottish store I've ever found, and there are a wealth of historical sites all around.

Every state and every region has countless unique treasures. This photo reminds me of all of the treasures I found along the eastern seaboard, and so many fond memories are rushing back to me.

Clark's at Crater Lake

1/24/2021

If I give you a list of things to remember, how many things on that list will you be able to recall 3 months from now? 10? 30? 100? 500? Pfft! Step aside, amateur. The Clark's Nutcracker has you beat. This bird stashes thousands of seeds per year, and studies have shown that the birds can remember the locations of almost every seed. Some birds have been observed burying over 30,000 seeds over a range of almost 2 miles, and they have been able to recall almost all of the locations 9 months later.

So maybe you can't compete with the Clark's in a memory test, but how about a physical test? I'll make this easy for you. How many pine nuts can you carry underneath your tongue at one time? 10? 20? 50? Bzzt! Sorry, you lose again! The Clark's can carry up to 90 pine seeds in a special pouch behind its tongue. Yes, I know pine nuts are bigger than pine seeds, but your mouth is much bigger than the bird's mouth!

Today just wasn't your day, but losing to a Clark's is nothing to be ashamed of. This bird is a superhero; it has an entire species depending on it! The whitebark pine is almost entirely dependent on the Clark's for dispersing its seeds, and the bird is able to do this because of its beak. When Captain William Clark (of Lewis and Clark fame, and after whom the bird is named) first described the bird, he assumed it was a woodpecker because of its long, sharp beak. However, that beak is specifically designed for picking out the seeds of pines, and its mouth is specially designed as a carrying case for the cache of seeds. This superstar Sunday Squee is a real life Lorax saving the trees one mouthful at a time.

Have a Sunday that's fit for a superstar, everyone!

Canadian? Canada? Cackling?

1/17/2021

Let's combine a pop quiz and the Sunday Squee. I hope you folks studied. Ready?
Is this bird
A) Canada Goose
B) Canadian Goose
C) Cackling Goose
D) Waterproof Chicken

The answer is C: Cackling Goose. If you said D, I'll accept that answer because why not? B is kind of wrong; the goose you typically see is called a "Canada" not "Canadian" Goose. Yes, I know "Canadian" may seem like a better adjective to use, but the geese don't care about grammar so just roll with it.

A Canada Goose and a Cackling Goose look almost identical, so much so that they were all under the Canada Goose family not so long ago. In 2004 the Cackling Goose was split from the Canada Goose and is listed as its own species now.

So how can you tell the difference? The first is size. The Cackling is about 25" long; the Canada is about 30"-40" long. Now, since most of us don't carry a yard stick when we hike, and none of us really want to wrangle a goose just to measure it, there are other ways to tell the difference between a Cackling and Canada.

The Cackling has a cuter face than the Canada. What? That description isn't objective enough for you? Sheesh! You're difficult. OK, how's this? The Cackling's head is more round, rather than elongated. It has a steeper forehead and a smaller bill so the head looks more tucked in and round. The neck is also shorter.

Still too hard to tell the difference? Here's an easy way to tell: the Canada honks, while the Cackling cackles with a high-pitched squeak or yip. So if you really want to know for sure what type of goose you're looking at, engage it in a conversation. 😆

King Tide

1/16/2021

Storms, king tide, and dangerous sneaker waves were predicted at Cape Disappointment this past Monday, so naturally I had to go there. There is a sense of awe and power, but the danger is masked by the cheerful blue of the skies, and by the crystalline jade and glistening pearl of the waves. It's these cheerful conditions that can fool people into thinking all is well, but they get swept away by "sneaker waves" - a large wave that appears without warning.

All of the waves were higher than normal during the days I was there due to a phenomenon called "king tide" (or perigean spring tide). The king tide is the highest high tide of the year, and it occurs when the sun, moon, and earth are positioned in such a way that their respective gravitational pulls cause the tides to go far beyond the normal high water mark.

This year, king tide was Monday through Wednesday of this past week. The storms on Monday provided winds, dark clouds, and drama. The blue skies on Wednesday allowed the colors and beauty of the ocean waves to shine through.

I hope you enjoy looking at the photos as much as I enjoyed taking them!

Don't look down!

1/12/2021

This. This is why I love living in Oregon. And yes, that's me on the trail (zoom in). Pure heaven.

Osage Oranges

1/10/2021

I was comparing pictures from my old camera, new camera, and phone, and I came upon some Osage oranges, or what my grandpa calls "hedge apples" - the green things that look like bumpy grapefruits with black hairs. It might look strange, but this is a fascinating plant with a cool history.

Maclura pomifera is an evolutionary anachronism; whatever evolved to eat the fruit and spread its seeds is now extinct. Scientists believe the giant sloth or mastodon might have dined on these tough fruits and spread the fruit through droppings. Some of today's animals have occasionally been seen eating the fruit, but it is not their preferred food.

While this small tree might not have a place in the current food web, humans have found the wood to be every useful and have expanded the tree's range. The Osage tribe discovered that the orange-tinted wood is ideal for bows (thus the name "Osage orange"). Settlers planted the trees in rows to create impenetrable, thorny hedges to protect their gardens (thus the name "hedge apple"). After barbed wire was invented, the hedge apple fences went out of vogue. The wood is still valued for its use in fence posts due to its strength and rot resistance, and as firewood since it burns long and hot. There is also anecdotal evidence that the fruits serve as an insect deterrent when placed around the foundation of a house or in the basement, but that has not yet been proven in scientific studies.

Roosevelt Elk

1/10/2021

I've got a very large but very cute Sunday Squee for you today: Roosevelt Elk.

Roosevelts are the largest of the remaining North American elk species, and they are the third largest land mammal in North America. A mature bull can weigh 1200 pounds or more. The elk were hunted to near extinction with numbers dwindling from the original 10,000,000 to just 100,000. To save the elk, President Theodore Roosevelt took measures to preserve the native habitats of the herds, and the once-called "Olympic Elk" were renamed "Roosevelt Elk" in his honor.

I found this herd at the Jewell Meadows Wildlife Area in Oregon, the winter home of about 200 Roosevelt Elk, and I spent a lot more time there than was reasonable but I couldn't tear myself away. A couple of the mature males got into a tussle while I was there, and a curious youngster decided to come close and see what I was up to.

Jewell Meadows contains over 1,000 acres of ideal elk habitat, and the meadows are reseeded regularly with the grasses and forbs needed by the elk. In addition to the permanent meadows, there are also coniferous and hardwood forests, streams, and seasonal wetlands on the property. This place is a treasure for wildlife enthusiasts and nature photographers!

Lifer! Hutton's Vireo

1/8/2021

Lifer! I spotted a type of bird that I have never seen before: Hutton's Vireo! I could hardly breathe when I realized what it was! I was photographing some Ruby-crowned Kinglets when I noticed that one of them looked a little different than the others. The Hutton's looks almost identical to a Ruby-crowned, but the bill is thicker and it lacks the dark patch behind the white wing bar. The Hutton's can be found along the Pacific Coast and in pockets of the southwest. It's unusual among vireos because it does not migrate.

Side note: the vireo was named after William Hutton, a young naturalist and artist who presented the Smithsonian with samples of the vireo. There were strong objections to naming the bird after a relatively unknown person. The thought was that the young man had not yet proven he would accomplish anything worth noting, but his friend and mentor at the Smithsonian spoke on his behalf and prevailed. William showed the world that his mentor's belief in his abilities was not misplaced. William's early drawings as a surveyor of California include the first known sketches of Los Angeles. He then went on to become the chief engineer for a number of ground-breaking projects, including the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, railroads, the Washington Bridge, and the Hudson River Tunnel.

In 2021, be mindful of your words and actions, and how you are impacting the young people who are watching you. Be a role model, not a cautionary tale. Whenever possible, let young people know you believe in them - they can accomplish anything if they believe in themselves, possess enough courage and ambition, and have the proper work ethic. Like William Hutton, there will be a diamond in the rough who will prove your faith in them was not misplaced.

Nutria

1/3/2021

This adorable little family is the first group of munchkins that I met in 2021. They trundled up to say hello to me on New Year's Day. Yes, I know they are an invasive species, but stop harshing my mellow! Look at those cute faces!

Nutria were imported into the U.S. from South America by fur traders in the late 1800's. When the fur traders realized there was no market for Nutria fur, they released the animals into the wild. These semi-aquatic rodents can now be found in waterways across the United States. A Nutria looks a bit like an overgrown muskrat, but it has a patch of lighter fur at the base of the ears, white whiskers, and orange teeth. They are strong swimmers and they are rarely far from water, so I was lucky to photograph this family in the open.