Some Like It Hot

Lately, I have found the weather to be a bit too hot. Last Tuesday while watching a young great blue heron, I heard an alarm call. A moment later, two birds hurriedly took flight. The heron and I watched as a river otter swam out of the shadows.

My last otter sighting was in Spring. Both times I was standing on the shore of Foster Island and looking at virtually the same location in the water. In the Spring, I suspected the otter was searching for freshly laid duck eggs. This time I wondered if the otter was hoping to sneak up on an adult mallard. Most of the mature mallards are currently unable to fly, while they are growing new wing feathers. The otter quickly left the heat and bright light of the sunshine and swam back into the shadows.

I was surprised by how quickly the heron went back to hunting. It did not seem to be worried about the otter. Hunger must have a real focusing effect.

As I was leaving Foster Island I noticed a couple of dragonflies basking in the sunshine. They were both Eight-spotted Skimmers. Evidently, the name comes from counting only their black spots. They made me think of the merlin which I saw the week before in the top of a near by tree. 

Last week, Barbara Deihl sent me an email about this merlin. Merlins are one of her favorite birds. Barbara explained that a blue eye-ring, a blue cere - the area at the base of the beak - and a short tail can indicate a young merlin. Plus, the protruding crop - the bump where the neck should be - indicates that this bird had recently fed. Barbara suggested that the most likely food for a young merlin would be dragonflies. That seemed particularly likely since this merlin had been sitting above Duck Bay.

Evidently these Duck Bay dragonflies were a bit faster than the ones the merlin had caught. In any case, as long as there was no immediate danger the dragonflies seemed quite happy sit in the heat of the sun.

The next day I spotted a couple of cold-blooded turtles by the large pond at the south end of Azalea Way. They were sitting on the concrete wall along the edge of the pond while basking in the sun. When the weather is warm, turtles become more active. These two were certainly flicking their heads from side to side much faster than I had ever seen before.

By the way, The Seattle Garden Club is building a new garden just to the north of the pond. The garden is to help celebrate their 100th anniversary. They have installed a new stone wall which is set back from the pond but at a complimentary angle. It looks very nice, I will be excited to see how the garden looks once all the new plants arrive. I hope the plants provide blossoms and fruit which attract lots of birds, bees and butterflies.

On Thursday and Friday, the weather felt even hotter and the air smelled from the smoke of Canadian forest fires. On Friday morning I spotted this female flicker just sitting on the ground in the shade. She wasn't even feeding. It looked like she had simply found the coolest spot around and had decided to wait out the heat.

I hiked all the way to the north half of Foster Island before I saw another bird. Just as I walked out from under the new freeway I saw this crow cleaning and preening while sitting in the full heat of the sun. I wonder if crows have some type of special heat regulating system.

As I neared the water of Union Bay, I heard a young crow calling for food. The incessant cry was annoying. It made me wonder how the parents could possibly stand it, especially with all the heat, smoke and noise of the preliminary Seafair party flotilla. 

Out on Union Bay there were plenty of boats, but the only water birds I could see were Canada Geese. If I had to pick two avian species which would thrive, in spite of global warming, I think I would bet on American Crows and Canada Geese.

As I turned toward home and walked under the new bridge, I noticed this great blue heron in the distance. It was standing in the water and mostly in the shadow of the bridge. I wondered if it was using the shade to avoid the heat.

A few steps further on I spotted this young robin. The spots on its chest indicate its youth. Unlike the young crow, the robin was waiting quietly for a parent.

A moment later the adult showed up. I suspect most birds feed in the cool of the morning and by the time I was up and out they were simply sitting quietly in the shade like the robin, the heron and the flicker.

I did find one other avian species which was active in spite of the heat. Can you see the bird in this photo? I must admit I have the advantage of having watched it arrive at this location. The brown creeper is directly below the largest leaf on the right.

While I watched, the creeper moved up to feed on something in this knot hole.

A moment later there were at least two and maybe three creepers flittering about. In their usual manner they fluttered down to the base of the trees and then worked their way up searching for food. 

They worked mostly in the shadows, obviously unfazed by the heat. It looked like one of the creepers was an adult. My clue to its age came from what appeared to be a full-sized youngster who began chasing the adult - non-stop. The adult was basically unable to hunt because of the constant pressure. Up the tree they would go, one after the other. If it had been earlier in year I would have thought it was a male chasing after a female. But this time of year it seemed more likely to be a parent and its young. As soon as the adult tried to fly down to the base of the next tree, the youngster would take to the air. Like a little brown 'blue angel' it would fly right on the tail of the older bird. I never did see any exchange of food. It looked to me like a self-defeating process for the youngster.

Over a hour had passed since I first saw the female flicker sitting in the grass. On my way back I stopped by the same spot and sure enough there she was, still sitting in the shade. She was apparently happy just to wait for the heat to pass.

I put my camera away assuming that most birds were taking it easy and I was not likely to see many more. I headed towards home thinking how nice a cool shower would feel. Sadly, I was wrong about the birds. 

Just a hundred feet before leaving the Arboretum I heard an indignant Stellar's Jay crying out. It was being chased by a young Cooper's Hawk. When the jay momentarily landed in a conifer, the young hawk also landed and chased it through the branches. The two birds cork-screwed up and around the tree with the jay expressing obvious frustration. The jay finally escaped to the north and they both escaped being photographed since my camera was out of reach.

I hope you are finding a way to enjoy the heat!

Have a great day on Union Bay...where nature lives in the city!

Larry

Going Native:

Without a well-funded Environmental Protection Agency, it falls to each of us to be ever more vigilant in protecting our local environments. Native plants and trees encourage the largest diversity of lifeforms because of their long intertwined history with local, native creatures. I have been told that even the microbes in the soil are native to each local landscape. My hope is that we can inspire ourselves, our neighbors and local businesses to plant native flora and to support native wildlife at every opportunity. My intention is to include at least one photo each week and visually challenge us to know the difference between native and non-native lifeforms.

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Scroll down for the answer

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This is Devil's Club. It is a native plant which loves wet and shaded spots. The leaves can be over a foot in diameter, the stalks can reach above your head and the thorns can make you see red. 

The existence of Devil's Club usually indicates you are in reasonably undisturbed Pacific Northwest habitat, often in the shade of the forest and near water. I suggest you enjoy the environment without allowing yourself to come in contact with this plant. The thorns can be nasty.

An Avian Potpourri

I started this week at Port Townsend with family and friends. Our annual trip to Fort Warden is one of the few times each year when I get to watch pigeon guillemots at work in the salt water of Puget Sound.

I have no idea why their mouths are red.

I also wonder why they have white wing patches and why their feet match their mouths.

One thing is for sure, they are not dependent on a single species of fish for food.

One hundred yards away I found goldfinches delicately feeding on thistle seeds. The mixture of purple and gold made me think of the University of Washington Huskies and Union Bay.

At the time it did not occur to me that the red house finch feeding its young should have made me think of the Cougar colors at Washington State. I must have been thoroughly inculcated while attending the University of Washington.

It was refreshing to see ravens in the distance and hear their deep croaking cries. While watching them, I heard a strange liquid call that reminded me of a drop of water falling into a puddle. The sound originated in the air and from the same direction as the ravens. I found it totally baffling.

Later, I used my phone to look up raven calls in my iBirdPro app. The last call they listed was described as hiccup-like. It is very similar to the sound I heard. 

The only raven call I have found online which is similar is in the Macaulay Library. (Click Here and then select the second track down on the left side. You will need to turn up the volume and listen to the sounds played in the first second and a half.) The liquid-like sound is repeated three times very quickly. The sound has absolutely nothing in common with the 'normal' calls of a raven. I wonder what it means.

By mid-week we had returned home and I visited the Union Bay Natural Area (UBNA) with a couple of my classmates, Louis and Whitney. Whitney spotted this young killdeer. Anytime I looked away I had great difficulty in finding the small brown bird - especially when it remained perfectly still.

Louis found three different species of sandpipers on the shore of Main Pond. This Least Sandpiper (note the small yellow legs) was happy to feed right in front of us. While we were watching the shorebirds, Louis saw a merlin fly past at warp speed, and begin chasing swallows. The merlin's chances of catching one were similar to my odds of photographing the process.

Our two young osprey (only one of the young is visible in this photo) in the UBNA nest seem to be gaining weight and growing just fine; although Chester does seem to be spending a lot more time away from the nest than he did last year. It makes me wonder if he is having to search for food in more distant locations. 

Can you see the difference in the iris colors between Lacey and her offspring?

The wings of the young are certainly longer than I expected. Still, their flight feathers have a ways to go before they fill-in and are capable of holding air. You can Click Here to learn more about our local Union Bay osprey.

The next day in the Arboretum I caught up with Goldie. I took this photo of her iris, which for the first time that I remember looked slightly red, instead of her usual brown. I wonder if her eye color is starting to change or if it is just an artifact of a unique angle and lighting.

The young male following her around appeared to be Clark, the youngest male of her three 2017 young. His iris appears to be changing to yellow right on schedule. You can read about his story in  last month's post called, Elderberry Whine.

I believe his top knot will remain slightly orange for at least another month or so.

Surprisingly, adult male mallards also change colors or plumages every year around this time. In the Spring they have their classical green heads, white necklaces, brown chests and yellow beaks. This pattern makes them much easier to spot and identify when compared with female mallards.

Here is a male in his summer outfit. Technically this is called his eclipse plumage. They switch to this more camouflaged coloring while growing new flight feathers. If you look closely you can see the tips of his new wing feathers just beginning to burst out of their light blue sheaths. At this time of year, they cannot fly and it is only their bills which enable us to easily identify their gender.

Females have orange edges on their bills...

...while males have a yellowish cast.

Toward the end of the day I thought I saw a merlin again. It was flying low and fast over the water and cattails. The next afternoon I finally got a photo, while the merlin was resting on a treetop over Duck Bay.

Soon it was gone, looking for pint-sized food. Merlins are less than a foot long and only weigh about six ounces. Young ducklings seem like perfectly sized prey but they are getting to be few and far between this time of year.

These two adult male pied-billed grebes were defending their common territorial border. The mate and the young of the bird on the left were looking for food nearby. I was happy that the merlin apparently overlooked their young grebes.

Later, I found this female downy woodpecker near Foster Island. I was surprised to watch it dig into the large snag for fifteen minutes - apparently looking for food. I normally see downy woodpeckers working on smaller trees and shrubs. Usually, they move a lot and make small quick holes. I don't ever remember seeing a female work the same hole for more than a minute. This downy's behavior reminded me of a pileated woodpecker. I have never seen a downy behave this way.

I have watched male downy woodpeckers work for long periods of time on nest sites. However the nests I have been watching this year have long since been completed, their eggs have hatched and the young have grown up and left. I doubt this female's excavating had anything to do with nesting.

Earlier in the week, Louis and Whitney had been wondering whether wood ducks go through an eclipse plumage like mallards. We concluded that they must. Certainly the dull coloring of this male is a lot less flashy than its breeding plumage.

In this week's post I had a hard time focusing on a single species. So we ended up with a dozen different species all of which exist in our local Puget Sound watershed. I hope you have enjoyed this avian potpourri.

Have a great day on Union Bay...where nature lives in the city!

Larry

Going Native:

Without a well-funded Environmental Protection Agency, it falls to each of us to be ever more vigilant in protecting our local environments. Native plants and trees encourage the largest diversity of lifeforms because of their long intertwined history with local, native creatures. I have been told that even the microbes in the soil are native to each local landscape. My hope is that we can inspire ourselves, our neighbors and local businesses to plant native flora and to support native wildlife at every opportunity. My intention is to include at least one photo each week and visually challenge us to know the difference between native and non-native lifeforms.

Which of the following is not a native tree?

A)

 B)

C)

D)

E)

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Scroll down for the answers

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A) Western Hemlock
B) Western Red Cedar
C) Red Alder
D) Oak
E) Douglas Fir

The non-native is the oak tree. I cannot conclusively identify which oak it is, however it is not  the native Oregon White Oak because the lobes on the leaf shown are pointed instead of rounded.

Bittersweet

This week's post is dedicated to my younger brother, Brad Bowman (1967 - 2017).

Three years ago Brad, my son Nathan, and I hiked into Wolf Bar and spent a night beside the North Fork of the Quinault River in the Olympics. At the time, we were hoping my brother's health would recover enough to someday continue a week-long trek up the Quinault River over Low Divide and out along the Elwha River. Unfortunately, Brad passed away this Spring before we got the chance.

Brad loved nature, family and photography. Those who knew Brad might think the previous sentence leaves out his love for animals and most specifically, his dogs. However, I am pretty sure Brad would have included his canine companions in the family category. You can see some of Brad's nature photos on Facebook.

Last week, accompanied by my friend Rob Thomas, we completed the Olympic hike my brother and I dreamed about. The air was crystal clear and the weather was perfect. Toward the end of the second full day of hiking we reached Low Divide. The elevation at the pass is around 3,600 feet - about 300 feet higher than Snoqualmie Pass. The surrounding peaks are above 6,000 feet. The cascading snowmelt creates this long, leaping waterfall - with a temperature only slightly above freezing.

The meadow at the pass was full of native flowers, like this red columbine.

The flowers of the glacier lilies were generally white with occasional pink blossoms.

The next morning I wandered the meadow at sunrise.

The white blossoms of the bear grass turned golden in the early morning light.

The indian paintbrush waited patiently for a native artist.

A thistle waited for warmth to inspire it to bloom.

This unknown flower, maybe a clematis, seemed to shiver in the shade hoping for early morning sunshine. Actually, I may have been the one doing the shivering.

Near camp, a young varied thrush waited for its parent to bring it food.

The adults were a bit more shy.

Nearby a hummingbird stretched in the morning sun.

As we left Low Divide, Rob and I passed the pristine waters of Lake Margaret. I suspect this was about the time we walked out of the Quinault watershed and into the north flowing watershed of the Elwha river. With three nights of camping both behind and in front of us, this mid-point in the hike is one of the more remote places in the Olympic National Park. It is interesting that the Olympic Mountains are one of the few 'radial' mountain ranges. The rivers running off of the Olympics radiate down and out in almost every possible direction. 

As we began our descent, the flowers kept appearing around us. The bunchberries made a mat of green with carefully spaced white blossoms.

This mother grouse watched me closely as I tried to catch a unobscured look at her lone offspring. The young bird scrambled off the trail and down the mountain side faster than I could focus my camera.

The tiger lily was less active, but still challenged me to find the optimal angle to display its beauty.

The next day when we attempted a side trip up to the Elwha Basin. This Douglas squirrel was not the least perturbed by our presence. It almost appeared to be standing guard. I wonder if it had a nest nearby.

Within a couple miles of the Elwha headwaters I spotted this tiny white, thumbnail-sized flower with a slightly pink cast. Nearby, the overgrown trail completely disappeared,

We heard the brilliant syncopated chattering songs of Pacific wrens at many points along the way.  

Nearby, we found this amazing yellow-orange growth. I cannot find a name for it in any of my books.

The hike required fording many streams. We found the crossings very refreshing for our hot and weary feet.

We were not the only ones walking beside the Elwha. A bear left its calling card next to the vanilla leaf and wild strawberries.

Our hiking slowed dramatically when we too stopped to taste the sweet little berries hidden below the foliage beside the trail.

At Mary's Falls I spotted a couple of interesting growths, but no waterfall. I believe this is called Indian pipe.

I am uncertain what type of mushroom this might be.

As the sun was falling in the west it highlighted this flycatcher. True to its name the flycatcher watched as the sunlight illuminated the wing membranes of passing insects. With their wings glowing a brilliant white, the unsuspecting flies were quickly consumed. The little bird returned to its perch and repeated the process with amazing speed and regularity.

As we neared the end of our journey, we passed this small stream - named Bowman Creek. It seemed a fitting way to finish the hike which I had originally hoped to complete with my brother, Brad.

Larry