I've done a little birding the last couple days though it's been rather chilly and foggy outside. Yesterday morning I went up to Ridgefield. One of the best birds I saw was a female Common Goldeneye:
Certainly not a rare bird, but I had never seen one at Ridgefield before. A Red-shouldered Hawk was perched on a pole in one of the ponds and seemed to be nodding off...
In one of the ponds where there are normally snipe mucking around, were instead these dowitchers:
Long-billed? Anyway, another first for me at Ridgefield (I think..) was a Red-breasted Sapsucker:
There was no shortage of harriers at the refuge- I liked these two harriers plus an eagle or something in the fog:
On my way out a couple of young Bald Eagles looked like they were play-fighting over the water with lots of synchronized flying.
Yesterday afternoon and this morning I visited Marine Park in Vancouver, trying to find the reported Tufted Duck (which would be my 300th bird). Failed. The flock of scaup the bird is with was staying just around the corner from the park, both days. Boo. I did find eight Barrow's Goldeneyes hanging out yesterday:
Yellow-rumped Warblers were frolicking (yes, frolicking) along the shoreline...
And this morning I felt a little awkward when I stumbled upon a crow bath party...
Ah well, it's a cool little area to explore with nice paved trails and beaches where I can walk the dogs around. Hopefully the scaup flock will move around a bit so I can find the Tufted later this week. Good times! Rawr!
Certainly not a rare bird, but I had never seen one at Ridgefield before. A Red-shouldered Hawk was perched on a pole in one of the ponds and seemed to be nodding off...
In one of the ponds where there are normally snipe mucking around, were instead these dowitchers:
Long-billed? Anyway, another first for me at Ridgefield (I think..) was a Red-breasted Sapsucker:
There was no shortage of harriers at the refuge- I liked these two harriers plus an eagle or something in the fog:
On my way out a couple of young Bald Eagles looked like they were play-fighting over the water with lots of synchronized flying.
Yesterday afternoon and this morning I visited Marine Park in Vancouver, trying to find the reported Tufted Duck (which would be my 300th bird). Failed. The flock of scaup the bird is with was staying just around the corner from the park, both days. Boo. I did find eight Barrow's Goldeneyes hanging out yesterday:
Yellow-rumped Warblers were frolicking (yes, frolicking) along the shoreline...
And this morning I felt a little awkward when I stumbled upon a crow bath party...
Ah well, it's a cool little area to explore with nice paved trails and beaches where I can walk the dogs around. Hopefully the scaup flock will move around a bit so I can find the Tufted later this week. Good times! Rawr!
Hi Jen, sounds like another great birding day. I would love to see both of the Goldeneyes. It is fun to watch the eagles playing around. The Sapsucker is a beauty. great post and photos. Happy Birding!
ReplyDeleteOH some good ones SO YOU're STUCK at 299--that sux...you will get it tho. Love that sapsucker photo...awesome--and I feel today like that redshouldered...about to fall off a very tall pole..
ReplyDeleteALL great shots--is that a dead salmon at the end there?
Jen, so cool you saw the Goldeneye. I was told about her but haven't seen her in two visits. Great job on the sapsucker--that's one I HAVE seen at Ridgefield a few times. All that fog is oh so familiar but it was sunny there today.
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