Having never looked for birds in America before, we had no idea what to expect and what might or might not be common, and with an 8-hour time difference we were up in time to witness a very soggy dawn and see what was about.
The very first bird we saw was this American Robin, making like a Blackbird (it's sounds, movements, alarming, etc. all almost identical to our Blackbird) on the lawn outside the house:
We got very excited about this, after all a bird with a distinctive orange breast certainly catches the eye. We saw these birds everywhere, from Washington to the Grand Tetons, they are truly ubiquitous. Quite often a coloured flash would be followed by enquiry then, 'American Robin again'.
That first morning Helen's sister drove Helen and I down the coast a little towards Padilla Bay, where there is a 9 month nature reserve (the other 3 months it is open for shooting from the path !?! - we will never understand the rationale or excuses used to defend hunting). En route we spotted this Red-tailed Hawk and tracked him along briefly then left him be, a magnificent bird:
Still heading down the road to Padilla Bay, this Bald Eagle was perched in a tree-top between the road and the coast:
We pulled up in the car park. By now it was pouring with rain, so I had to stand in the thoughtfully provided chemical loo to protect my camera to shoot the birds flitting through the trees of the car-park, including this Purple Finch:
and this American Goldfinch:
together with this Mourning Dove:
Good car park! It's then a short walk to the nature trail itself. We spotted this Olive-sided Flycatcher perched in a tree just before the entrance to the trail:
On the trail itself we spotted more American Robins and other birds flitting in and out of the hedgerow. At the same time we could hear loud calls, a semi-familiar chirp that could only be a wader, indeed on the flats were a number of Killdeer, with their very distinctive double barring on the chest, seen here in profile then front on:
(click on a pic to zoom in for a better view)
Further along the path we encountered this male Red-winged Blackbird, who makes a very distinctive, buzzing call:
On the flats on the other side of the path there was a pair of Western Sandpipers in amongst the Killdeer:
A number of these Savannah Sparrows appeared, flitted about and disappeared though one was more curious than most (note the yellow eye stripe):
It didn't stop raining for the whole walk, keeping the camera dry took a lot of faffing around but it was proving to be an excellent first morning birding in America. We observed this juvenile Tree Swallow perched on a post on our way back to the car park:
Next, we headed back to Bellingham and made for the Boulevard Park close to Taylor Docks. This Spotted Towhee was perched in a tree at the entrance to the park (which is a raised walkway out over the water and along the coast then becoming a more open grassy park, with a play area, perched between the railway and the shore):
The light was better here, as you can see with this moulting American Goldfinch:
Still in the car park we saw our first White-crowned Sparrow, gambelii, perched boldly:
Very cute stripey-headed thing going on! On the coast itself we spotted a Great Blue Heron, which appears very closely related to the Grey Heron of the Old World:
A lone Belted Kingfisher eyed the waves:
watched on by a California Gull:
Walking alongside the shoreline on the raised walkway we observed this very brightly coloured House Finch, shown here head-on:
and in profile:
A pair of American Crows patrolled the grassy park:
We finished a very satisfying walk around the park and then headed home for the day, but the birding wasn't finished there. Once it stopped raining, this (we believe) Rufous Hummingbird (female we think) was feeding in the honeysuckle:
and a small group of Black-capped Chickadee's mooched around the garden (Great Tit look and behave-a-likes):
A delightful first day in the USA and a real eye-opener.
No comments:
Post a Comment