[birding] Finley 3/8

[howard bruner]

The sky filled with massive storm cells that sped across the
vault and were followed by washed blue. Over again and again.  The burrowing owl on the Llewellyn landing
strip was nowhere to be to seen but with the addition of modular storage units
and fueling depot at that end of the strip I would guess the neighborhood has
lost its appeal.  The Finley pair of bald
eagles was strengthening their bond by catching zephyrs in the vicinity of
their nest.  No n. shrike near the deck,
but for the second time in 2 trips I have found shorebirds on the open water to
the north of the deck.  Today dunlin and
last time (2 weeks ago) it was least sandpiper and dunlin.  On that same Feb 21st trip I found
a male scaup in the middle pond of the series of 3 to the west of HQ, which I
called a lesser.  I was not completely
satisfied with my judgment that it was a lesser and today I worked on it for a
solid 45 mins and am now calling it a greater.  I feel it is the same bird because it is still
with a group of ring-necks and presents the same challenging ID issues. For the
majority of fieldmarks it is very conclusive e.g., size, coloration, bill
proportion to head, body shape – but it exhibits an atypical amount of bump on
the back of its head.  After getting
extremely good views I feel the preponderance of evidence supports
greater.  I spent many years on the lower
Columbia with both species as
companions whenever on or within view of open water.  A pronounced head bump was the first cut in
determining species.  But this bird has the
bump AND the clean white sides, long body, large head and bill, shorter forehead,
and gestalt of the greater. For this bird I will not be absolutely certain unless I can observe it's wings while in flight.


 

In the field across from the new HQ site a male Cooper’s
hawk was pretending to be a road runner. 
It was stalking some type of insect (I assume) because it would stand
high watching all around then run at full speed across the grass to pounce on
its prey.  It missed a few times and when
it was successful it flew into the trees to feast. I saw Eurasian collared
dove for the first time in the yard at Llewellyn and Hwy 99.  At least 2  - seemingly working a feeder by the way they
acted. It has taken me a long time to observe this new exotic and that speaks
to my penchant not to chase rarities.  I
find it is enough to know others have found them and that they are visiting – I
don’t have to lay eyes on them to give them some nebulous credibility.  I have never seen a Pyrrhuloxia but I am
thrilled to know it was within 10 miles of me.

 

H


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