Alabama Raptor Sightings

Raptors are my favorite group of birds, and we saw many of them in Alabama. One of the sites on the Alabama Birding Trail is behind a restaurant on Mobile Bay in Daphne, AL. We pulled in one afternoon for a look, and someone who did not look like a birder at all, sitting in a car in the parking lot, commented that there was often a Bald Eagle in the tree below. We did see Bald Eagles right over downtown Fairhope, and also on a lake in Dauphin Island, but I got no pictures. The Northern Harrier lived up to its common name of Marsh Hawk as it swooped low over several marshes we visited, its white rump flashing in the sun. I've never seen a Merlin before, but we sighted one high in a tree. They are smaller than the Peregrine Falcon and have no sideburns as most falcons do.

While at Dauphin Island we saw two Peregrines, however, flying around chasing each other. If this had been another time of year, I would have described this as courting behavior, but not in October. Ospreys dove in the water or perched in the tree tops watching for fish. One sat by an empty nest along the Blakely River until becoming disturbed by the jet skis and other loud boaters. The noise chased us away too. A family with small children came by and looked at the Osprey in the scope. It was the first time they'd ever seen a raptor up close and personal, and the kids were properly impressed.

My favorite raptor for this trip was an American Kestral, since he posed in a tree close enough for photos. Although raptors aren't as numerous as other birds, they will usually be found in the same area if you keep a sharp eye out for them.

Lifetime List Additions

Birders are know for list keeping. They might have a back yard list, or a favorite birding site list, or a vacation list. All those lists added together make a Lifetime List. This list is zealously kept, since it gives bragging rights among other birders when you find that bird you have searched 10 years for. Of course, I can't get photos of every new bird. The Magnificent Frigatebird we saw was too high up for my camera to catch, but it was great to see how if differed from the usual Cormorants. The Clapper Rail called from the reeds, but would not come out of hiding for anything. The Gulf Coast has many different habitats for birds so many of our firsts are birds very unlikely to come to Kentucky. This Sedge Wren was in a thicket of reeds and brush. Nelson's Sharp Tailed Sparrow and the Seaside Sparrow quickly popped their heads up when the tour guide used his bird caller to lure them into taking a look. They disappeared into the marsh grass just as quickly, but we did see them so it counts. Warblers are always a challenge. The Bird Fest folks tried to level the field by pouring bird feed in one place they knew the warblers like to come to anyway. We added a Brown-headed Nuthatch, Tennessee Warbler, Yellow Throated Warbler, Black and White Warbler, and a Louisiana Warbler to the Life List. The banding station closed down due to lack of activity and a rapidly approaching storm front.

Our new coastal birds include Semi-Palmated Plover (a Killdeer-like bird with one throat band instead of two), Piping Plover, American Oystercatchers, Ruddy Turnstone, Semi-palmated Sandpiper, Dunlin (with a downcurved bill), Royal and Forster Terns, and Black Skimmer.

The Skimmers were preening on a sandbar, and I didn't get to see any of them actually skimming the surface. However, I was the successful bidder on a photo of just that at the silent auction. This was immediately after I told Dick I wouldn't bid on anyone else's photos - until I saw one that blew me away.

The final habitat was a long slough next to the bridge approach. We were headed for a spot on the Alabama Birding Trail formed by a hazardous waste site, believe it or not. We had to sign releases and fax them over first, then couldn't even find the entry point, unless it was up that road six inches deep in mud. We decided to pass and just see what we could find on our own. It was starting to rain again when we found the slough with White Ibis (mature and juvenile), a Glossy Ibis (looking black in the gloom), Black Necked Stilt, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Semipalmated Sandpipers and a Dunlin. We were proud that we found these on our own, and used the overpass to stay out of the rain. The dry sand under the overpass also had some great animal tracks - a Bobcat, we think, several birds, and a lizard leaving a long tail mark in the sand.

Alabama Coastal BirdFest

I am an official hard core birder now, having just attended the recent Alabama Coastal BirdFest, held on Mobile Bay in Alabama. Each morning at 6:30 am, we climbed onto a large tour bus to drive down to the rivers, bayous, marshes and ocean around Mobile Bay. It rained over 9 inches the first day, and we saw more mosquitoes than birds, but went back for the second trip any way. You could see the storm fronts crossing the bay, and we were glad for a nice dry bus when they arrived. Everyone was interested in birds, and very helpful to those who were not expert, pointing out the warblers in the branches and the subtle differences between small shore birds. When asked what birds we would like to find, I answered the Purple Galinule, which we did not see this year, but we added many other new birds to our "life" list. The experts were great help, but we were more proud of the birds we found and identified on our own. On one trip, the group sighted 67 different species, while the next day's group total was 56 species. Dick and I didn't count anything the group saw that we could not find, but still came up with 86 confirmed species that we personally saw in a five day period. As with most birding efforts, some of my photos are terrific, and others a little blurred due to the distance. This will be the first of several posts inspired by this trip. As always, just click on a picture to see a larger version.

We had one American Pelican at the Falls this summer, and everyone was excited to see it. They winter on the Gulf Coast, and we saw the V's of Pelicans coming in by the hundreds at Bayou La Batre. They even napped on a sandbar right off the city pier in Daphne. When nap time was over, they flew to the water, and floated or swam to another island out in the bay in a short time, looking like masses of white marker buoys in the distance.

The Brown Pelicans always put on a show. They can be so graceful when flying in formation, yet so awkward looking when they come in for a landing. Our last night in Daphne, we went to the pier where we had so much luck before, and saw the Brown Pelicans actively feeding, diving into the water with lots of splashing. Unfortunately, it started to rain, and I didn't want my camera and binoculars to get soaked, so we headed back instead of staying to watch. Better rain gear is on my wish list for Christmas. The Gulf Coast has been hard hit by hurricanes in the last five years, yet people keep building back in the same places for the most part. We saw houses tilting on their pylons, waiting for the insurance claims to be settled, two years after Katrina. Only the empty lots remain from other houses. A sand berm was built along the shore on Dauphin Island, intended to give people time to get away before being washed out to sea. Part of the berm was washed away by the thunderstorms alone, leaving a gap like a missing tooth in the wall of sand. The road along this barrier island was flooded. Our big tour bus got water in the electrical system and stalled out in a huge puddle in the road. It's beautiful along the ocean, but Dick and I concluded it would be better financially for the people and ecologically for the birds and the endangered Alabama Beach Mouse, if only camping were allowed there, and no permanent structures. Philosophy aside, we plan to go back to Gulf Shores and make our own birding trips to Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge, Fort Morgan and Dauphin Island some year for the spring migration.

American Pelican

A wonderful bird is the pelican, His bill can hold more than his beli-can. He can take in his beak Food enough for the week; But I'm damned if I see how the heli-can. Dixon Lanier Merritt

The first rule in birding is never say never when it comes to what a bird will do or where you might find it. At the Falls of the Ohio, we have seen Avocets, Willetts, Black Backed Gulls and now an American Pelican, none of whom belong in this area of the country. Usually, these visitors fly in while trying to outrun a storm in their home territory. I’m not sure where this Pelican came from. We hear regular reports of Pelicans in Western Kentucky, but so far we’ve only seen one at the Falls. According to the Peterson field guide, the American Pelican has a wingspan of 8.5 to 9 feet. I can see a resemblance to a Pterodactyl! I first saw it three weeks ago up by the railroad trestle. This afternoon, I went down to the George Rogers Clark cabin where people reported seeing it all day. At first, it was in the channel that feeds the power plant, too far away to take a picture. One might guess it to be a swan, given the color and shape of the back. But look at that bill - no swan has a bill like that. Then it spread its wings and flew over to our side of the river, just upstream from the cabin. What a photo op! It didn’t seem interested in fishing at one o’clock in the afternoon, but just swam about, then went back to the other side again. I was surprised at how quickly it swam from one side of the river to another. I always enjoy watching the Brown Pelicans along the beach. This one was from Chesapeake Bay, skimming close to the water’s surface. It’s especially great when a group fly in a line. How can any animal so large be so graceful?

Special Fun at the Falls of the Ohio

When the river is low and the fossils are fully exposed, we have many special activities at the Falls of the Ohio. Last year, it started raining in September and didn’t stop until May, so some of these events had to be cancelled. This summer has been exceptionally dry and the special events have been very successful. Paul Olliges and other volunteers led trips to the Outer Fossil Beds, taking hikers though the spillway under the dam, down along the wall, and back again, stopping to examine Devonian fossils along with way. Bet Etenohan, one of the park Nature Interpreters, had a good turnout for her canoe hike. A canoe hike combines canoeing upstream from the Clark Cabin boat ramp up to the Outer Fossil Beds, to pull the boats on the rocks and hike around exploring the fossil formations – thus a Canoe-Hike.

Rock the Rocks is the annual fundraiser dinner for the Falls Foundation. We invited some special friends this year and just went to enjoy the food, music and a beautiful evening on the river. God himself came to this sunset, and I took his picture. I always think that the sun’s rays stretching from the horizon to the skies are God’s own hand. Now I’m having trouble deciding which of these sunset pictures to share on this blog! The Festival vendors and speakers come from all over with rocks, minerals, and of course fossils of every shape and size. Geodes are very popular and you can find unopened geodes, or others that have been split and polished. The amethysts are exceptionally beautiful in the sunlight. Hanson’s Quarry brought in three loads of dirt this year – one of Waldron Shale from the Silurian period, one from the Devonian era, and one with minerals from a quarry in Illinois. Since fossil collecting in the park is prohibited, this gives everyone, young or old, the chance to dig in the dirt and find their very own fossil. It’s much more exciting to find one yourself even though the purchased fossil may be much prettier. One boy in particular was dedicated to both his dig and his “hard hat”, which kept sliding down in his face! As much as I enjoyed the beautiful rocks and fossils, the birds were beautiful too on this perfect autumn day. I started walking through the woods early to get a good start on the migrating birds, making pishing and kissing noises trying to attract them. The spider webs were much easier to find. A few warblers were curious, but landed in a tree directly above my head, as warblers do, giving me a stiff neck and effectively keeping their identities a secret. How are you supposed to tell what bird it is when all you see is belly and the underside of a tail? The predators were much more cooperative though. A Cooper’s Hawk swooped over my head and landed in a tree along the river. Both Ospreys were in the air at the same time, and a Peregrine Falcon flew by several times. An Osprey landed on a branch so the visitors could see it through the scope, a first for many. Another volunteer said he saw a Red Shouldered Hawk, and I had already seen a Red Tailed Hawk. Towards the end of the day we even saw an American Kestral. The American Pelican from two weeks ago didn’t show up, but it was a great birding day for raptors. I started calling it a hat trick – Osprey, Peregrine and Cooper’s – but don’t know what you could call a day with SIX different raptor species on the list other than OUTSTANDING!

A Weekend at Bernheim Forest

My husband volunteers at Bernheim Forest and won a night at the lodge maintained for VIPs, so we took advantage of the offer last weekend. The 95 degree heat continued, and our hikes were less ambitious than they might otherwise have been. Sitting out by the lake in the evening, watching the stars come out, the airplanes overhead, and spotting bats, an owl, and the occasional shooting star across the sky, topped the weekend's activities. We talked about nothing and everything--something that married couples don't do very often.

Despite the heat and drought, we managed to spot a few firsts for our birding list. Bernheim "Forest" has a large prairie near the entrance, which was full of Field Sparrows. We've heard them before, but this is the first time we ever actually saw them. The grass bends down when the bird lands to eat the small seeds, but not too much since the birds are lightweights. This one posed and sang to confirm his identity. In a nearby tree along the edge of the prairie, a flash of bright yellow turned out to be a Prairie Warbler (I think) rather than a Gold Finch, although the Gold Finches were the most common bird we saw or heard all weekend.

Along Lake Nevin we found a Great Blue Heron just standing in the shallows preening himself. He should have moved to the shade though, because the heat made him pant. A juvenile Green Heron came by a little later. We brought the spotting scope out to really appreciate the Heron, but left the digiscoping adapter at home. We got some nice pictures of the inside of the scope, but nothing of the birds! A pair of grebes paddled along in the middle of the lake, then disappeared when they dove under the water. Barn Swallows swooped over the lake for bugs and a drink of water on the wing. The light bellied birds may have been Tree Swallows, or female Purple Martins. A group of Martin houses stand by the lake, but I wasn't sure if the birds we saw were Martins or not. The lake was down quite a bit, since it's been so dry all summer, and the edges were muddy, just the right spot for Killdeer.

The list for the dry, hot weekend includes:

• Great Blue Heron
• Baltimore Oriole
• Killdeer
• Prairie Warbler
• Juvenile Green Heron
• Indigo Bunting
• Eastern Woods Peewee
• Canadian Geese
• Carolina Wren
• Cardinal
• Barn Swallows
• Song Sparrow
• Chipping Sparrow
• Owl (unknown variety)
• Gold Finch
• Field Sparrow
• Bats

We'll have another night at the lodge, I'm sure, when we can light a fire in the fireplace, toast marshmallows and listen to old records. This weekend, we were just glad the air conditioning worked!

Hazy, Hot and Humid - The Dog Days of Summer

The "Dog Days of Summer" come with the Kentucky State Fair, and I've always called it Fair Weather. We have conditions of 95 degrees in temperature, 95% humidity and Indiana disappears altogether in the haze and pollution when you try to look across the river. Now, schools start in mid-August, so children have to concentrate while sweating if they are in non-air conditioned buildings. We've always had this kind of weather in late summer, I suppose, but you notice it more when moving from A/C to non-A/C. I remember moving to the basement in the summer as much as possible when I was growing up. Even with air conditioning, my interest in outside activities lessens in this hot weather, thus the lack of entries in the blog in the last few weeks.

At the Falls of the Ohio, the Army Corps of Engineers closed down the gates in the dam in May this year, since there was not a steady supply of rain. The river depth at the gauge above the McAlpine Dam is about 12-12.5 feet now. The barge companies are complaining that they cannot put a full load on their barges due to the shallow depth of the water. Occasionally, the Corps will open the gates just a bit to flush out the stagnant water at the Falls, and all the birds appreciate it. Castellations cut in the dam allow water to flow into the ponds and marshes required by the birds and animals all year. Small springs feed puddles on the Lower Fossil Beds, and early in the morning ducks such as this female Wood Duck come to look for bugs and small aquatic life before the people and heat arrive.

As the water recedes, more rocks are exposed, covered with a layer of silt that proves attractive to many birds. Herons and Egrets leave their tracks in the mud. They take flight if you come too close to the mudflats and go sit in a tree in the shade - not a bad idea. Yesterday we saw two Ospreys on a branch overhanging one of the waterfalls, and then they moved to the shallows where they just sipped water and waded around. Either it was just too hot to fly and fish, or these were juveniles who have not perfected their fishing skills yet. I suspect the later. It was great to get them in the spotting scope and invite our visitors to watch them, since we don't see the Ospreys as often as the other birds.

Falls Afterglow

As I waited for the bus Monday morning, I gave serious consideration to calling in sick. The air was cool, the breeze pleasant, and the sky absolutely cloudless, a condition we don't see often in July in the Ohio Valley. However, duty called and I got on the bus when it arrived. To my amazement, the same weather conditions held when I got home after work, so we jumped in the car to spend the evening at the Falls of the Ohio.

A man sat on the shore with a spotting scope, so we asked what he had found so far. "Not much," he replied. We were heading to the Point to look for Ospreys, and he and his wife decided to come along. Lucky for us, this was an experienced birder and member of the Beckham Bird Club in Louisville, and he saw more little birds than I ever would have seen on my own. His good scope came in handy too for the Cedar Waxwings, and other smaller birds. We found a Pileated Woodpecker heading into the nest for the night. At least, we saw it go in and not come out for about 10 minutes.

A beaver swam downstream, and a groundhog spied on us from his creek-bank den under some roots. The Osprey was sitting in a branch waaayy downstream. I don't know how Tom ever found it, even with the scope. We hoped to see the Screech Owl along the edge of the woods as the light faded, but no luck there. Tom also told us about a wetlands on the other side of the levy which I had not heard of before. We climbed the 1,000 foot levy (well, it felt that tall to me) to see several acres of wetland, backed up by at least two small beaver dams. Come back in November and see all the ducks here, Tom invited.

The sun turned the sky red, orange, and purple as it dipped below the horizon, with the color combinations changing every few seconds. It seemed that the water itself caught fire. A dog and his best friend waded in the flaming shallow waters, and Canadian Geese paddled serenely. As we drove out of the park, I talked about coming back another time with my tripod to take photos of the Louisville skyline at night. Well, no time like the present, tripod or not, so we parked the car at Ashland Park, where all good photographers go for skylines at twilight. I never knew before that the upstream side of the McAlpine Dam has a large, lit sign that says DANGER. Sometimes boaters a little the worse for their day on the river, float down pasted the bridges, too close to the dam. I hope the sign is enough to get their attention.

Peregrine Falcons on the Ohio

We have had a pair of Peregrine Falcons nesting in the old Big Four Bridge on the Ohio for several years. The Big Four is a railroad bridge that goes nowhere, since the approaches on each side of the river were removed at least 20 years ago. Unlike other cities where the falcons nest in boxes on a skyscraper ledge, we do not have any sort of live cam to track the falcons. Sometimes you get lucky, though, and see them flying around downtown.

Occasionally, we get really lucky and see them flying over the Falls of the Ohio too. Saturday morning was the first time I've seen them this year. I had walked up near the dam, trying for some good shots of the herons and egrets in the shallow water. Suddenly, I heard a kakkak-ing noise and looked up under the railroad trestle. One falcon swooped overhead carrying something in its talons almost half as big as it was. Close behind was another bird, about the size of a crow, chasing it. In the rear was another falcon, trying to chase off the crow. Given the size and apparent weight of the prey, the lead falcon eventually had to drop the prey. It was just too much to carry and maneuver at the same time. The crow went away, and both falcons landed on the trestle to re-group. Finally, a chance for me to get some photos of them, since the ones I got during the flight were pretty blurry. One seems to have a more buff colored belly, while the other clearly has stripes on the belly. I don't know if this is gender related, but I suspect that one of them may have been a juvenile.

One of the other volunteers said he had seen two falcons the other day over the river. They were calling loudly back and forth, and one had something in its talons. At some point, the lead bird dropped its cargo and the second caught it mid-air. Falcons teach their young how to hunt by such practices, so I think this was the parent and fledgling playing catch with a small bird.

PS: I heard from Adam Smith with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife about our falcons. He confirmed that the buff breasted one was the adult, and they more striped breast belongs to a juvenile. He also said that the Big Four pair fledged four youngsters this year, but one of the is in rehab for a while, and should get well enough that he can be released. Good news!

Wrens Wrule

A friend who is a cross-word puzzle freak says that a recurring clue for a "songbird" is always answered as "wren." Being unfamiliar with birds, she didn't know why this was such an obvious answer. One of the basic birding rules says "The loudness of the birdsong is inversely proportional to the size of the bird," and I believe the rule describes all wrens. This small brown bird with the short upturned tail, wins the prize for Loudest Singer around. Although diminutive in size, wrens are not shy about defending themselves. This little Carolina Wren sat and scolded me for about 15 minutes while I took pictures of him. A pair nested under the eaves of our garage, flying in and out through an open space we left in the window. I saw the parent once, bringing a twig, and never saw him again, or the babies, except when someone closed all the windows and doors. The parent flew back and forth frantically until I opened the back window for him again. Last fall, we bought a large gourd with a hole drilled in it to use as a bird house, and in the spring we hung it on the back porch light where a robin nested last summer. I was afraid that the hole was too big and the house would be used by sparrows or some other larger bird. To my delight, a pair of House Wrens moved in. Cavity nesters have a lot of common sense. The babies have no risk of falling out of the nest while they are still small. The nest is always sheltered from the wind and rain. My only question is how will the babies stretch and exercise their wings before fledging? There is no room in the gourd for that! Mama Wren is a feisty little thing. Her mate sits in the tree singing his heart out to defend his territory and delight the Dennis family. Mama Wren, however, will come up with a bug in her bill, and chase him all over the yard. I can almost hear her saying, "Get off that branch, you good for nothing songbird, and go catch some bugs to feed the children!" Since then, I notice that both parents are very active in bringing bugs to the gourd. At first the babies were quiet, but now we hear them chirping whenever one of the parents arrive. I hope we are home when they start to fledge. Wouldn't want to miss that. In Washington on our recent vacation, we heard many Marsh Wrens and Winter Wrens. The Marsh Wren is famous for hiding in a tree or a reed, right next to you, singing at the top of his voice, and remaining invisible the entire time. It was a challenge to get the camera to focus on a small brown bird in the middle of all the brown reeds in the marsh. I'll have to look for a camera accessory that focuses on the sound of the bird. I could make lots of money with it among birders!

May the Forest Be With You

The Pacific Northwest is renowned for its temperate rain forests. Usually we associate rain forests with the tropics, and most rain forests are tropical in locale and nature. There are half-a dozen coastal strips meeting the requirements for temperate rain forests: wet, cool, acidic soils; copious networks of flowing water; relatively little disturbance by wildfire or insects; coniferous trees, primarily, with many ferns and mosses, in layered growth; large amounts of organic debris; LOTS of rain.

Olympic National Forest receives over 100 inches of rain each year, caught from the Pacific winds by the tall coastal mountains. You can't walk without stepping on many kinds of lifeforms growing on top of each other.

The forest is a green cathedral - a cliche, no doubt, but very true. As a nature lover, it is a wonderful experience to walk through the cool shady paths, looking at the fern and moss varieties beyond counting. If I didn't like birds so much, this would inspire me to become a "fernologist", or whatever you call someone who studies ferns and mosses. Some ferns grow stems like bushes, then branch out, while others stay close to the ground. You need a magnifying glass to really see the mosses distinctly. This primitive plant life was dominant on earth for millions of years, and still dominates the forests in my view.

As a photographer, however, the forest is frustrating because it is usually too dark to get good photos. It is hard to make the camera pick up the height and sheer mass of the trees. Either the trees are too tall, or too big around, or too crowded against other trees. Trees die from wind damage, most often, but they contribute more to the life of the forest after death than while they stood upright. A "nurse logs" supports the growth of ferns, mosses, and tree seedlings of all kinds. More importantly, when they fall, a space in the canopy is opened to let light in, allowing young plants to sprout and grow as they could not do successfully on the shaded forest floor. Some trees have roots growing in an arch above the ground. They started growing on a nurse log, and reached the ground as the nurse log rotted away.

The cascading forest streams are great photographic topics. Not only is there enough light, but you can make the water blur or stand out in stop action as it tumbles down the mountainside. Mosses and other plants growing on the tree trunks and branches hold water gathered from the air. Rufous hummingbirds feed directly from this stored water, since there aren't many blooming plants. What a thrill to find a salamander under a wet rock or a Banana Slug on the trail. After a wonder-filled, awe-inspiring day in the forest, we drove back to our lodgings outside the park. Unfortunately, most of this drive is through areas that have been heavily timbered. In Washington, this means clear cutting of the forest. In many areas, only piles of branches remain on the ground. The larger companies make an effort to replant as soon as possible, but the smaller tracts lay bare for years. Replanting helps some, but trees that are all the same age do not make a forest, even when they become 30 or 40 years old. The death and varying sizes and ages of the trees are essential to many life forms in the forest. As we drove past these areas, I still had to ask myself if I wanted to give up books and newspapers, paper towels and toilet paper and paper towels, and 2x4's for houses. Isn't there some other way to provide wood products without such devastation? I'm sure greater voices than mine have argued this for years, without much influence apparently.

Vacation Bird Count

While we saw and heard many birds while on vacation in the state of Washington, we didn't really see the kinds of birds we expected at the ocean. It seems that Florida or Carolina always have lots of birds on the beach, including different kinds of gulls and the small wading birds that go down to the ocean and back. In Washington, we learned that large numbers of shore birds appear in early to mid-May for their migration back to Alaska, then they all disappear. This is a valuable lesson: check first to see what birds are in season, so you don't miss them by only two weeks. Inexperience gauging the tides affected our birding success too, since the birds apparently prefer some water rather than just mudflats. We did not realize that high tide is different in the marsh up the bay than it is on the ocean itself. The real surprise was the number and variety of birds at the Sewage Treatment plant ponds!

We saw Herring and Ring Billed Gulls (I think. They never came as close as the Florida gulls for a sure identification). Once I saw some gulls with black heads that I decided were Black-headed Gulls. There were Northern Shovelers, Mallards and Scaup. There were a few Great Blue Herons in the bay, and once we saw a group of Dowitchers. They were back-lit and in silhouette, so we only ID'd them when we saw more at the Seattle Aquarium. Surprisingly, we saw many American Crows wherever we went, whether at the beach or inland. I thought they were Ravens at first, but a Fish and Wildlife officer said they were just crows. They still looked like the trickster, sneaking up and spying on you. Signs prohibited driving on the beach to protect the Snowy Plover.

Small birds were everywhere, especially the White Crowned Sparrow and the Song Sparrow, singing in the trees. I think they must have been having a battle of the songsters, to see who could sing the loudest and longest without stopping. We would see a White Crowned Sparrow in a tree as we started a hike, and he was still in the same tree when we came out over an hour later. The Winter Wren gave them a run for the money too.

Many birds were recognizable variations of Eastern birds. We heard one that sounded like a Nuthatch, and when we finally found it, it was in fact the Red Breasted Nuthatch. This bird can be found in the East, according to the book, although I've never seen one here. There were many Towhees, a Chestnut-backed Chickadee and a variety of Junco with rufous sides, identified by Sibley as an Oregon Junco. The Marsh Wren sang from the marshes waiting for the tide to come in, while the Winter Wren rivaled our backyard Carolina Wren in the volume of its song. Swallows twittered and darted about no matter where we went, ocean, forest or town. They seemed to love the seaside cliffs especially. Although I did not identify a Cliff Swallow, we photographed the Barn Swallow and Tree Swallow when they stopped flying for a minute's rest.

Happily, we saw some of the more Western birds as well, including both Gray and Stellar Jays, and Clark's Nutcracker, which looks more like a Mockingbird in size and coloring. Like Jays everywhere, they have a reputation as a camp thief and signs warn people not to feed them, or the gulls. One clever sign warned the animals not to accept handouts from people who give them food unfit for animals to eat! The Rufous Hummingbird darted at us from behind a huge tree in the rain forest. I'd never really seen Hummingbirds except around feeders. The biggest thrill in our birding was at the beach. We noticed a shadow of something overhead, looked up and saw a juvenile Bald Eagle swoop down to the water, not 10 yards away, grab a large fish in it talons, and fly back up to the cliffs to have lunch. When is someone going to invent the camera that fits in your eye glasses and activates instantly!