"Be Your Best Birder" is moving to San Francisco!

I have only ever been to San Francisco once and I remember it being amazing!  Fortunately some of the bird species I already know overlap, somewhat, with this part of California.  I'm going to be exposed to a lot of new species and it will definitely be a new birding challenge!

Stay tuned for many exciting birding posts from California!

Birding in the Methow Valley and Sun Mountain, Washington

Methow River, just south of Winthrop, WA.  Photo by Kelly Wohlwend

Birding Tip #4:  Always carry your binoculars and field guide...you never know when you will need them!

Even if you may think you won't need them, I would suggest bringing them.  For example, I went camping for two days in Eastern Washington on the Methow River.  Wanting to pack lightly I decided to leave my binoculars and field guide at home.  Little did I know the Methow River and surrounding areas are excellent birding habitat.

In this post I will share some of my birding stories from this trip (including an encounter with a great horned owl!) and list the species I was able to identify at three separate locations: near my campsite along the Methow River, Beaver Pond by Sun Mountain Lodge and Patterson Lake.

Bird Counts

(Note: these are not all the birds I saw.  This is a list of the birds I was able to identify without my binoculars or field guide.  I did, however, have a good camera with me with a zoom lens, so I was able to take photos of most of the birds and identify them at home.  Remember your binoculars!).

Key: A Visual ID means I saw the bird and visually identified it.  Audio ID means I heard the bird and identified the bird based on its vocalization.  An asterisk (*) means that I have never seen this bird in nature and it is a first time sighting!

Methow River, ~2 miles south of Winthrop

Lewis's woodpecker, photo by Kelly Wohlwend (author)

• Belted kingfisher (Audio and Visual ID)
• Steller's jay (Audio and Visual ID)
• American robin (Audio and Visual ID)
• Tree swallow (Visual ID)
• Brewer's blackbird (Visual ID)
• Osprey (Audio ID)
• Common merganser (Visual ID)
• Cedar waxwing (Visual ID)
• Lewis's woodpecker* (Visual ID)  
• Cassin's finch (Visual ID)
• Evening grosbeak (Visual ID)
• Northern flicker (Visual and Audio ID)
• American crow (Visual ID)
• Unknown warbler (Visual ID) (Based on the size of the bird and its colors (mostly yellow/green) it was either an orange-crowned warbler - Taiga version, female yellow warbler, or Wilson's warbler.)
• Black-capped chickadee (Audio ID)  (Note: there may also have been chestnut backed chickadees.  I didn't have any Visual ID's and both species sound very similar).

Lewis's woodpecker, photo by Mike Wisnicki

Lewis's woodpecker:

It is somewhat difficult to tell in the upper photo that I saw a Lewis's woodpecker.  However, after observing the bird's feeding and perching behavior I knew it was a woodpecker.  I watched these birds perch on a snag over the river and periodically fly out over the water, perform a few acrobatics and then fly back to the tree, sometimes perching vertically on the side of the trunk...just like a woodpecker.  This feeding behavior is typical of Lewis's woodpeckers that generally do not search for insects by boring holes in trees but by snatching them out of the air (The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, 2011).  Another feature that gave it away is the well-defined notch in the tail.  In my photo I was also able to narrow down the species by its red face, gray collar and long beak.

The Methow River was a birding hotspot!  I couldn't believe the number of birds I saw just along the river bank.  The area of the river I camped at only had a ~10 foot buffer with trees and shrubs between the campground and the river.  This buffer was equally small on the opposite side of the river, which was lined with farms.  It also seemed as if the birds were using the river as a corridor.  I watched common mergansers and other ducks travel up and downstream, staying within the river's buffer.  Other birds, such as the belted kingfisher, also traveled up and down the river, diving for fish.  There was a massive amount of insects, which most likely accounted for the high number of insectivorous birds in the area.  

Our next stop...Beaver Pond Trail near Sun Mountain Lodge

Great horned owl, photo by Kelly Wohlwend (author)

• Great horned owl* (Visual ID)
• Merlin falcon (Visual and Audio ID)
• Spotted towhee (Visual ID)
• Black-capped chickadee (Visual and Audio ID)
• Red-breasted nuthatch (Audio ID)
• Juvenile wood duck* (Visual ID)
• Osprey nest (no birds present, photo below)

Osprey nest, photo by Kelly Wohlwend

The Beaver Pond Trail is an easy, mostly flat trail that is ~1.5 miles round trip.  When I first started on the trail I wasn't expecting much wildlife because of it's location near the road and relatively short distance.  Oh was I wrong!  The trail began in a beautiful setting near the pond, lined in cattails and various wetland plants.  The pine forest was also stunning, with bright, red bark and a forest floor littered in pine needles and cones.  White bark of quaking aspen speckled the forest edge and their leaves sang in the breeze.  Shortly after beginning the trail, a cacophony of Douglas fir squirrels broke the silence.  At first I thought the alarms were due to our presence on the trail, however, they were most likely for the great horned owl that silently lept from its perch and soared silently through the trees.  I was elated.  I knew it was an owl because of its size and the fact it didn't even rustle a leaf on its departure.  I'm surprised I even saw it.  We followed the owl down the path, getting glimpses of it as it flew in silence from one perch to the next.  Finally, it stopped long enough for us to admire it.  A few times it even turned its head, stared at me and made eye contact.  It was a very eerie feeling and it definitely gave me goose bumps. Once I was able to get a good visual of the owl I knew it was a great horned owl because of the feathered ear tufts.  The size of the bird also eliminates other owl species with ear tufts, however, it can be confused with the similarly sized barred owl.  Barred owls do not have ear tufts and they have completely different facial markings.

Great horned owl, photo by Kelly Wohlwend (author)

Merlin falcon, Taiga subspecies, photo by Kelly Wohlwend

Another absolutely, amazing bird we saw along this trail, not too far from the owl, was a Merlin falcon.  Having spent over a year studying Merlin falcons in Bellingham, Washington, the second I saw it I knew it was a Merlin.  It was perched on a snag overhanging the water, occasionally scanning its surroundings.  I was even more thrilled when I heard the characteristic, high-pitched "ki-ki-ki-ki" vocalization of the Merlin.  I was certain that the one I was looking at wasn't vocalizing, which meant that at least two Merlins were in the area.  There are various subspecies of Merlin falcon, including Pacific, Taiga and Prairie.  This is a Taiga subspecies because of the bright, brownish-red chest and lightly colored head (not as light as the Prairie subspecies, however).  

Photo by Christopher L. Wood

Photo by Cameron Rognan

The Merlin falcon (left) is often confused with other species, including peregrine falcon (right).  The Merlin falcon is smaller (by nearly half) and has vertical barring on the chest (adult peregrine falcons have more horizontal barring).  Also, the wing tips on Merlins do not reach the tip of the tail, unlike peregrine's.  Another feature used to distinguish the two is the head.  The Merlin has a white eye stripe (not as evident in the Pacific subspecies) and black lines on the cheeks, resembling a mustache.  The peregrine has a prominent, solid mustache that is not lined and white cheeks.

Last stop...birding on Patterson Lake

Male belted kingfisher, photo by Ed Schneider

Common raven, photo by Chuq Von Rospach

• Great blue heron
• Belted king fisher
• Common raven
• Canada geese

My time on Patterson Lake was spent in a kayak so it was difficult to really do accurate birding.  Above are the species I was able to identify with only my naked eyes and by any vocalizations.  The lake is ~1.5 miles long and is a great place for kayaking.  There are also a few trails that provide hiking along the lake and also great vantage points. What I did enjoy about kayaking Patterson Lake was how quiet the area was.  Having the lake almost entirely to ourselves, made us feel as if we were further from civilization than we actually were.  It also made the loud, croaking call of the common raven reverberate off the hills, leaving us with a chilling feeling as we floated over the still water.

My exciting birding journey in the Methow Valley was made even more memorable as I was serenaded to sleep by the "hoot hoot" of the great horned owl's song on my last night in Eastern Washington.

Thank you for following me on my journey around the Methow River Valley.  I hope my adventures encourage you to explore these amazing habitats.  Remember, don't forget your binoculars or field guide!

References:

Sibley, Allen D.  2003.  The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America.  New York: Alfred A. Knopf.  471 pp.  

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, 2011, http://www.allaboutbirds.org

Identifying Birds in the Field: The Basics

ID that bird! exercise below.

Birding Tip #3: Get to know your birding field guide(s).  By studying your guide, you'll be able to recognize birds easier and find them faster in your guide while in the field.  You'll be surprised when you can identify a bird in the field that you haven't seen before in person but you've seen it in your guide!

The Sibley Field Guide to Birds by David Sibley is a very concise field guide and it's easy to use.  One of my favorite features of this guide is the variety of images for each species.  Since birds can trick you by changing plumage from winter to spring and the variance between males and females, it's handy to have a guide that shows you the difference.  The images are very thorough and they show you important field marks that make it easier to identify individual species.  We will look at field markers in a moment. 
 
In this guide, each family of birds has a summary page that introduces the family with some background information, separates the family into genera, provides an image of each species and gives the page number.  This page makes it easier to navigate the different families (left).

Once you get to the species you're interested in, the guide tells you some background about that species, such as whether the species is common or not, where it can be found, a physical description and the typical vocalization (right).  You will also have a range map for that species showing it's range during winter, summer, where it occurs year-round, during migration and where it is rarely seen.  In this example, you can see the variety of images of the dark-eyed junco, the Oregon and pink-sided varieties. 

I like this guide because it shows you almost every variation of that species.  It shows male and female, juvenile and any other commonly seen variations, such as the pale adult, seen below.  In the photo below you will see the dark head of the dark-eyed junco, Oregon variety.  This feature is a field mark.

photo by Ted Schroeder

So, what's a field mark?   A field mark is a visually distinct feature that distinguishes a certain species or even a family. To the right is a slate-colored variety of the dark-eyed junco.  This picture also shows another very distinctive field mark used to identify dark-eyed juncos.  Can you see it?  The white tail bars on each side of the tail occur in all junco varieties and are very apparent while in flight.




When birding, there are a few, very basic questions that should run through your head the second you see a bird.

1. How big is it relative to other birds?  For example, is it bigger or small than a robin?  If it's smaller it may be a sparrow or a finch.  If it's about the same size it may be a thrush or grosbeak.  If it's bigger than it may be a jay or a crow.  This may seem arbitrary, but it's a very simple process of elimination that you can do rather quickly.
2. Where am I?  This may seem like a silly question, but it's important to know where you are.  Are you on the beach or deep in an old growth forest?  This will make a big difference in the birds you're going to see.  For example, you know if you're standing in a forest far from the ocean you're unlikely to be searching the waterfowl section.  On a broader scale, you should compare where you are on a national scale (or within a state) to the range map for the particular bird (once you have identified it).  
3. Are there any field marks?  Does the bird have a definitive feature that allows you to quickly narrow down the search?  The most common field maks are going to be color pattern.  Let's consider two relatively common species, the golden-crowned sparrow and the white-crowned sparrow. 

Golden-crowned sparrow, photo by Jeffrey Rich

White-crowned sparrow, photo by Linda Williams

 Apart from size (the golden-crowned sparrow is slightly larger) these two birds look relatively similar.  So can you identify the field mark used to distinguish these two species?  (Hint: the names give it away!).   The golden-crowned has a yellow fore-crown (the rest is white) and the white-crowned has a completely white crown.  Can you see any other differences in these two species?  Another noticeable feature is also on the head.  The white-crowned sparrow has a white eye stripe while the golden-crowned has a black cap.  I also think the golden-crowned sparrow looks tired, because it looks like it has bags under it's eyes.

Now that we have learned the basics on identifying birds, let's do an exercise.  Feel free to grab a field guide!

Below is a photo I took of a bird in my backyard.  Let's try to identify it using the questions we discussed.

Photo by Kelly Wohlwend (Author)

Ask yourself question #1, how big is this bird?  I'll help you out here, this bird is smaller than a robin.  

What about question #2, where am I?  Here's another clue, I live in a forested suburb in Western Washington at the base of the Cascade Mountain Range foothills near sea level.  

Lastly, question #3, are there any field marks?  Look for distinctive features that stand out.  How about that long tail that seems to stand upright?  It may be hard to see in this picture but do you see a white eye stripe above the eye?  Also take note of the color, what color is the bird's body and chest?  

If you have looked through a birding field guide enough you may know that this bird is a wren.  How did I know?  Wrens have a very telltale feature that makes them stand out, their tail.  Wrens generally keep their tails upright.  Some wrens, such as the pacific wren have short tails but they all stand up straight, sometimes at a 90 degree angle to the body. 

Marsh wren, photo by Marie Read

So now that you know this bird is a wren, have you figured out which one?  If you have pulled out your field guide (or are just a more experienced birder!) you will see that more than one wren has a long, cocked tail and a white eyebrow.  That is why the area you are birding in is important.  You may mistake this bird for a marsh wren, however, marsh wrens are found where their name implies, in wetland habitats (right). 

The mystery bird may also be confused with the house wren, however, the house wren has a less distinctive eyebrow and prominent, black stripes on the wing feathers.

So given all this, what bird did I photograph in my backyard?


(Answer below...no peeking!)









The answer is...a bewick's wren!

I hope you had fun and learned some helpful tools that will help you Be Your Best Birder! 


References:


Sibley, Allen D.  2003.  The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America.  New York: Alfred A. Knopf.  471 pp.  

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, 2011, http://www.allaboutbirds.org

*book images taken from  Sibley, Allen D.  2003.  The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America.  New York: Alfred A. Knopf.  471 pp.