We had five species of alcids on Admiralty Sound today–click here to see list. This one was abundant.

We had three species of merganser, and three of loons, including this Common:

It was a constant struggle to pick the occassional loon out of the welter of Red-necked Grebes that were spread across the waves, among hundreds of gulls and alcids.  The Brant, at least, stood out immediately because of their size.

We quickly determined that the average number of Pelagic Cormorant per floating log: 3.

And in one of these blogs soon I will have to tell how we found our orca, but not tonight.

From our birding group on Dosewallips Delta on the Olympic Peninsula:

Brant feeding, loafing, preeninig.  And if you love Brant half as much as I do, you gotta see some more of these pictures.  I never thought I’d get this close to free floating Brant.

For the second round of Northwest birding with a PIB group, check our blog. Bald Eagles, Sandhill Cranes, white geese, dark geese, Peregrine, ducks galore.

Spent some time at the Ankeny NWR this afternoon.  It’s in the Willamette Valley south of Salem, Oregon.  Lots of geese. Many were Dusky.  But there were others:

Next picture below:

a small group of Cackling Geese

And a small cluster of Greater White-fronted in the corner of their own little field.

One of the flights of dark geese moving about Ankeny today.

Pair of male Pintails.

Large Pintails and small Green-winged Teal share the muddy waters.

And watching it all, this Peregrine:

Location:     Ankeny NWR
Observation date:     2/4/10
Number of species:     29

Greater White-fronted Goose     30
Cackling Goose     16
Canada Goose     150
Canada Goose (Dusky)     6000
Tundra Swan     12
American Wigeon     370
Mallard     380
Northern Shoveler     66
Northern Pintail     530
Green-winged Teal     540
Canvasback     25
Lesser Scaup     1
Bufflehead     70
Pied-billed Grebe     2
Great Egret     1
Bald Eagle     2
American Kestrel     4
Peregrine Falcon     1
American Coot     80
Killdeer     16
Northern Flicker (Red-shafted)     6
Western Scrub-Jay     1
American Crow     5
American Robin     35
European Starling     140
Golden-crowned Sparrow     30
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon)     8
Red-winged Blackbird     20
Brewer’s Blackbird     50

Top to bottom:  Golden-crowned Sparrow, near Ashland Pond.

Two Hooded Merganser males.  The one on the left is chasing the other one.  Thus the pursuing male has his white window wide open while the retreating male shows less of his white banner.

Two Ring-necked Duck males, Ashland Pond.

Hey, look me over.  Acorn Woodpecker.

Acorn Woodpecker at work.

Acorn Woodpecker roost holes and granary holes in dead portions of living oak tree, Cougar Run Ranch.

Oak Titmouse hanging out.

One of the common birds of Oregon oak forest along with Acorn Woodpecker, Western Bluebird, White-breasted Nuthatch, Westrern Scrub-jay.

Northern Pygmy-Owl by Peter Kreisman at Emigrant Lake near Ashland.

Bryan Arnold took this picture of the ghostly owl in his home state of Colorado last weekend.

This sequence of Burrowing Owl pics were taken by Don Bruschera at Berkeley.  They are world class.  The pushy mammal in the final photo is the California ground squirrel whose Latin name reflects the species’ scientific discovery by the 1820s expedition commanded by Captain Wm. Beechey,  one of Britain’s great 19th Century explorers.

“Owl’s well that ends well” as we say here in Shakespeare Festival-land.  I have no recent owl pics of my own to share but Kate and I did hear a pair of Screech-Owls tooting in the woods on our evening walk today.  For some owls this is courtship season as many are winter into spring nesters.

Global warming is not good news for many of our dabbling ducks and even some inland-breeding divers. I think we are already seeing the effects in the reduced number of Pintails and Canvsasbacks in North America.

Birds, like dogs and cats, can use keen smell to get where they need to go.

Smell is not alone.  It has been found that birds have extremely sharp hearing.  They pick up sounds far beyond the range of our limited auditory ability.

Here you can see the blogs and pictures from the Northwest trip just finished.

Red-necked Grebe at Potlatch State Park on Hood Canal.

Barrow’s Goldeneye male at the same location.  Click the link above to catch some fine Harlequin pictures as well.

Check out some great ducks-on-bay pictures from Washington State.

Like this Barrow’s Goldeneye male.  Seen on Hood Canal, along the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State.