Short Bird Day

very blurry snowy owl
 

I had to get out this weekend so I spent a little time on Eide Rd., Thomle Rd., and Boe Rd. around Stanwood looking for critters and practicing some more with my big lens. Snowy owls need to be closer for a decent photo with my 500mm lens. It was great to see them, though. I saw 3 or 4 just hanging out which they seem to do a lot- sit and watch. These were all  perched on the ground. Often they sit on buildings, fenceposts, large pieces of driftwood, farm equipment, and sometimes trees. Generally, these perches are in open areas- mudflats, pastures, etc. Being birds of the arctic it makes sense. Great birds. It's always a gift when the juveniles move down here every few years to spend the winter with us.

 



dunlin roosting in plowed field



 Along Boe Rd. I saw a bunch of little light spots running all over a plowed field. There were taller birds with them. The predictable dunlin and black-bellied plovers were taking advantage of the dirt field feeding on invertebrates of all sorts. They flew up with the large flock of red-winged blackbirds, never tightening into the tight twisting flash when being hunted by a merlin. Falcons are around but I wasn't there long enough to see any. My experience over the years I have almost always seen black-bellied plovers hanging around the larger flocks of dunlin. Unfortunately, I didn't think to look through the flock for the wayward golden plover. Next time.

killdeer and black-bellied plover hanging together

Towards the end of my short adventure I found a bunch of killdeer just sitting in the field together looking around and not doing anything. I found the above two birds sitting together at the end of the field. It was later in the day so I guess they were roosting together. I haven't seen killdeer and plovers hanging out so this was a new encounter and they posed for me! All in all a decent couple of hours even if I didn't get the big list of raptors folks have been seeing out here. Next adventure Harrison River for the thousands of bald eagles!