Bird Watching - The Outdoor Directory for Birding

At times I feel like an apostle for comfortable lawn chairs as an essential tool as important as good binoculars for birding. I felt a bit weary at the end of a busy week at work. Dealing with the issues of placing an aged relation in a good assisted living home added to the weeks fatigue. I decided to just sit for several hours in the woods this weekend in a very comfortable French made folding lawn chair and simply waited quietly to see what birds Idi could see. Over 16 species of songbirds, a red squirrel and several chipmunks approached within 5 feet. I also spotted several larger birds in the distance like turkey vultures, red tail hawks and a bald eagle. People moving around upright make all creatures not just birds cautious. When we sit or recline quietly we have assumed an unthreatening posture and nature's creatures feel safer to go about their daily routines foraging for food in close proximity. i also take my folding chair to the ocean and the mountains for lawn chair birding. Try it!

Posted by bill@birdingguide.com at 05:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The tens of thousands of migrating shorebirds and waterfowl I saw on the coast a couple of weeks ago comprised the highlight of this years birding for me. This weeks cloud of songbirds that descended upon my yard and bird feeders here in the woods of Western Oregon made up another highlight. Can you have two highlights or are they mutually exclusive? The trees are so filled with the songs of so many birds that there is not much space left in the air for oxygen for anyone to breathe. A lung full of bird song seems as nourishing as actual oxygen.
The bird feeders are emptied so quickly of black oil sunflower seeds that I found it easier to spread a trail of seeds along the top railing of the deck. This gives an easy place all the birds large and small to land without the crowding at the hanging feeders. A 40 foot row of birds eating seeds on the railing also makes for very enjoyable bird watching.
So who has been falling out of the trees to dine? Innumerable Pine Siskins that move around in large groups, American Goldfinches, Evening Grosbeaks so brilliantly colored in black, white and yellow and Purple Finches. The resident Towees, Juncos, Nuthatches and even the larger Stellar Jays have stayed away from the feeders. They only mange to dart in occasionally to grab a seed or two when the visiting hordes fly up to the tops of the alders and birches to chatter and sing before descending back dsown again to the feeding rail. Even the Red Squirrels, much larger than than any of the birds, are intimidated by so many competitors that they are staying away from the feeders. I wonder what will be the next birding highlight of the season?

Posted by bill@birdingguide.com at 08:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We spent the weekend of April 24-25 along the Washington coast in the Grays Harbor and Willapa Bay area watching the migration of shorebirds and geese northward to their breeding grounds. Clouds of birds moving across the mud flats, bay shores and coastal marshes were a thrilling sight. I was able to take some close up photographs which pleased me. Many times the birds are to far away for very detailed photos but this weekend we found a few good locations for photography. Dunlins, Western and Least Sandpipers, Marbled Godwits, Short Billed Dowitchers were on the move by the tens of thousands. Also Black Bellied Plovers and Semi Palmated Plovers were mixed in the flocks of birds Greater Yellowlegs in smaller numbers were a treat to see. Ragged flocks Brandt Geese were on the move too. I stopped counting at 10,000 geese on Sunday afternoon alone.

Canon's 1DMark111 camera performed very nicely enabling me to get some good sharp photos of Sandpipers and Dunlins in flight. With other cameras i have been able to get good photos of the larger birds in flight but never the smaller birds in flight. I am happy with this camera for birds
Some specific areas that were good shorebird locations this spring were Tokeland and Shoalwater Bay, Westport and Ocean Shores, WA. I did not have time to explore the Long Beach Pennisula but in past years that area has been fantastic for shorebirds. The Sandpiper Trail boardwalk near Bowerman Airport in Grays Harbor was great for seeing the most variety of shorebirds in a single location but the boardwalk keeps you too far from the birds for good photography. The vibrations of the boardwalk as people walk by make using large telephoto camera lens problematic.

Continue reading "Spring Shorebird Migration" »

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