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Lucky you guys, Bill & Terry, having a resident Merlin. They're really interesting to watch and rather rare in these parts. There was one I was watching in North Portland for a while in the spring, it may have moved on, I did not see it the past few times I was out there. I'm sure you guys will keep up with this one. They do like to take other birds. You guys may get some shots similar to this, if you haven't already
It's probably premature to say the marsh merlin is a resident. I didn't see it at the marsh tonight although I left about an hour and a half before sunset.
Saturday's (8/9) avian action started in my own back yard with an adult red-breasted nuthatch feeding a bug to a fledgling while perched on one of my Doug firs.
Sunday evening (8/10) I saw a small raptor preening itself on the south side of the marsh. I thought it was the marsh merlin as it was perched in one of the trees above Willow Creek that the merlin has been using.
A close look at my photos revealed it to be a juvie Cooper's or sharp-shinned hawk.
Wesley, the male Anna's hummer who guards the west viewing platform of the marsh, has been MIA all summer. Part of the problem may be that the maritime training school has expanded its presence in the space behind the boardwalk. It tore out the blackberry vines and put rocks on the ground, which may be what is killing the trees where Wesley would perch.
Sunday evening I saw two hummers in Wesley's dying tree. It may have been a mother and fledgling, as male Anna's are highly territorial and won't tolerate the presence of other males. I had to look into the sun to get these photos.
Nice reflections in that last shot, Bill. Looks like a pretty high tide tonight - I might try to make it out. With the hazy conditions, maybe the harsh sun might get filtered a bit.
Monday morning (8/11) my son Daren, our friend Young Dave, and I took advantage of the super moon's super low tide to walk the beach south from the Marina Park off leash dog park below Pt. Edwards toward Pt. Wells. We saw no eagles, but a kingfisher and some purple martins put on a good show. I'll post photos of them later, but first I want to post up these photos.
Which one of these birds is different from the others?
Looking at my Sibley's, this may be a juvenile long-tailed jaeger.........
......or it could be just another juvie gull.
I'll post a link to these photos on Tweeters and see what the advanced and expert birders think. It would be quite ironic if this turns out to be a jaeger as Dave told me during the walk that he wants to find one this year.
Hmmmmmm - hope the experts chime in, Bill. If it is a juvie long-tailed Jaeger, based on my nat'l geo field guide range, "migrating birds uncommon to fairly common well off West Coast (fall); rare in interior West (mainly early fall)." It certainly would be rare.
So far the vote from Tweeters is for a very dark, first year California gull. The colors look identical to the illustration in my Sibleys of a juvie long-tailed jaeger, but the bill is a too large. A long-tailed jaeger certainly would be rare.
I'll go with the dark juvie CAGU, esp. given the company it's keeping w/adult CAGUs.
*The jaeger that we're most likely to see on inland waters is the Parasitic Jaeger, usually following the flocks of Bonaparte's Gulls and Common Terns that come through in spring and fall.
No nature photography over the weekend. Like Terry said, things will be slow until the winter migrants start arriving next month. Here are some shots from Friday (8/15).
The herons are back at the marsh now that the eagles have left town.
The king fishers remain active. I caught one perching on one of the salmon statues at the marina.
A pigeon guillemot in non-breeding plumage off the fishing pier.
A gull chowing down on an urchin atop the marina breakwater.
Janine and I spent several minutes photographing the Cooper's hawk. It would perch on a something, swoop down, and come back up to find a new perch. It was not very shy and would let you get fairly close to photograph it.
Judging by the droppings on the telephone line, it appears the hawk has been perching there for awhile.
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