Eastern Washington Birds

Went to Eastern Washington this weekend! Saw some amazing birds I couldn't find on the west coast, also some cute land mammals. I think the colorful birds were really the most spectacular. Other ones I couldn't photograph were also Turkey Vultures and red Tailed Hawks. Birds are great.

Lazuli Bunting

Black Headed Grosbeak

Northern Rough Legged Swallow

Osprey

Western Bluebird

Sage Thrasher

Random adorable Yellow Pine Chipmunk! First I've ever seen :)

Babies!

Spring is the season for babies! I saw at least 30-35 goslings today and about 15 ducklings. How adorable. I love baby animals and ducklings and goslings are just little puffballs!

Catching Birds

I went mist-netting this week! It was amazing. Holding birds and learning about them, their feathers/bills/behavior and how to take data is a great experience. Anyone else gone mist-netting? What did you catch? More to come!

Olympic National Park

Went on a field trip to the Olympic National Park area of Washington State this past weekend as a TA for an Environmental Studies class. It was awesome. Spent one day at an old growth forest identifying trees, shrubs, herbs, and mushrooms/fungi. Spent the next day at a beach looking at tidepool/shore critters. I have never seen so much biodiversity in one little area. I will definitely upload pictures. I saw a pacific giant octopus for the first time ever outside an aquarium. So awesome. And I touched a newt. Field courses are the best.

A Spot of Sunshine

A little male American Goldfinch. He was sitting and singing in a little pink Dogwood tree. Just a little bright spot on a nice spring day. I hope i see more colorful little birds in my yard this spring as the flowers start to grow and bloom. I love to hear all the bird songs in the mornings.

Magnuson Park

Went to Magnuson Park this week.

Gadwall

Eurasian Wigeon

Redwing Blackbird

Ring Necked Duck

Canada Goose

pretty brown Domestic Duck/Mallard mix

female Bufflehead

male Bufflehead

Savannah Sparrow

I also saw a beaver swimming around, but didn't manage to get a picture. Maybe next time.

Ravenna Park!

The neatest things I saw at Ravenna

Brittle Cinder (Kretzschmaria deusta)

Polypores

Polypores 

I really like lichens, fungi, and moss in addition to birds! I wish I were better at identifying them! Maybe I just need a better guide.... and more practice. :)

Red fruiting moss

Not sure what this is

weird, huh?

Yay! Exploring!

Owling in Ravenna

Cute Barred Owl in Ravenna! My friend with me saw a large pair of wings flash by in the shadowy canopy of Ravenna park. It was evening, perhaps 5 or 6 pm on a weekday night. We were out looking at nature, trees, shrubs, fungi; but our main goal was to find owls. Owls are the highlight of Ravenna Park in Seattle! In the whole big bustling city is a secret paradise for owls. This was the second time I had seen a Barred Owl in Ravenna, but not a day later I saw another! It was magical; to stumble across owls in a city park two days in a row.

Owl looking down at me

This owl was seen fairly low in the tree. No more than 20, 30 tops, feet off the ground. I'm not a good judge of distance though. After looking for him, when we finally saw him we were shocked. How could we not see such a big shadow sitting on a tree branch staring at us? I love how he's looking directly at me in this picture.

I also saw him rotating his head, looking around. He was super on the patrol, guarding his territory. I heard that owls have to guard large amounts of territory. It was really cool to see his head rotating practically 360 degrees.

Whatchya looking at Mr. Barred Owl? Listening to the crows flying home to roost for the night? D'aww.