Favorite Birds!

Tom will know more, but Ouzels really are delightful. They're not shy, so you can watch them at length. They'll go under water in a creek and then pop up onto a rock in a flash–really charming. I once got to watch a Pileated Woodpecker hack away at a downed log for fifteen minutes. These are large woodpeckers, somewhat rare, and they really go at the wood–pieces fly! This was in early spring–still snow in patches–just outside of little Yosemite Valley. Oh, and I once startled up a raptor who had just killed a large rat, perhaps, or a marmot. He dropped it, flew up, then returned for his prey, dragged it off under a bush and started to eat it. I was able to photograph the bird with his head all bloody. He just looked at me, daring me to approach. I sensed that it had intense pride in its kill.

"Quite often I see them building nests in rocks behind waterfalls." Classic Ouzel behavior. "…Tell us about that Ouzel Tom Kirchner!" Anything I write would pale beside Muir's monograph. For true insight, go to the link I posted above and enjoy a master naturalist waxing poetic while at the same time displaying the keen perceptiveness of a gifted naturalist. I can only share individual experiences from my years of watching them, some near mystical(usually while watching an ouzel frolic in a stream in the moonlight), one X-rated, and many which just reaffirmed to me that all was well and that I was not being overly disruptive of the flow of life in the Sierra. I just came across these clips on YouTube. They will give you a good idea of what the Ouzel is about. After viewing, picture the scene playing out under a full moon on a stream up in Kaweah Basin, just before it plunges over a 300 foot precipice. Flowing mercury and fluid motion. Mystical. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDDctrtRsus https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyFEbuy8RUg

I had posted about this almost two years ago, but I had wonderful surprise and quite the gift when I found my entire SD card on my trail cam full of Golden Eagle shots. I had set it on a fresh mountain lion kill and got plenty of footage on that. Then as I was hiking up to get my card I saw a huge bird fly into the fog and rain. The last shot I am posting here is when it flew away because I was approaching. I did not know what I had just seen. There were actually two, taking turns to feed on the deer carcass for four or five days. The camera was set at mountain lion height and these birds were very large… Link to their vocalization : http://youtu.be/66M4ZSjvGUQ Now that I know I look for them up very high in the sky and maybe once a month I am so lucky to spot them. The whole experience made them one of my favorites, but I also love little finches and our California quail.

"I had posted about this almost two years ago" And it is as awesome now as the first time you posted it. Those last two pictures remind me of what I saw when one of them launched itself from a tree behind me on a bushwhack down Whitney Creek into Kern Canyon long ago. It passed about 5 feet overhead and scared the living bejeezus out of me. They are huge, and my enduring memory is of those meat hooks dangling down below that very wide wingspan as it glided silently down stream, weaving effortlessly among the pines. I wasn't even aware of it until it was in front of me, and to this day I wonder if it hadn't considered me possible prey only to change its mind at the last minute. Whatever, it is a scene I will remember to my dying day. What magnificent birds! Thanks, Katharina, for a trip down memory lane.

I remember those shots Kat, the third one down is beautiful.

Wood Thrush I first noticed these on an Appalachian trail trip. The song sounds like a flute. https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/wood-thrush (pics and song)

Spotted Towhee I saw this bird for the first time in Grand Gulch. While sitting at camp I heard a rustling in the leaves and saw this bird foraging. It was not scared of me at all and came within a few feet walking right by me..lol. https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/spotted-towhee https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXulEelu2WE (foraging)

Favourite bird song, Hermit Thrush. Other bird pics from hiking and kayaking Vancouver Island, Turkey Vulture, Bald Eagle (Seagull for lunch).

Once, hiking down from Vogelsang pass in patchy snow, I came on a mother quail. We stood looking at each other, and then one at a time, eight!! chicks came scurrying up. I'm sure that she was showing them off. Another time I watched a mother grouse go through several stages of acting while trying to fend me off when I approached and chicks were near. she feigned injury in a variety of ways and then finally ballooned up as a last resort, trying to frighten me off. Birds can show a lot of emotion! edit: now that I'm off work, I'll add that the Townsend's Warbler is possibly my favorite bird in the Sierra. Assuming that I've identified the bird correctly! I'm terrible at that. It's a surprisingly colorful bird that seems more suited to a pet shop. But I've found it at altitude–always a joy. Someone correct me if I've named the wrong bird! (I don't know how to attach photos.) another edit: John, your link brings up Blackburnian Warbler. Is that my Townsend's Warbler?

My favorite individual bird?

My favorite bird species? Hard to choose but maybe one of the many varieties of Egret.

That picture warrants an explanation Jim! I really liked the second video Tom. Water birds are something else… I was once at the bottom of dive out spearfishing, maybe 40 feet deep, and I spot a cormorant chasing fish at nearly the same depth…truly bizarre. This world never ceases to amaze.

Wow those are some beautiful bird pics! Love that bald eagle above! Im partial to loons. Their call is just out of this world. Combined with their role as one of the top predators of their environment, I kind of see them as the wolves of the lake. I dont know how to link stuff though sorry.

Ahh yes, the Loon.

Jefferey, you’re in luck! Townsend’s Warblers can be found in the Bay area in Spring and Fall. I saw a couple this morning in fact. It did look a lot like a juv. Blackburnian, though apparently they are very rare in the west. one from Spring

Thanks, Sharon. However, upon further memory jog, I was thinking of the Western Tanager. (I'll identify a bird and then, a year later, stumble to remember it.) So, I should have said: one of my favorite birds in the Sierra is the Western Tanager. It's the red coloring around the head that I was missing in the Townsends Warbler. But I'll be on the lookout for this latter bird in my local hills!

That picture warrants an explanation Jim! I volunteer at The Raptor Center. During a statewide charitable giving promotion I made a small donation that was randomly chosen to have several zeroes added to it. Somehow they felt obligated to say thank you by allowing me to release a rehabilitated Bald Eagle.

Not necessarily my favorite birds to watch in the wild, but very common in several of the spots my wife and I kayak, and always interesting to watch, especially with their young. Notice the dragonfly?

"Ahh yes, the Loon." An iconic denizen of Northern Michigan lakes. Their haunting call used to give me goose bumps as a kid while rowing a boat one of our countless lakes just after sunset. The water limpid and black, the trees onshore silhouetted against a fading, orange sky, then……. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ENNzjy8QjU

" Water birds are something else…" +1 I have a special affinity for them, going back to my childhood in Northern Michigan. I spent a lot of time on, in, and around water up there, and water birds were an integral part of the environment. Gulls, loons, ducks, geese, bitterns, herons, cranes, sand pipers, plovers, and more that I can't remember off the top of my head. I grew to love them all. So, I guess it's no surprise that I took the Ouzel into my heart when I finally found my way up into the Sierra. "I was once at the bottom of dive out spearfishing, maybe 40 feet deep, and I spot a cormorant chasing fish at nearly the same depth…truly bizarre. This world never ceases to amaze." 500 million years of constant genetic innovation and winnowing has produced a multitude of life forms, all superbly adapted to their specific environment. It is a source of continuous wonder for me whenever I venture forth, be it up high in the mountains, in a forest or swamp, or beneath the surface of an ocean. Oh hell, even in my garden when I had one. But I have never had the pleasure/privilege of seeing a cormorant in action 40 feet down. What I would give for the opportunity. Pretty cool, Craig

What a great thread; thanks Craig! And thanks you and Tom for the kind words of the Eagle pictures. Loons, Warblers, Thrushes….this is just what I needed. A little bit at a time instead of being overwhelmed by hundreds of birds in a book. Those Blad Eagle pictures are very impressive. I will have to dig up some bird pictures I have on my trail cameras that are unknown to me and someone will probably be able to help me here. :)

I always like seeing these guys this is at 10 Lakes Tuolumne… "The Sooty Grouse, Dendragapus fuliginosus, is a species of forest-dwelling grouse native to North America's Pacific Coast Ranges. It is so closely related to the Dusky Grouse, Dendragapus obscurus, that until recently there was some debate whether they were separate species." https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/sooty-grouse

I love the deep sooty grouse call.

"I love the deep sooty grouse call." Me, too. Up here in the Cascades they are very common, and on a misty morning the sound seems to get amplified, to the point where you can practically feel it. A lot of the time they will let you get quite close before they take flight, which has led to them being affectionately called "the fools hen". Nobody I know would even think of taking advantage of them, but it has been known to happen. :0((

"I love the deep sooty grouse call." Is that the deep "whooo whooo whooo"? this had me mystified for a number of years when I would hear it in the same area in Yosemite. Then I started seeing grouse; mystery solved. but again, I'm terrible at bird identification.