In other words, it was a very good week for birding in the Tri-Cities area, despite too much wind, too much heat, and way too many gnats.
Anyway, there are lots of photos today, so let's get to it!
This is Wanawish Dam, formerly known as Horn Rapids Dam, about 10 miles from Richland:
American White Pelicans like to fish here.
They were not actively fishing during my visit, just kind of hanging out, but I thoroughly enjoyed watching them.
When one of them flew in to join a small group, there was some sort of altercation:
But eventually things got sorted out.
Perhaps it was simply a matter of one bird being in another bird's favorite spot. I saw something similar a few days later on a visit to the McNary wildlife refuge, when a coot swam up to a log that was occupied by a turtle:
The coot seemed perturbed by the turtle's presence, almost as if it were giving the turtle the old stink-eye.
Then it turned its back on the turtle and kicked one foot out at it, as if to say, "Go away, you bother me."
And right after it did that, the poor turtle got the message and slid off the log.
Coot: 1, Turtle: 0.
Although there were a million gnats at McNary, I had a fine time, because there were fine birds. As usual, the Yellow-headed Blackbirds were out and about:
And an American Kestrel was hunting, another typical sight there.
The best birds, though, were the ones I don't typically see there that often -- Black-necked Stilts and Avocets. This is the Stilt:
The reflections were fabulously fun to photograph:
Stilts and Avocets are closely related to sandpipers, and like to forage on small aquatic prey by picking or probing in shallow water:
I saw just a handful of stilts, but there were dozens of Avocets also foraging, which made me ever so happy, because the only time I'd ever seen them before they were way way WAY far off, barely visible with binoculars. I'd never gotten good photos of them until now.
Like stilts, they are good-sized birds of around 18" in length.
Their distinctive upward curving bills are used to sweep through the water for tiny crustaceans.
So that was my very birdy week, and now it's back to the usual lounging-at-home, dog-walking, puttering-about times for me. Have a great Monday!
No comments:
Post a Comment