Towheeblog

One bird to scare them all:

Cooper’s Hawk, about twenty feet off the ground. Perched in a photinia tree. In the third image above you see a squirrel hanging below the perched Coop. That squirrel had actually climbed up to face the hawk and try to scare it. The hawk opened its wings and fanned its tail. It may also have signaled a willingness to throttle the squirrel with its talons. The squirrel retreated. After about 90 minutes on that perch the Coop moved across the garden and a squirrel–perhaps this one–immediately grabbed the exact perch for a half hour or more.
From its next perch I saw this Coop make a futile sortie after a flying junco. Not long after that the hunter left and small birds came out to feed. Last shot shows the squirrel in its new high-status perch.

Above: thrush late yesterday, male towhee at dawn today, then flickers, note in last image a flicker on the suet block while a second flicker is below acting as crumb-bum.

Last image of the day, yesterday–no warblers today, thanks to you-know-who:

Shoebill in danger–CLICK HERE.

Into Shoebills With Both Feet

While Iceland allows puffin hunting, one village works to save the same birds–click here.

Galapagos’ marine iguanas–are they safe? Click here. Mainly feeding on algae, they need clean and safe oceans. Hold the plastic, please. When I made my bucket-list visit to the Galapagos, I fell in love with this big, slow-footed, fast-swimming lizards. Especially endearing they build huge pile-ups as the day ends. They climb onto rocks and form mounds of iguana, bigger ones trying to get on the bottom where it is warmer and safer. It’s all about calories for this creatures who cannot create their own heat:

MALHEUR BIRDING TRIP IN MAY
I am leading a fund-raising bird trip sponsored by, and based at, the Malheur Field Station. It is May 15-20. We will see Ferruginous and Swainson’s Hawks, Prairie Falcon, Golden Eagles, White Pelicans, Short-eared and Great Horned and Burrowing Owls, Loggerhead Shrike, Sage Thrasher, Sandhill Cranes, Black Terns, Franklin’s Gulls, White-faced Ibis, Rock & Canyon Wren, Sagebrush and Brewer’s Sparrow, Cinnamon Teal, snipe, Wilson’s Phalarope, possible bittern. There are likely to be usual (Lewis’s Woodpecker, Evening Grosbeak) and unusual (any bird that migrates to northern Canada) migrants at the hotspots. We will bird the basin and foothills of Steens Mountain.
Interested? Call 541-493-2629.

PHOTO TRIP: this trip is already filled.  It’s May 31-June 4

SEPTEMBER

I am leading a fund-raising bird trip sponsored by, and based at, the Malheur Field Station. It is Sept. 8-13.   We will see Ferruginous and Swainson’s Hawks, Prairie Falcon, Golden Eagles, White Pelicans, Short-eared and Great Horned and Burrowing Owls, Sandhill Cranes, Black Terns, Franklin’s Gulls, Loggerhead Shrike, Sage Thrasher White-faced Ibis, Rock & Canyon Wren, Horned Lark, Cinnamon Teal, snipe, Wilson’s Phalarope, possible bittern. There are likely to be usual (Lewis’s Woodpecker, Evening Grosbeak) and unusual (any bird that migrates to northern Canada) migrants at the hotspots. We will bird the basin and the entire Steens Mountain Loop.
Interested? Call 541-493-2629.