May 22: Baby Foxes and A Baby Whale

After being around a lot in late April and the first couple days of May, J-Pod took a two week leave of absence from the Salish Sea. When they returned to inland waters on May 17, they kept their visits to the west side under the cover of darkness more often than not, so it wasn't until May 22 I was able to catch up with them again.

Early on the 22nd J-Pod hadn't been located yet, so I went for a walk down at American Camp, thinking I might find them off the south end and also hoping to find some fox kits to photograph. The whales weren't there, but I did find a trio of kits!

One of the things I love about fox kits, other their innate cuteness, is that they're mutually curious. Look at that face!

I just sat down on the grass, and they came over to check me out!

In addition to these orange and black ones, there was a gray one who mostly stayed a little bit further away:

I took so many photos of these guys, it's hard to narrow down which ones to share!

Later on, we came head to head on the trail with an adult fox who was carrying a snake. He stopped not far from us, and I suspected he didn't want to detour into the tall grasses, so we stepped off to the side of the trail and he ran right by us, not two feet away!

Umm, please get out of my way? This is my trail.

When there was still no sign of Js on the west side in the afternoon, I figured they were going to stay up north for another day, but then I heard from a friend they had made a switch and were coming down! The first few whales got to Lime Kiln just before sunset.

As is often the case, little J50 was quite a ways away from mama - her independence, along with the wicked rake marks she may have gotten from a difficult birth, lead me to think of this little whale as being very spunky, and a true fighter, which is just what this population needs!

5 month old J50 cruising by Lime Kiln in the sunset

A gull was also circling overhead carrying something, so I snapped a photo, and saw later it was carrying three fish! Impressive!

This is also a good time to note my few additions to my year list as spring has carried on: Swainson's thrush (159), Cassin's vireo (160), and black-headed grosbeak (161) - all first identified by song and "heard only", though I'd get nice looks at the vireos later and a grosbeak pair has become an occasional visitor to our feeders.

J-Pod would overnight off the south end of the island, and it would take some patience, but they finally made their way back north on May 23rd. Photos of that encounter next!

A Sampling of Birds

We had an amazingly rainy day on Tuesday - not the kind of day that made one feel like venturing out. The only birds I saw that day were the ones that came to the feeder, or were they just getting out of the downpour? In any case, there were a lot of them, but only three species: house sparrows, chestnut-backed chickadees, and red-breasted nuthatches. Here's a nuthatch photo that demonstrates how dark and gray it was that day!

Yesterday the weather was much nicer and I went for a hike at the Friday Harbor Lab trails. As I pulled in there was a flock of about two dozen California quail around the lab buildings, the second large flock of quail I've seen this week. As soon as I got out of my car this hairy woodpecker (the first of three for the day) was nearby:

The first part of the trail was pretty active, with spotted towhees, American robins, more chickadees and nuthatches, a Bewick's wren, and a song sparrow. The most surprising sighting was a turkey vulture that flew in through the trees and and landed on a snag! I usually associate these birds with the open farmlands of the island where they are able to soar, so it was bizarre to see one in the woods. On the ground were lots of slugs and also this snake:

Once the trail delved deeper into the woods it got a lot quieter bird-wise with only another pair of hairy woodpeckers and a northern flicker spotted. Later in the day, though, we drove out to the westside of the island to see the sunset, and on the way out I saw a crow, a pair of cedar waxwings, and a Eurasian collared-dove all sitting on the same telephone wire!

Out in Haro Strait was an active bait ball. With the early evening lighting it was tough to make up all the species out there, but closer to shore was a group of glaucous-winged and Heermann's gulls settling down for the night. I also saw a single rhinoceros auklet and a trio of red-necked phalaropes. The day ended with 21 species sighted, but I've got an excursion planned for next week that will hopefully result in another species for the year list...

A Little Bit of Everything at the FHL Trails

Today ended up being a much nicer day than forecast, and since I was off the water today it was a great chance to go for a hike at the trails near the University of Washington Friday Harbor Labs. As we drove up, I saw what I think was probably an early western tanager fly across the road, but it was just too quick for me to be certain, plus I know how keen I was to add another year bird. Unfortunately it flew up, up, and far away, so there was no chance for a better look. As it turns out, I wouldn't have to wait too long to add another species to the year list.

It wasn't far down the trail that we found ourselves in the middle of a nice pocket of birds. The first one I saw was a pileated woodpecker (142), and nearby was also a hairy woodpecker and a pair of northern flickers to make for a rare three woodpecker species day. The pileated woodpecker flew away quickly, but could be heard calling - it's probably one of my favorite bird vocals (it's just so loud as it echos through the trees!), and you can hear it for yourself here. In the brambles lurked chestnut-backed chickadees, spotted towhees, song sparrows, and dark-eyed juncos. A moment later a little brown bird boldly took a perch at the tippy-top of a high snag and began to sing its trilly, unpredictable song - a house wren (143)! I also had the camera ready to capture a rare glimpse of an orange-crowned warbler completely out in the open:

Most of the bird highlights came towards the beginning of our walk, though a bit later on I also heard my first pacific-slope flycatchers (144) of the season. After that, it was the other flora and fauna that captured my attention. Here is one of the dozen or so spring azure butterflies we saw (the only one that landed at all):

It was amazing how many different types of mushrooms were out, the most impressive of which was this huge shelf fungi:

While we walked out on the trail through the forest, we looped back along the shoreline trail, where a pair of garter snakes caught my attention. Instead of slithering away into the salal like most snakes do, this one wasn't too shy and just sat still for a while:

In the forest there were a few broad-leaved starflowers in bloom with plenty more on the way, but along the coastline the bright yellow buttercups were definitely at their peak, as were these fawn lilies:

There wasn't much happening out on the water, although I did spot a pair of harbor porpoise. Finally, before looping back into the woods, we came across a nice bright patch of algae....perhaps a type of sea lettuce? In a previous post I talked about Enteromorpha intestinalis, a type of green alga that grows where saltwater and freshwater comes together. There was clearly some freshwater seeping out of the rocks here, but I'm definitely not knowledgeable enough about seaweeds to know if this was it for sure or not!

It ended up being a much longer hike than anticipated, but it was a real naturalist's paradise out there today, with so many different things to look at!

Mt. Finlayson Creepers and Crawlers

Despite the beautiful vistas from Mt. Finlayson, for my hike today my eyes were mostly focused towards the ground. I didn't set out specifically looking for creepy crawly animals, but that's pretty much the extent of what I ended up photographing. Here are some highlights.

These grasshoppers were hopping around everywhere and could be heard calling all over the hillside. I'm going to have to borrow my dad's new field guide before I can make an attempt at identifying the species, but I did see it fly (it has blue wings) which should help with the eventual ID. Look at that amazing camouflage!

I saw three garter snakes (Tamnophis sp.), and the first one I came across was obliging enough to sit still for several photographs. I really like the close-up:

These small, orangey-gray butterflies were very abundant, but quick. They flitted about so much and rarely sat still for more than second or two, presenting a real challenge to this photographer. This is the only halfway-decent shot I got, which was enough for me to come home and identify them as common ringlets (Coenonympha tullia):

Much more cooperative was this larger and slower cabbage white (Pieris rapae), of which I only saw one:

After climbing up through the meadows, I looped back through the woods, where Pacific banana slugs (Ariolimax columbianus) were crawling all over the place in the cool shade: