Kicking off the 2018 Year List

It's hard to believe we're already nearly three weeks into 2018! I've been busy birding - at least when the weather allows - and so far am up to 84 species on the "traditional" year list and 70 species on my photo year list. First bird of the year was an Anna's hummingbird at our feeder. They've been overwintering for about a decade now but this is the first time I've had them in the winter.

Anna's hummingbird - I don't know how they do it this time of year

Second bird of the year, a red-breasted nuthatch, is also still in the lead for cutest photo of 2018:

A little puff ball of a red-breasted nuthatch

It's been a treat having three woodpecker species regularly come to the feeders (downy, hairy, and northern flicker). I'm still waiting for a red-breasted sapsucker to show up, but no complaints about getting to watch these guys up close on a daily basis.

Female hairy woodpecker

Thankfully on January 1st, for my traditional day of birding, we even got some sunshine! One of the best birds of the day was this snow goose in with the Canada geese near Roche Harbor.

On January 3rd the birding was briefly interrupted for my first orcas of 2018. I've only seen killer whales once in the month of January before, so this was a pretty special treat! While J-Pod is still occasionally coming through the area, this was actually transients: the T100s, T124As, and T124C.

T124C off the west side of San Juan Island on January 3

As great as the birding is in the San Juans this time of year, especially with sea birds, there are a lot of species on the nearby mainland that just don't frequently visit. During the first weekend of the year, we headed for a day trip off island. First up was a quick pass through Skagit Flats. Sadly we heard but did not see the rare blue jay that is still hanging out near Bow, but we did quickly locate the also-unusual prairie falcon nearby.

Prairie falcon in Skagit Flats

The main goal of the day was to visit Semiahmoo, a spit near Blaine, Washington that I've never visited before. We had recently seen some amazing photos from there, including one a day or two before we visited where literally thousands of dunlin covered the whole spit. It was a pretty gray day and there were no dunlin in sight, but we still added lots of new species including sanderling.

I also got an unexpected photo op of a Pacific wren. I heard something in a bush and "pished" at it, and he or she immediately jumped out into the open to investigate me as the source of the sound. This is probably the best photo I've ever taken of a Pacific wren, as they are usually fast-moving and buried behind branches.

While we didn't see a huge abundance of birds at Semiahmoo (although there were a lot of white-winged scoters, more than I've ever seen in once place before), we did get a good variety. A couple of the best looks were at this female long-tailed duck, and while watching her, a common loon popped up very close.

Female long-tailed duck

Common loon

Last weekend remained gray, but that didn't stop us from trying to add a few more. The best add for me was this Hutton's vireo, an uncommon year-round resident, but one I didn't manage to photograph in all of 2017.

Hutton's vireo! A 2017 nemesis bird checked off early in 2018

Then we were treated to a much-needed couple days of beautiful winter sunshine. Even though our couple of hikes didn't turn up much in the way of birds, it felt great to soak up some light.

Beautiful afternoon at Granny's Cove

Thanks to a tip from a friend, we were able to locate one short-eared owl at American Camp, on the opposite side of the prairie where I used to see them in years past. For whatever reason it doesn't seem like there are as many of them down there as there used to be. This one was being harassed by a northern harrier. That's the harrier up top and the short-eared owl beneath. The owl had been perched, and after doing this barrel roll fell about halfway down the tree before catching another branch to perch on.

Harrier harasses short-eared owl at American Camp

There's been a lot of aerial acrobatics lately - today I caught this pair of bald eagles in what I presume was courtship behavior.

Bald eagle barrel rolls

There was supposed to be a break in the weather today; maybe it was, since it didn't rain and the wind wasn't blowing gale force. It was still pretty dark but with a major storm system coming we took the opportunity to make a quick jaunt over to Orcas Island. While waiting for the ferry we spotted this very cooperative juvenile Cooper's hawk at the Port of Friday Harbor.

This is not a bird that would come to mind when I think of beautiful birds, but seeing it up close, the detailing on the feathers was just remarkable, particularly those little teardrop streaks on the breast.

While birding from the ferry I was shocked to spot a turkey vulture flying over Shaw Island. This species is common here in the summer, and while I've heard about a couple of birds that regularly overwinter on Lopez, I've never seen one here off-season. This was a hastily shot proof of presence photo through the window of the ferry, but enough to document this surprising find.

Turkey vulture in the San Juans in January!

There's been a lot of reports of early arrivals such as barn swallows all throughout the region so I wonder if it will prove to be an early spring or if climate shifts are to blame for more individuals turning up at unexpected times of year. We shall see!

The most hoped-for species on Orcas was an American dipper, a bird I've searched for many times over there. We don't have the right habitat for them on San Juan, but a new Land Bank property called Coho Preserve recently opened up a public access along a creek where they've been reported. I had a good feeling about today and it paid off, as we found not one but two of them at the preserve! It was so dark in the forest it was impossible to get sharp photos, but I was pleased just to see them as it was a new county life bird for me and this photo is plenty good enough for the photo year list.

American dipper! A San Juan County life bird for me

Since this is a 365 day challenge, I decided to do less "post a photo of everything" and more "wait until I get a good shot of common species". This has me at a current mark of having photographed 83% of the species on my total year list to date, but I know that number will rise. I had seen and heard some distant oystercatchers before today but finally got a decent shot of one at Buck Bay on Orcas Island today.

Nearly-silhouetted black oystercatcher

It will definitely be a hunker-down day tomorrow with gale-force winds and more than an inch of rain in the forecast, but we'll see what the rest of the month brings. Then in the beginning of February it's time for a two-week road trip south where the bird reports from our destinations have me eagerly anticipating some life birds and many others I haven't seen in years. Oh, and hopefully some warmth and sunshine, too!

Spring Changes to Summer

In mid-June we got two brief visits from L-Pod, but they weren't too accommodating for shore-based viewing. The L12s made one trip up as far as Lime Kiln, first spending some time resting off of Land Bank:

The L12s in resting formation

The second visit, from a larger group of L-Pod whales, offered only the most distant of looks over their two-day stay, before they headed back out to the open ocean.

A distant look at L91 Muncher from San Juan Island

Amazingly, but perhaps not surprisingly given the salmon numbers, the days continue to slip off the calendar and as we edge towards July J-Pod still has not visited us since the first of the month. They have been spotted a couple times - once in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and twice off of Tofino, and luckily off Tofino reports were they were finding a lot to eat. But the times have surely changed, and meanwhile we are left hoping that as the summer progesses, sightings of the Southern Residents in inland waters will increase as the summer goes on as happened later in the year of 2013 when sightings were also at record lows.

Meanwhile, there continue to be some transients around, though fewer than a few weeks ago. We did manage to have one nice shore-based encounter with the T36As and T65Bs where they spent more than half an hour "milling and killing" off of 4th of July Beach.

Other than that, sightings have been pretty slim, and we've taken some of our extra spare time to hand-tame some of the wild birds at our feeders. So far we've gotten red-breasted nuthatches, chestnut-backed chickadees, and even a downy woodpecker to eat from our hands!

Red-breasted nuthatch fledgling on my hand

Other than that, I've been left to enjoy and photograph all the other abundant wildlife (and wildflowers!) that lives in this special place I get to call home. I'll let the variety of the photos speak for themselves!

Curious raccoon

Female rufous hummingbird on nest

Deer fawn

Another deer fawn - this one in our yard!

Red fox in the rain

Lily pads at Three Meadows marsh

Oceanspray in bloom

A bizarre visitor to the intertidal zone - a turkey vulture

A female purple martin

On my last excursion, we headed down to Cattle Point, hoping for a first of the year Heermann's gull. They've been seen in Puget Sound, but not up here yet, though that should change any day. We didn't find out, but it's impossible not to take a photo of the eagles that regularly perch on the Cattle Point Lighthouse:

While looking up at this one, I happened to turn around just in time to see it's (presumed) mate fly by below the cliff behind us with a large fish in its talons:

Sure enough, the lighthouse eagle wasn't far behind, as it soon took flight after it's mate and/or dinner:

It's clear that there will be no shortage of things for me to photograph and report about on my blog, but I strongly hope that my next installment includes at least one visit from our Southern Resident Killer Whales!

Another Spectacular Sunday: Eagles, J-Pod, and the L12s

Sundays have proven to be great days for seeing whales so far this season! Yesterday the L12 sub-group of L-Pod magically showed up with J-Pod, and word first thing this morning was that all 40 or so whales were heading south in Haro Strait. After breakfast we headed out to Land Bank's Westside Preserve, and we weren't there long before we heard that the whales were swimming back north in our direction. They were moving slowly against the ebb tide, still out of view, but after finding a place to sit and wait I didn't even get a chance to pull out my book when a bald eagle caught my eye. There must have been a carcass of some sort a little ways down the shoreline, because there were no fewer than five eagles flying around, plus a pair of turkey vultures and a couple of ravens. Not the greatest picture, but here's one bird of all three species in the same shot (raven is in the bottom left):

This adult bald eagle looked up at an immature eagle as it came in for a landing:

I didn't see the animals actively feeding, so I'm not sure what caught their attention. They would sit in the same area for a while and then take off and fly around before circling back. The only bird I saw with food in its beak was a raven - maybe the meal was inaccessible to the larger birds of prey? With all the flying around, we got three incredibly close flybys from three different eagles. It's not often you get so close to a wild bald eagle - pretty freakin' cool!

By the time the bird activity started to settle down, the first blows were coming into view past the point to the south. A large group of J-Pod whales was in the lead, and they weren't in any hurry. There was a lot of milling going on, with whales looping back and going inshore and offshore as they eventually made their way north. The J16s and J22s were in this group, and by the number of whales I'm guessing the J14s were there as well, though probably a bit further offshore where I couldn't ID them.  J8's group was also there, and J19 Shachi gave us the closest pass when she looped back south:

There was a bit of a gap then as this group of whales continued north, but I knew there were still more to come. A lot of the crowd that had gathered to watch the whales dispersed, despite being told there were more whales on the way. Often the best moments of a whale passby happen towards the end, after a lot of people have left - don't ask me why, but it's very often the case! Today was no exception.

I was thrilled to see the L12s come next - my first sighting of this group this year. L25 Ocean Sun thrilled us with a close pass:

Next was a trio of males, and they seemed interested in dawdling, too, and playing in the kelp. Here's L89 Solstice with kelp on his dorsal fin:

L41 Mega, the oldest living male and largest whale in the entire Southern Resident population, was also present. He's also so impressive to see at any distance, but up close especially.

L41 Mega begins to surface with a piece of kelp wrapped around his six-foot-tall dorsal fin

After the males meandered north, a group of eight whales quickly approached, surfacing all together in a line. I quickly realized it was the three adult females of the J17 matriline with their young offspring, but who were the other two whales? My photos revealed it was L94 Calypso and L113 Cousteau. I love it when whales from different family groups are mixed together, because I think it gives a glimpse into the social lives of these intriguing animals. The young whales in the J17 group are four year-old J44 Moby, four year-old J46 Star, and three year-old J47 Notch. L113 Cousteau was born in the same time span and is four years old as well. She was probably getting a chance to hang out with some members of her own age group, which she doesn't have any of in her sub-pod, or maybe mom was getting a chance to compare notes with other young mothers. It's fun to speculate!

From left to right: J44 Moby, J17 Princess Angeline, J28 Polaris. I believe the whale about to surface is J35 Talequah.

The six whales of the J17 matriline travel with L94 Calypso (larger fin at back, center) and L113 Cousteau (furthest back, just to the left of Calypso)

Two more males brought up the rear of the pack, also swimming quickly unlike all the earlier whales. One of them was J27 Blackberry, who like the other males before him had a piece of kelp around his dorsal fin despite swimming at near-porpoising speeds:

It's awesome to have the whales hanging around for days at a time - hopefully that means they're finding lots to eat here! Their pattern the last few days has been to head north to the Fraser River, then come down Boundary Pass and the west side of San Juan Island, turn around a little bit later, and head back north again. Not much hanging around on the west side as they sometimes do right after coming south, but when they are there, it's been pretty spectacular!

Photos From the Last Two Weeks

Sunset from the marina

Raccoon foraging at low tide

Raccoon eating a crab

A new visitor to the bird feeders: red crossbill

The underside of an unknown intertidal creature - anyone have any ideas? Dave?

Smoke hanging in the air during Friday Harbor's 4th of July fireworks

Lopez Island fireworks and the (almost) full moon, as seen looking over Pear Point

Turkey vulture at Land Bank

Sailboat in Haro Strait

Mama hairy woodpecker feeding her fledgling chick at the suet feeder on a foggy morning

West side summer sunset from Land Bank