Reader Ed Kroc sent in some seabirds:
Here are some wildlife photos you might enjoy. These were taken on a trip last month to the southern end of Vancouver Island.
The first two photos are of Black Turnstones (Arenaria melanocephala) at sunset on Whiffen Spit in the town of Sooke. First, they are bathing in the waves, then they are running along the shore. You can see just how well their plumage suits their rocky shoreline environment; there are 17 individuals in the shoreline shot!
Can you see all 17 black turnstones?
In the great little town of Port Renfrew, I got my first good shots of a beautiful Pacific Loon (Gavia pacifica). He was shy at first, but after watching me from a distance for 5 or so minutes, he swam right up to the pier where I was standing and set about fishing. As the sun was setting, I got a nice profile shot of a very mistrustful Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) hanging out atop a nearby post.
Pacific Loon:
Double-crested Cormorant:
Next are a Hermit Thrush (Catharus guttatus) and a Pacific Wren (Troglodytes pacificus) on China Beach in Juan de Fuca Provincial Park. The thrush is showing off his distinctive ruddy rear for the camera, diagnostic of the species. Until a few years ago, Pacific Wrens were considered a subspecies of the Winter Wren (T. hiemalis), but it’s now known that the two species do not interbreed.
Hermit Thrush:
Pacific Wren:
Finally, here’s a Pelagic Cormorant (P. pelagicus) waiting with me for the ferry back to the mainland in Swartz Bay. Notice that the feet are totipalmated (webbing between all four toes), unlike gulls or ducks which have palmated feet (webbing between the three front toes only). Other cormorants, pelicans and gannets also have this totipalmate structure. It makes them a bit awkward on land, but allows them to be much better swimmers underwater where all the food is!
And a harbinger of spring from Stephen Barnard in Idaho:
The American goldfinches (Spinus tristis) are getting some color.
I got my first spring feelings today! The Sun was still up when I biked home, and the temperature jumped from ~ – 20 degC to ~ – 10 degC.
Since I don’t contribute own photos (I have a green thumb, not a trigger finger), I have someone else’s photos to link to. I found a famous [? semi-famous?] set of photos yesterday.
It is called “Swedish Dads” and is well worth browsing. My favorite is the Such Dad, Such Infant cup drinker pair.
Oops, I didn’t realize – but should have – until right now when I checked the link that it is in the context of a recent book release.
So, an added disclaimer: I have no ties to the photographer, nor do I vouch for the product.
I was chuckling over quite a few of those as they are exactly what I was doing, now many years ago. Especially the 1st one with the dad in the ‘fort’. They were busy times, but I find that I miss them.
Those are very sweet. 🙂
FWIW, when young, my daughter had days when she’d’ve qualified for “Readers’ Wildlife.”
Why did it take all that time til Darwin to work out natural selection? When Europeans first saw the birds of North America, so somilar yet distinct, surely someone must have thought… ‘hang on a moment…?’ – but no! Or if they did they kept silent.
All these nearctic birds are so like their palearctic cousins… the turnstones are so similar to the ones I see in Cromer for example.
I am seeing 19 turnstones.
You made me go back and look…I’m seeing at least 18.
Yes! Thank you! I went back and had another look and I see 19 now too.
Great flock of bird photos today. I love the light you captured on both cormorants.
Thank you!
As always, wonderful photos. That double crested cormorant shot is a freaking work of art. Well done photographer, well done evolution, and a special word of thanks to my primary visual cortex.
Thanks! I like that one a lot too.
Wonderful, Ed! Love the turnstones in the surf, the loon, & the wren, especially. Would you share your loon-whispering technique with me, please?
Very cool about the difference in the toe-webbing between the duck & the corm–embarrassed to say I hadn’t heard of that, though I love a chance to stand on the ocean rocks and watch the cormorants streaking by in the water below.
Haha, thanks! This guy seemed a lot more tolerant of me than the Common Loons I more typically come across. I startled him at first when I walked out to the edge of the pier, but after watching me sit there for awhile, he judged I wasn’t anything to bother about. No matter how unthreatening I appear, I never see the Common Loons just go about their business with me hanging around that close.