Please send in good wildlife photos if you got ’em. The bad news is that I’ve run out of contributions. The good news is that Scott Ritchie of Cairns, Oz, gave me permission to steal photos from his Facebook page, and he’s a superb photographer.  This one shows a visit to an area that has black swans. Scott’s captions and IDs are indented, and you can enlarge his photos by clicking on them.

I went to Melbourne during the middle of January to visit friends. Of course, birds are my feathered friends. This report cover a visit to the WTP, Western Treatment Plant, at Werribee, Victoria. These names pass mythically from the lips of Australian birders. I’ve been there before and really enjoyed it, but this past trip was wild. WTP is a series of quite large, secondary sewage treatment ponds, and lagoons. These abut along the great Southern Ocean and you get this wonderful interaction of freshwater and saltwater wetlands and associated birds. These are used, particularly in our summer, as overwintering sites for migratory shorebirds. But there’s a lot of resident waterfowl and waders there too. The WTP is so valued that you have to have a key to the gate for access to the site. Fortunately, my friend David was a key-carrying twitcher.

The weather was crazy, with 45 KPH winds. One of the first things I discovered was that strong winds can really mess with a telephone lens. My lens was being buffeted by the gusty, easterly winds to the point where I had to remove the lens hood to stabilise the camera. But a few interesting things happen because of the wind. It was a great opportunity for BIF shots; birds in flight. Birds generally take-off and land into the wind, and because it was so strong, they were moving quite slowly. So I got nice shots of normally very fast birds such as terns and sandpipers as they came into land. Attached are some fun pics.

The next day I did a short walk through Banyule Flats Reserve, an urban Melbourne wetland. The highlight was to see the oh so cute Owlet Nightjar, as well as a family of Tawny Frogmouths. Shout out to Lyn Easton for leading the tour

A Black Swan (Cygnus atratus) Beach. The high winds packed the east facing beach with seagrass. And the Black Swans made for the buffet:

A beach of Blacks Swans, necks writhing like snakes.

Amazing!:

“Ahh, now that feels good.” An Australian Spotted Crake (Porzana fluminea) enjoys the breeze up its bum:

“Bugger off!” But is not happy with the hordes of shore flies:

An immature Black-shouldered Kite (Elanus axillaris) gives us the eye:

Whiskered Terns (Chlidonias hybrida) cruised flew slowly against the wind, providing good views for the camera:

. . . and another:

A Black Kite (Milvus migrans) swings down to pick up a dead little bird that was hit by a car:

A large flock of Australian shelducks (Tadorna tadornoides) fly into the WTP. It was great to see large numbers of waterfowl darken the skies:

I had fun shooting, small short birds they say, came into land against the wind at adjacent pool. This is a Red-necked Stint (Calidris ruficollis):

And here comes a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (Calidris acuminata):

A family of Tawny Frogmouths (Podargus strigoides) greet the day at Banyule Flats Reserve:

But he poses stoically, “You can’t see me!”  Frogmouths sit still, imitating dead branches and stumps:

A bit of a loose feather gives him away:

An Owlet Nightjar (Aegotheles sp.) peeks out of his hole hollow. He stared at all the photographers down below. We must’ve started him because then he just disappeared. But we waited and waited:

“Come on, take your pictures!” He suddenly popped up, posing nicely:

Ecologist Susan Harrison is back with some bird photos from California featuring rookeries (there are some lovely shots of chicks and juveniles).  Susan’s notes and IDs are indented, and you can enlarge her photos by clicking on them.

Rookery Scenes

Recently I visited two local rookeries where colonies of large wading birds breed in early- to midsummer.   It was fun to watch the nest building, egg tending, and varied interactions among adults and young birds of mixed ages.   In some cases (like the Cattle Egrets), it appeared that young birds were competing with each other to be at the head of the feeding line.

Western Cattle Egrets (Ardea ibis), Black-crowned Night Herons (Nycticorax nycticorax), and Snowy Egrets (Egretta thula) were breeding at Sacramento’s North Natomas Regional Park.

White-faced Ibis (Plegadis chihi) were rearing their young at the Woodland-Davis water treatment ponds, which in spite of their unprepossessing title, are our county’s top eBird hotspot and the subject of much ecological enhancement for migratory birds and other wildlife.

Cattle Egrets:

White-faced Ibis:

Black-crowned Night Herons:

Snowy Egrets:

Today’s batch of photos comes from Kevin Krebs, who’s been busy banding birds in south-central British Columbia. Kevin’s captions and IDs are indented, and, as always, you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.

Since 2018, the Vancouver Avian Research Centre (VARC) has been involved in Bluebird Box Monitoring around the city of Merritt in south-central British Columbia.

Like almost all birds, bluebird numbers have been declining, and we’ve recruited many volunteers to maintain and monitor over 400 nest boxes.

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to join some compatriots checking nest boxes and banding bluebird nestlings.

Mountain Bluebird (Sialia currucoides)

Mountain Bluebirds (Sialia currucoides) are found throughout Western and Central North America. The males are a brilliant cerulean blue that is almost impossible to capture in a photograph. Imagine a small piece of the most vibrant blue sky you’ve ever seen growing wings and flying free.

They’re medium-distance migrants, with some breeding into Alaska, and wintering down into Northern Mexico. They are cavity nesters and rely heavily on old woodpecker holes, often facing significant competition. North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) data from 1970–2014 shows an estimated overall population decline of 21%. Recent research suggests a more complex picture, with some populations declining, some stable, and some increasing.

Next box and Mountain Bluebird eggs

On the left, an example of our nest boxes. Most are located on fenceposts, while a handful are placed on trees and stumps.

On the right, an active Mountain Bluebird nest with four eggs. Their nests are made of dried grasses beautifully woven into a cup, with a few feathers often mixed in. Their eggs are pale blue and slightly glossy.

Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) eggs and young nestlings

In addition to Mountain Bluebirds (and rarely Western Bluebirds (Sialia mexicana)), these nest boxes are frequently used by Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor).

Somewhat similar to bluebird nests, Tree Swallow nests feature significantly more feathers in their construction. On the left is a nest with eight eggs — matte white and much smaller than the bluebird eggs (my fingers give a sense of scale).

On the right: a nest with six very young Tree Swallow nestlings.

Tree Swallow nestlings

Another Tree Swallow nest with at least six older nestlings. Their eyes have yet to open, so they’re probably only a few days older than those pictured above. The comically large and bright mouths are selected to draw as much attention from their parents as possible, ensuring they get fed.

Adult Tree Swallow

An adult male Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) who started out as one of those little eggs.

Northern House Wren (Troglodytes aedon)

Another bird that occasionally uses these nest boxes is the Northern House Wren (Troglodytes aedon). There’s no mistaking their nests as they have a profoundly different style of nest-building, packing nearly the entire box with dozens of twigs.

On the right, a peek into the nest revealing the feather-lined cup with seven mottled eggs.

Mountain Bluebird nestlings

This is what we were looking for: Mountain Bluebird nestlings. These birds are 9-10 days old, making them old enough to band. We can’t band them when they’re much younger as they store fat in their legs, making them too large for the metal bands we use.

Banded Mountain Bluebird nestlings

Two Mountain Bluebird nestlings in the hand.

Before anyone panics: yes, I am trained to do this and am operating under a permit! I don’t think I need to tell any of you not to try this yourself.

The bird on the left is around 12 days old, while the one on the right is approximately 15 days old — probably within a few days of leaving the nest.

Note that we use federally numbered bands, anodized with a different colour for each year. This allows us to identify adult birds to the year they were banded, even if we can’t get the band number.

Banding in progress

A photo of me in the process of banding some nestlings. The bags on my lap contain birds to be banded and that have been banded. Once they’re all completed, we carefully and quietly place them back in the nest box.

Not pictured is when I sat directly on top of an ant nest while getting ready to band…

Please send in your good wildlife photos if you have any.

‘Today’s batch comes from UC Davis ecologist Susan Harrison, who’s been birding in Scandinavia. Her captions and IDs are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them,.

Further Finnish Fowl

Just after I sent Jerry the recent post titled “Midsummer in the Åland Islands,” a few more scenes of waterfowl families brightened my trip to Finland.

The first three are from Lake Kallavesi, near the town of Kuopio in the heart of Finnish Lakeland.   My friend’s family has a classic lake cabin here, tiny and perfectly built, complete with flower garden, sauna, and dock.  Once my kind hosts had settled me in, I hopped in their rowboat in search of birds.

Whooper Swans (Cygnus cygnus) are Finland’s national bird and are featured on the country’s Euro coin.  With wingspans up to 9’ (2.75 m) and weighing up to 30 lb (14 kg), they are the world’s second largest waterfowl (right after their close North American relative the Trumpeter Swan, Cygnus buccinator). Even the cygnets in these photos are the size of Thanksgiving turkeys!

Whooper Swan parent and cygnets:

Arctic Loons, aka Black-throated Loons or Black-throated Divers (Gavia arctica) can often be heard making their musical calls, but are less often seen as they are shy and tend to vanish underwater.  These two adults were slowed down enough by their youngster that I managed a distant photo.

Arctic Loons:

Red-necked Grebes (Podiceps grisigena), like other grebes, carry stripey black-and-white chicks on their backs (see, for comparison, the Great Crested Grebes in the recent post). This little passenger was so tiny that I noticed it only when processing the photos.

Red-necked Grebes:

Back in Helsinki on my way home, various geese and ducks were abundant along the shore in  Kaivopuisto city park. Most enjoyable was a family of Common Mergansers, aka Goosanders (Mergus merganser), in which the young foraged for themselves under a parent’s supervision.

Common Mergansers: