Natural History Journal

"What makes a duck a duck?" This question was posed to me the other day by a friendly gentleman who stopped to chat as I stood behind my spotting scope, peering over massive swells and crashing waves at a distant flock of dark specks bobbing on the surface of the water beyond the breakers.  These specks, I had informed him, were ducks.  More specifically, they were a delightful collection of three species of scoter, a highly specialized type of sea duck designed for life on the rugged, wave-battered coast.   Those are ducks?   I could feel the skepticism.   Yes, ducks.  But not dabbling puddle ducks, like the familiar Mallard, or even hardy diving ducks, like scaup.   These are sea ducks! Surf Scoters in Monterey Bay, off the coast of Moss Landing, California.  July. I answered his question the best I could with somewhat divided attention: Biology, physiology, behavior and life history all combine to make a duck a duck, so that even...

Another winter storm, another head cold, and another week's packed schedule means... more time spent window birding!  It's been a weird winter for me bird-wise, with rain and subsequent floods preventing access to a couple of my favorite local birding spots, and a bevy of other obligations to keep me from venturing afield very often.  But, the birds in the yard have been particularly good this winter, as Oak Titmice , Lincoln's Sparrows , Bushtits and Purple Finches have been more common and numerous than in past years.   In other parts of the country, particularly the Northeast, the Winter Finch Forecast  is a big deal for birders, who eagerly await annual predictions regarding a handful of nomadic species whose movements depend on the success of cone and berry crops.  (Will this year be a good year for redpolls?  What about crossbills?  Or Pine Grosbeaks?  Check the Winter Finch Forecast to find out!) Here in Central California, we can onl...

"The sandpiper is there now, 30 yards from the end of the jetty, on the left." These were the words I was greeted with, without preamble, seconds after getting out of the car at San Francisco's Heron's Head park.  An older gentleman took one look at my binoculars and knew why I had come: to get the bird.  In certain places, a pair of binoculars is like a secret sign to others that you are one of the initiated, a member of the fraternity of birders who understand the importance of getting the bird . I thanked the kind birder enthusiastically, my giddy smile bearing witness to the fact that we had indeed just driven 100 miles to see this one bird. And what a beauty he was! Denizens of rocky Arctic shorelines, Rock Sandpipers breed on mossy tundra in western Alaska and far eastern Russia.  These hardy sandpipers winter farther north than most other shorebirds, along the frigid, wave-dashed rocky coast of Alaska and the Pacific Northwest.   That being said, this par...

This is it!  We have finally reached the last stop on our summer road trip through the Pacific Northwest: Crater Lake National Park.   Way back in June, Eric and I spent a couple of [largely rainy] weeks exploring the Pacific Northwest's forests, mountains, beaches, birds and historic sites.  As summer is rapidly fading away, I clearly need to get it together and finish this series of posts!   Part I:  Seabird Colony at Haystack Rock Part II:  Birding the Pacific Northwest Coast Part III:  Inland Valley and Lowland Forests Part IV:  Olympic National Park Part V:  North Cascades National Park Part VI:  Mount Rainier National Park Part VII:  Crater Lake National Park We reached Crater Lake National Park after a long and rather soggy sojourn through Olympic, North Cascades and Mount Rainier National Parks.  After being rained on for at least part of the day for something like eleven or twelve days in a row (which, by th...

Next stop on our summer roadtrip through the Pacific Northwest: Mount Rainier National Park! Catch up on our summer travels here: Part I:  Seabird Colony at Haystack Rock Part II:  Birding the Pacific Northwest Coast Part III:  Inland Valley and Lowland Forests Part IV:  Olympic National Park Part V:  North Cascades National Park Part VI:  Mount Rainier National Park Part VII:  Crater Lake National Park Way back in June, we spent a couple of nights camping in Mount Rainier National Park.  The perks of visiting the park early in the season were very light crowds, quiet trails, and the opportunity to catch birds early in their breeding season.  The pitfalls of visiting at this time, however, were significant: deep snow made hiking the iconic high-elevation trails around the mountain impossible, the wildflowers were not yet blooming, and... it rained.  A lot.   But we still thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, as we hiked in the atmosphe...

For even more staggering mountain beauty, we made our way northeast from Olympic National Park , to North Cascades National Park, via idyllic Whidbey Island and the Skagit River Valley.   Catch up on our entire trip here! Part I:  Seabird Colony at Haystack Rock Part II:  Birding the Pacific Northwest Coast Part III:  Inland Valley and Lowland Forests Part IV:  Olympic National Park Part V:  North Cascades National Park Part VI:  Mount Rainier National Park Part VII:  Crater Lake National Park Way back in June, we spent 3 nights camping (and birding) in the North Cascades: here is just a small peek at what we found along the way! The most common birds we encountered were American Robins, Western Tanagers, Pacific Wrens, Hammond's Flycatchers, White-crowned Sparrows, Hairy Woodpeckers, Red-breasted Sapsuckers, Violet-green Swallows, and Swainson's, Varied and Hermit Thrushes.   Probably the best bird photo from the entire trip: an or...

At last: We have reached the Mountains!   (Okay, way back in June we reached the mountains... I'm a little behind in my writing.) My home is in the lowlands, but the mountains will forever call my name.  (Literally, for those of you who know me...)  While the Sierra Nevada are my mountains, I feel a particular affinity to all of our western mountain ranges, including the magnificent Cascades of Oregon and Washington. In this fourth installment of posts covering our summer travels in the Pacific Northwest, we will explore the mountains and forests of Olympic National Park. Part I:  Seabird Colony at Haystack Rock Part II:  Pacific Northwest Coast Part III:  Inland Valleys and Lowland Forests Part V:  North Cascades National Park Part VI:  Mount Rainier National Park Part VII:  Crater Lake National Park It might be disloyal of me to say, but it is quite possible that my favorite National Park (of the 30 I have visited) is Washington's Ol...