Great Blue Heron

Posted on October 28, 2008 by jley1

Great Blue Heron

April 2012 – Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge, OR
These are very wary birds… and I’m always excited to sneak up on one and snap a few photos before I’m noticed. In this case, this bird was working a small creek for tiny morsels – tadpoles, I think. He noticed me a few moments later and flew 20 yards downstream.

Great Blue Heron

October 2008 – Oneonta Falls, OR
This photo was taken right next to the plunging Oneonta Falls, in the Columbia River Gorge. This spot is essentially a deep and narrow slot canyon. It’s a pretty tight spot, and a really unusual place to see such a bird. The heron had flown up to the falls, perhaps in pursuit of fish or frogs – not clear. It seemed to be somewhat oblivious to my presence. It was also getting soaked with spray from the nearby waterfall. This was one of the strangest bird sightings I’ve had.

Lincoln’s Sparrow

Posted on July 15, 2008 by jley1

Lincoln's Sparrow

July 2008 – Little Crater Lake, Oregon

This bird was singing in the sun at Little Crater Lake, just to the southeast of Mt. Hood, OR.

Western Meadowlark

Posted on April 28, 2008 by jley1

Western Meadowlark

April 2008 – Catherine Creek, WA
You know it’s spring when the Meadowlarks fill the crisp air with their distinctive warble.

Northern Fulmar

Posted on September 24, 2006 by jley1

Northern Fulmar

July 2006 – Asbyrgi, Iceland

Hundreds, or perhaps thousands of these birds were nesting on the cliffs at the bottom of the “horseshoe canyon” at Asbyrgi. This is about 10 miles or so from the open water – though, that water is a sort of bay… it would be another 30 miles or so to true open water. Legend says that this canyon was formed when Odin’s horse touched the earth…

Atlantic Puffin

Posted on July 26, 2006 by jley1

Atlantic Puffin

July 2006 – near Husavik, Iceland
Do these birds have any idea how cute and comical they appear? They might look like clowns of the sea, but they live a very hard life – they spend most of the year out at sea, only coming to land for a few months to nest in burrows. And during those times, they have to look out for hungry rats, and even humans. Puffins are on the menu in Iceland (though, I’m told they’re not very tasty… it’s just that in the past, Icelanders were desperate for meat).

Atlantic Puffin

Atlantic Puffins are a lot more graceful in the water than they are on land. And likely, still more graceful under the water.

Western Wood-Pewee

Posted on May 28, 2005 by jley1

Western Wood-Pewee

May 2005 – Malheur National Wildlife Refuge
I’m pretty sure this is a Western Wood-Pewee… at least that’s my best guess. It’s a little difficult to identify birds like this, and this is not the best photograph.

Black-crowned Night Heron

Posted on May 28, 2005 by jley1

Black-crowned Night Heron

May 2005 – Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, OR
This was my first sighting of this species… flying in front of some sagebrush. It’s so distinctive, I didn’t need any book to tell me what it was.

White-Tailed Ptarmigan

Posted on October 15, 2003 by jley1

White-Tailed Ptarmigan

October 2003 – Mt. David trail, Washington
My assumption is that this is a White-Tailed Ptarmigan… only because it’s most likely this is the type of Ptarmigan one would see in the North Cascades. The Rock Ptarmigan has a more northern range (though, they do overlap in this area). There is some non-white on the edge of the tail, which might lead one to think this could be a Rock Ptarmigan, but when the birds are molting and mottled, it’s hard to draw too many conclusions from details like that.