Washington Trip Report - part 26 - Point No Point birds and a seal
More photos from Point No Point on November 15
I'll start with the sparrowy birds. This is a Spotted Towhee.
There were a lot of sparrows in the grass, particularly on the edge where it met the brushy area. Many of them were Golden-crowned Sparrows. I find it very satisfying to see these birds because it took me years to see one. I spent part of several summers in Washington when I was young but Golden-crowned Sparrows breed much further north so I never got to see one then. Even after that, most of my visits were in the warm part of the year so I still didn't get to see them. I eventually found a couple at Nisqually NWR at some point. November is a much, much better time to see them though and they were all over the place on this trip.
There were also Song Sparrows which I didn't take many photos of, and Fox Sparrows. Northwestern Fox Sparrows mostly look somewhat different from most of the Fox Sparrows at home.
This reddish Fox Sparrow looks closer to the ones I see at home
I saw two hummingbirds while I was in Washington. The first one was buzzing around high up in the trees at opakele's house in the rain. I didn't even come close to seeing it well enough to identify. This Anna's Hummingbird was the second one. It was sitting in a place where I was looking almost directly into the sun, so the photos didn't come out all that well and I had to adjust them quite a bit to show the colors at all.
I saw some chickadees and nuthatches in the woods, but most of the birds I saw where on the water.
There were a lot of grebes, almost all Horned Grebes.
This one is in the process of diving underwater.
And this one is underwater, just leaving a few bubbles where it was.
They have really red eyes
I only saw identifiable grebe that wasn't a Horned Grebe. This one is a Red-necked Grebe
There were also ducks, loons, and guillemots.
This is a Red-breasted Merganser
A Common Loon
A White-winged Scoter
Three Surf Scoters, with a loon in front
These two Pigeon Guillemots were way, way, way out in the Sound. They were so far out that I wasn't 100% sure that I was right about what they were until I got home and enlarged the photos to get a better look.
I saw a really large flock of gulls. I have no idea which species they were. The gulls I saw closely enough to identify were Herring Gulls but these could have been one of several other species.
I saw two mammals at Point No Point. One was this seal, which I think is a Harbor Seal. The other was a huge sea lion. I didn't get a photo of the sea lion and I'm not sure which species it was but it whichever it was, it was a really big one. I talked to a man on the beach who told me he'd seen a large whale the previous day but I didn't see any whales.
I'll start with the sparrowy birds. This is a Spotted Towhee.
There were a lot of sparrows in the grass, particularly on the edge where it met the brushy area. Many of them were Golden-crowned Sparrows. I find it very satisfying to see these birds because it took me years to see one. I spent part of several summers in Washington when I was young but Golden-crowned Sparrows breed much further north so I never got to see one then. Even after that, most of my visits were in the warm part of the year so I still didn't get to see them. I eventually found a couple at Nisqually NWR at some point. November is a much, much better time to see them though and they were all over the place on this trip.
There were also Song Sparrows which I didn't take many photos of, and Fox Sparrows. Northwestern Fox Sparrows mostly look somewhat different from most of the Fox Sparrows at home.
This reddish Fox Sparrow looks closer to the ones I see at home
I saw two hummingbirds while I was in Washington. The first one was buzzing around high up in the trees at opakele's house in the rain. I didn't even come close to seeing it well enough to identify. This Anna's Hummingbird was the second one. It was sitting in a place where I was looking almost directly into the sun, so the photos didn't come out all that well and I had to adjust them quite a bit to show the colors at all.
I saw some chickadees and nuthatches in the woods, but most of the birds I saw where on the water.
There were a lot of grebes, almost all Horned Grebes.
This one is in the process of diving underwater.
And this one is underwater, just leaving a few bubbles where it was.
They have really red eyes
I only saw identifiable grebe that wasn't a Horned Grebe. This one is a Red-necked Grebe
There were also ducks, loons, and guillemots.
This is a Red-breasted Merganser
A Common Loon
A White-winged Scoter
Three Surf Scoters, with a loon in front
These two Pigeon Guillemots were way, way, way out in the Sound. They were so far out that I wasn't 100% sure that I was right about what they were until I got home and enlarged the photos to get a better look.
I saw a really large flock of gulls. I have no idea which species they were. The gulls I saw closely enough to identify were Herring Gulls but these could have been one of several other species.
I saw two mammals at Point No Point. One was this seal, which I think is a Harbor Seal. The other was a huge sea lion. I didn't get a photo of the sea lion and I'm not sure which species it was but it whichever it was, it was a really big one. I talked to a man on the beach who told me he'd seen a large whale the previous day but I didn't see any whales.