Naturalist Adventure field trip and more

[Lisa Millbank]

The January Naturalist Adventure field trip was this morning, and about a dozen of us headed down to Finley to enjoy the waterfowl spectacle and whatever else we might find.  Although it was cold, there were no complaints...the sun was really welcome.

At the prairie overlook we listened to the WESTERN MEADOWLARKS singing and looked at some of the regular raptors.  The cool, still morning kept the hawks grounded and we moved on to the Homer Campbell boardwalk, where everyone appreciated the many swans, ducks, cormorants, herons, egrets, and geese.  A PILEATED WOODPECKER was flying around and and making a loud "whinny" call.  After spending some time there, we finished with the Woodpecker Loop.  Don called in a pair of WRENTITS who sang and rustled around in the brush right by our feet.  From the oak tree platform, we spotted the elk far away on the east part of the refuge.  We looked at ferns, Dusky-footed Woodrat nests, and some interesting fungi.

Don and I stayed at Finley after the field trip.  An adult female GOLDEN EAGLE soared over McFadden Marsh.  It was sunny enough to see the golden wash shining on her nape and we could also see the broad dark band at the end of her tail that distinguishes the sexes. 

A PEREGRINE FALCON preened on a snag, with a beautiful backdrop of South Sister and the elk herd running below.  It's too bad it was not close enough for a picture.

The elk were in high spirits this afternoon as they ran along a fireline east of the prairie overlook.  Some of them were really kicking up their heels.  We spotted "Mr. One Long Tine" out there.  He is a bull with odd, asymmetrical antlers.  We first noticed him when his antlers were still in velvet (I posted a picture of him I took in August).  In October, he was on the perimeter of the herd and a bigger bull was dominant, but we recorded a scandalous video of Mr. One Long Tine getting some lovin' in with the cows behind a hedgerow while the herd bull was out of sight.  So I think he might have fathered some of next June's calves, on the sly!  Mr. One Long Tine will lose his silly nickname when he sheds his antlers and becomes indistinguishable from everyone else.  It would be fun to find his odd antlers somewhere after he drops them. 

As it got dark, an amazing number of AMERICAN WIGEONS flew up from the marshes and headed northeast.  Some flocks were enormous--we estimated about 20,000 wigeons flew by!  The sky was filled with the males' little wiw-WIW-wiw whistles and the beating of wings.

Lisa

www.neighborhood-naturalist.com

 

Pictures:

Mr. One Long Tine and friends from August (It was very hot that day, notice him and a calf with tongues hanging out as they pant, and the heat shimmer distorting the picture)

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Northern Shoveler