Nest Statistics - June 25 2010

It has been almost two months since my last entry.  TOO MUCH WORK!!! Oh well, it does pay the bills.

It's time to go back over the notes and pics and come up with some nest stats:

***red shouldered hawk nest #1:

first mating activity seen on March 6

first saw hawk sitting on the nest March 13

first saw chicks May 22, fuzzy white heads

2 chicks quite large on June 6

***red shouldered hawk nest #2 :

mating recorded on March 28

first chicks actually seen on June 2

two hawk chicks total.  One is developing far faster than the other and is getting large and dark while the smaller one is still quite downy and white. still not fledged as of June 25

***red tailed hawk nest #1 :

first saw hawk on nest March 15

first saw chicks May 2

saw 2 very large hawk chicks on the nest as late as June 20..these two fledged long after the first 2, but are finally gone

***red tailed hawk nest #2 :

first saw a hawk sitting on the nest on Feb 14, also prepping with materials

protective behavior March 13

first saw hawk sitting at edge of nest, probably hatch time frame  April 22

saw active chicks May 2

counted 5 chicks total by May 15

first saw a fledge fly on June 2

last saw 1 hawk sitting on the nest on June 16

***white tailed kite nest :

first saw brooding hawk April

small white heads Jun 2

first flying and 2 chicks fledged on June 18

all fledged by June 24

new mating for possible second clutch, June 13/ June 20

lots of nest pics:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hawkperson/sets/72157624133756771/

May 1 2010 - What do I shoot with?

So this is my photography journey so far....

I started shooting with a digital camera in 2004, with a 4 MP, 3x optical zoom Canon Elph.  Wow, at that time this was about $425!! I had played around with non digital photography in the past, but never went very far with it.  It was mainly something that I did on vacation, and I enjoyed it but found it cumbersome to send out film etc.  I never would have been a darkroom type person, because I would not be able to cope with the smell of that.

As soon as I went digital I was hooked.  I loved the ability to instantly see the results on my laptop, edit/crop/arrange and I fell in love with the new hobby.  I am clearly the outdoorsy type so this was more about nature photography than anything else, although grandchildren are a fine subject when they don't mind me taking their picture.

It wasn't long before I wanted to work with a better camera.  However, I just did not think I would be able to cope with a camera of any kind of weight at all.  I had injured my neck long ago, and had 2 disks removed in 2003 and replaced with cadaver bone, all laced together with titanium plates and screws.  My arms were not very strong, and I feared that they never would regain much of their strength.  I bought a better camera for Tom, an 8MP Canon with 12x zoom, and I was envious of the better results that he was getting for birds up in the trees.  But I kept with the Elph for quite a long time.  My next purchase was not until 2007.

So the next experiment was still a very small point and shoot, but by this time these were now much cheaper and had much more power.  I tried a Panasonic with 8 MP and 10x zoom.  I almost immediately missed the Canon color and image quality, but loved the 10x reach and got a few very nice and interesting shots with this camera.  It was very small and I still did not think I could work with anything larger.

When my quarter century of IBM rolled around, in early 2008, I picked out a camera as my gift.  It was a Sony 10 MP with 15x zoom.  Compared to my previous cameras this point and shoot was a big camera.  But I found that I really could handle it and was very excited by the reach.  I found an owl's nest at the lab and took some fairly outstanding pictures of the baby owls.  I went to Portland to visit a friend and loved what I captured at the zoo.  I would say that my hobby at this point became an obsession.  I added an extender lens to the Sony unit and started shooting with that.  Quite heavy now, I could still manage to hold it steady, but a monopod was a nice addition to my kit.

But despite the results that I was getting with the Sony and the Panasonic, I still yearned for the Canon color and image quality.  The next foray was with the Canon G9.  This is a very sweet little point and shoot camera.  12 MP and 6x zoom, and there are quite a few great attachments for this camera.  Extender lens, wide angle lens, etc.  I still have this camera and it is worth more today than it was when I bought it.  Canon has created a G10 and a G11 since, and I feel that the G9 was better than the subsequent editions.  I enjoyed using this camera so much that I sold back the Panasonic and the Sony.  The elph had long ago gone to live with my friend Doo.

I worked with the G9 for quite some time, and was still certain that I would never have the strength to get to a DSLR with a lens that had decent reach.  I believed that this would always be beyond MY reach.  But with a cool European trip on th horizon in 2009, I started getting very excited by the new "superzoom" point and shoots on the market, and ended up buying a Nikon P90 to take on the trip.  This camera had 12 MP and a zoom to 24x.  All in quite a lightweight camera.  I must say that this was an outstanding camera.  And all along the way something had been happening to me while using successively larger and larger cameras, and shooting more and more.  I was getting stronger.  This was, as it turns out, the best physical therapy that anyone could have ever suggested for my condition.

In 2009 I started doing a lot more studying.  I was reading more about photography, about birds, and about bird photography.  One thing that I realized was that a point and shoot camera was never going to get me what I most wanted to achieve.  Because of the nature of a point and shoot camera, it is nearly impossible to freeze birds in flight.  But having tried the impossible for so long, I was getting better at using a camera!  In the fall of 2009, I finally broke down and bought a lightweight DSLR, the Canon Rebel T1i, with a 70-300 lens.  I had test driven the lens briefly at the B and H mega store in NYC in August, and it is a great lens for the weight.  At first I had to use a monopod with this combination of camera and lens, which together weigh about 2 pounds.  I also grabbed a 400mm prime lens, and a 2x extender.  With the 2x extender on the prime there is only manual focus, the 400mm has no IS, and it is touchy as the devil at that length.  This requires a very heavy steady tripod to manage at that sensitive 800mm focal length, and with a remote shutter so the camera will not have any shake.

Within a few months though, I was shooting with the 70-300 handheld with very little shake problems.  This lens has pretty decent optic image stabilization and that helps a great deal at longer shutter times, but I can manage handheld up to about 1/80.  To wear the lens without destroying my neck, I wear a pack around my waist, such that the end of the lens barrel is sitting and propped by the pouch  which completely takes the weight off my neck.  OK, it puts the weight onto my lower back which is not always so great, but...

Now the latest.  We are planning a raptor expedition trip to Belize and Guatemala in December of this year.  In anticipation of the lower light jungle environment which will be filled with some of the most wonderful birds in the world, I want to be able to wear and shoot with a 400mm.  I have just recently purchased, and am now mainly shooting with, a 100-400mm Canon with image stabilization.  I am thrilled with the results.  I am amazed that I can shoot with this much weight, handheld.  (about 4.5 pounds now)  This would only be possible through this multi-year physical therapy program of increasingly larger and larger cameras.  Get a healthier neck and arms, the B and H way!!!

April 22 2010 - Earth Day Walk

Incredibly lovely late afternoon walk.  The previous day was so wet and windy that we cut our walk short and called it a day, but this afternoon was delicious.  Started with a nice distant view of a kingfisher, flying fairly high following the path of the creek.

We checked in on the many nests, and all were occupied.  Even the red shouldered hawk nest that we thought was abandoned, is again occupied.  The red tailed hawk that we call Yoko was sitting on the side of the nest - we are certain that her chicks have hatched. At that same nest it appears that some smaller birds, finches perhaps, have nested in the lower part of the nest.  No idea if that is really the case, but they are always there, and show nesting behaviors flying in and out.  Previously we thought that they might be stealing nesting materials, but now suspect that they are actually nesting there.  The white tailed kite was also sitting on the side of the nest and gave us a great show of gently climbing back down to sit.

There are loads of western kingbirds now, especially in the sycamores by the airfield.  They sound like a roomful of squeaky toys being stepped on repeatedly.

On our return, at the footbridge, we stopped to watch the tree sparrows flying about in the meadow with their nest boxes.  We then were treated to a troupe of cedar waxwings.  They were a bit far to get good photos, but they were great to observe.  The interesting thing about the waxwings is their troupe behavior.  They stick together as a unit and move almost in synchrony.  I caught some nice shots of them preening in unison.  There was also a beautiful yellow rumped warbler there, whose spring gray plumage was so brilliant that it read a shade of blue.  He matched the tree that he was hopping around on so perfectly that the lens consistently failed to read him properly with AF and he moves too fast for MF.  a shame to not get a good shot of such a nice bird.

Photo set is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hawkperson/sets/72157623800004429/

April 18 2010 - A Great Weekend

Friday late afternoon we spent a few hours walking on the Coyote Creek Trail.  Tom tried out his new recording equipment and I shot pictures of birds.  Very harmonious parallel activities for us.  There were some beautiful Bullock's Orioles, woodpeckers, jays, hawks - all the usuals. The 2 redtail nests and the kite nest were all occupied.

Saturday we started at Calaveras Reservoir and the bald eagles gave us a great show.  There was an adult on the nest and the 2 chicks were far more active than we expected.  I had seen pictures of fuzzy heads sticking up above the nest line, but we had one chick just jumping and moving all around the nest and a second less active chick popped up from time to time also.   The other adult showed up at one point and landed on the other tower and the 2 adults called to each other. Tom got some great recordings from the reservoir area, and we saw lots of other birds.  We both are recognizing more and more birds "by ear".

After the reservoir we went to Ed Levin Park where I was hoping to see the Calliope Hummingbird that has been seen there daily for the last several weeks.  I again did not see it, but it was a lovely day to be out at the park.  I did see many Anna's Hummingbirds and also a Rufous male.  Got some nice pictures of some male and female Anna's.  Pictures from lately are in this set on Flickr:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/hawkperson/sets/72157623875365558/

Sunday we drove down to Point Lobos and had a great hike.  Beautiful weather, very blue water, tons of wild flowers, and the most delicious aroma of artemesia everywhere.  The harbor seals have pups and there were many moms and pups laying out on rocks together or swimming together in the water.  

April 17 2010 - Mimics

When I was young, my family went to Florida most winters for a vacation.  We would stay somewhere in St. Petersburg, near the beach.  A regular attraction at that time was Busch Bavarian Gardens in Tampa.  Today this is a major attraction with a lot of rides, shows, and animals, but back then there were trees, birds, and a beer factory.  After a tour of the factory the adults received free beer.  When I was about 7 or 8 I was wandering around looking at the trees and birds, and a bird said to me "Hello little girl".  I was just completely freaked out.  First I thought that someone was hiding in the bushes and trying to frighten me with their very strange voice.  Then I realized it really was the bird talking, and I had NO IDEA that birds could do that.  Of course it was a myna bird, which I found out after finding the rest of my family in a total panic about the talking bird.

I was thinking about this experience in the past week because 2 of our typical mimic birds gave us some really great shows.  Of course most people know about the mockingbird and its wonderful repertoire of great sounds. We have a pair of mockingbirds that are hanging near our house daily and singing some pretty great songs.  But one evening at sunset recently we had a mockingbird swing by and then began to croak like a frog.   Wonderful!

Perhaps less folks know what a wonderful mimic the Stellar's Jay is.  We see these jays every day, both feeding in our backyard as well as everywhere along the trail or at regional parks.  The vocalizations are really great .  The Stellar's can imitate a red shouldered hawk cry with some proficiency, and you need a bit of practice to know the difference.  But the surprise that we had this week was a jay that was on a branch overhanging the creek on Coyote Creek Trail.  We were down by the creek watching some mallards and mergansers, when we heard a very odd quacking.  None of the ducks were making this noise and it took a bit of time to recognize that the quacking was above our heads and coming from the jay!  Very cool mimic, this bird.

April 10 2010 - Coyote Creek Trail

We are already seeing more quail this year than we have the last few years.  A good trend.  I have been concerned that too many have been nabbed by the new neighborhood cats introduced with the latest subdivisions that have grown up near the creek.

On their nests:  the two red tailed hawk nests are still constantly inhabited.  We discovered a kite nest yesterday, with the lovely long kite tail sticking prominently out in full view:

And a kite nearby was literally screaming, which is what made us see the nest...

This nest is between the two red tailed hawk nests.

The first fairly well hidden red shouldered hawk nest is still active, but the second one that was so very out in the open is abandoned.  There is a constant traffic of vultures perusing the tops of the trees in this area.  Nests in this territory must be very well guarded or they will be lost.

On the other end of the food chain, we observed a small bird stealing twigs from the bottom of one of the red tailed hawk nests.  This shot shows that small bird ( at the bottom) having a rest in between stealing the bits of nest (red tail sticking out above):

Yesterday we saw the first western bluebird that we have ever seen at Coyote Creek.  They are of course very common around here, but we usually see them other places like Henry Coe or Calaveras Reservoir.  We are now seeing our first of season western kingbirds also, and hearing their squeaky twittering everywhere:

April 2-4 2010 - Coyote Creek Trail

Walked on the trail 4 times in the last 3 days.

Three of the 4 hawk nests are still occupied, but the most exposed red shouldered hawk nest appears to be abandoned these last few days.  This is the nest with the fairly small but very red hawk pair, and this is also the pair that was seen mating again a week ago.  This nest is so exposed that it is possible that it could not be defended, and we see a lot of larger raptors in this area regularly.

Yesterday we saw our first of season Bullock's Orioles.  They showed up as beautiful bursts of color against a very flat white day and mostly leafless pale branched sycamores. The Cornell page states that these birds like tall trees along rivers and streams, and these trees clearly qualify. I think that they should be named beatnik orioles - they look like they are wearing sunglasses and are sporting goatees.  We are also seeing many American finches in their breeding bright yellow feathers now.

I went back out on my own yesterday with my 400mm lens and a monopod.  I am checking out how able I will be to carry that lens around in Belize, and how well it performs with a monopod vs tripod.  It was a fairly quiet afternoon in terms of bird activity.  There was the usual contingent of mallards, mergansers, and wood ducks in the creek near the parking lot.  I got one decent shot of the mergansers, but no luck (again!) with the wood ducks.  I saw a lot of quail in the bushy undergrowth and did get a few shots of them.

I was sitting down by the creek near the oak rest area.  I usually see a lot of small birds in the trees there, but was seeing nothing.  In the far distance towards the south I saw a large raptor and snagged a picture of it, thinking that it really had the strong rectangular shape of an eagle.  With no binoculars, I had to wait until I got home to see that it was a bald eagle!  Very much a surprise from that vantage point.  It must be the Anderson Reservoir bald, but very unusual to be able to see it from where I was located.  We also saw an immature golden eagle on Friday afternoon, at the first of the Ogier ponds.  There is no doubt that my spotting skills are improving.  It helps that I read the south bay birding forum because I have a much better idea of what I might be likely to see at any given time or place, and this makes me more likely to see the birds for what they are.  I am sure that we have been seeing eagles for years and thinking that all of the large dark birds around here were turkey vultures, for example.