INTERNATIONAL MIGRATORY BIRD DAY ~~ PARTING SHOT

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATORY BIRD DAY

Audubon and more than 100 other organizations have joined forces and designated 2018 as the official "Year of the Bird," to celebrate birds and focus on ways to help protect them. Last Saturday, May 12th, was International Migratory Bird Day, and a celebration was planned at the Toppenish National Wildlife Refuge, a 45-minute drive for us. As soon as we heard about this celebration we put it on the calendar for a day out. When Saturday rolled around it was a beautiful morning so we left as soon as we could and got there around 10:00. There was an exhibit inside the Ranger's Station, so we headed there first. They were giving away beautiful free posters commemorating Bird Day, pictured below. We are going to frame the big one and hang it on our back porch.

2018 is the "Year of the Bird"

Bird Identification Charts

We walked around outside looking at the exhibits of bird information, before deciding to take a short walk with one of the guides out into the bird refuge itself. He had a spotting scope that brought the birds right up close so you could see their beautiful colors. I managed to get a few pictures with my camera, even though the birds were pretty far away. Below is a shot of a Tree Swallow sitting on a reed near the nesting box where they have built a nest.

Tree Swallow

As we walked out into the refuge a little way, the guide pointed out various bird calls and told us what birds were making them. We also saw a few birds perched in trees, but they were too far away to get a decent picture. As we were walking, I spotted a flock of geese flying overhead. Their formation reminded me of the USAF Thunderbirds.

Geese in Formation

We crossed over a little bridge and the guide pointed out a butterfly down among the fallen-over reeds. It was impossible to see him until he unfolded his wings, and then you could see the beautiful colors of a Monarch Butterfly.

A rare sighting for this area

At 10:30 we planned to take the hayride out into the refuge, so our walk ended and we all headed back to the station to wait for the tractor. Someone there had picked up a small turtle in the grass, so they were offering photo opportunities before he was taken down to be released in the water. I rarely pass up a photo opportunity.

Turtle Photo-Op

The hayride was the main reason we came because we wanted to seem more of the refuge. Linda and I had been to this refuge before, not long after we moved here. But the day we had gone, the Ranger Station had been closed, and so we had just walked along a pathway close to the station. While at the Bird Day celebration, we found out that the public is not allowed out into the refuge very far, except during hunting season. Now, this sounded quite odd to me, because here we are at this celebration to focus on birds and ways to protect them, and I find out that they allow hunting on what is supposed to be a "refuge." Sounds counter-productive to me, but that's the way it is in this state. I wonder if the birds know that it's not a refuge during hunting season? They should post signs for the poor birdies.

Anyway, we loaded onto the tractor and found seats on hay bales. The sun was quite bright and hot, so Linda and I were both glad we had worn hats, as there were a lot of people on the hayride with bare heads baking in the sun. The tractor pulled us slowly out into the wetlands of the refuge, where we saw birds flying all around . There were three or four very knowledgeable people on the ride with us, and they pointed out certain birds and were able to put a name to them. We would have been clueless without their help! Not too far into our ride (which was slated to last 1.5 hours), the tractor stopped beside a marshy-looking area where there were a lot of Red-Winged Blackbirds flying around. All of a sudden someone exclaimed, "There it is!" I looked where they were pointing and saw something I have been looking for ever since we moved to Yakima. The Yellow-Headed Blackbird! This sighting made my day! There were several of them flying around, and we even got to hear their call, which the guide said was like the sound a rusty gate makes. I knew they were in the Yakima area but we had just never been to the right place to see them.

Yellow-Headed Blackbird

At the start of our ride we had been urged to pick up a copy of the "Field Checklist of Common Birds" that was at the station. Linda got one, and as we went along on our ride, she was able to check off a good number of the birds listed. Some of them we had never seen before, so we had several to add to our life-list when we got back home.

Field Checklist

I actually got pictures of most of the birds we checked off, but I'm sorry to report that not all of them were close enough to include in the blog. Still, when we got home my pictures did help us identify some of the birds we saw, so it wasn't a total loss. I did get a pretty good shot of a pair of Cinnamon Teal, a species of dabbling duck that is found in the western parts of North & South America.

Cinnamon Teal ducks

Another interesting bird we saw was the Northern Shoveler. This dabbling duck is appropriately named because his bill is very large and resembles a shovel...the better to dabble with. In the picture below, he's the one with the white body. You can just barely make out the large bill.

Big-billed Northern Shoveler

I took a lot of pictures that day, but in most of them the birds were too far off to be able to tell much about them. But sometimes when you get home and put the pictures up on the computer, you come up with a surprise that you didn't see when you took the picture. Check out the lower right-hand corner of this picture and you can just barely see a familiar friend...Mr. Red-Winged Blackbird.

An old friend

On one part of our ride we happened upon a pair of Pheasants, who crossed the road right in front of the tractor. I just caught a glimpse of one of them before they ducked into the bushes, so I didn't get a chance to get their picture. I did, however, get one of this Killdeer, who was busy trying to distract us from wherever the nest was located. The female was several yards away doing the same thing, so I suspect their nest was somewhere in between. But, due to the camouflage terrain, you probably would never be able to see their eggs!

The tractor finally took us back to the station around noon, and we were ready to head home. Even though the temperature was pretty warm that day, we had a good breeze during most of the ride so it was not bad at all. It was a wonderful day all around and we were so glad we got out and attended the celebration. Needless to say, when we got home we were both worn out!

PARTING SHOT

Spring is going by fast and Summer is quickly approaching here in Yakima, as the temperatures steadily climb into the 90's. This past week we had two back-to-back days of 91 degree highs, so who can blame Summer Girl for stretching out and taking it easy in the shade?

Summer Girl showing off her summer figure

That's all for this week, my friends. Check back again next week for more happenings from the Northwest!