One of many Fox Sparrows working the leafy debris among the thickets between holes at the golf course
Mostly sunny, temperatures in the 40s, light winds.
Quite similar to yesterday. Clouds mostly stayed out offshore to the southwest and further to the north. A few did end up over the mountains.
I was considering where to go today and got a message about kestrel at the golf course.
American Robin on the grass at the golf course
On the 7th fairway I was trying to count the robins, when they plowed up and away from me. A Merlin came flying up off to the right from behidn me and perched in a tree overlooking the course.
Merlins which nest in this area are much darker and browner, compared to this gray Merlin which I believe is the Taiga form
Taking pictures as I got closer, I got a few before it took off. It was much paler and grayer than I typically see. I think it may be a Taiga type (using Sibley’s classification)
I saw no birds at pond.
View of Mt. Edgecumbe from the 6th tee on the golf course
I spent a little over an hour hanging out and observing by the tee for the 6th hole.
Nice mix of birds and activity. I got a look (no photos) at a Rufous Hummingbird for the first time this year. I had been hearing it doing flight display calls, but didn’t see it until it seemed to be checking out a Downy Woodpecker on a willow near the pond below me.
Many Ruby-crowned Kinglets were singing and foraging in the shrubs and trees at the golf course
Quite a few Fox Sparrows and Ruby-crowned Kinglets where calling, singing, and foraging. Also a couple of flickers and a couple of Red-breasted Sapsuckers.
I missed photos of a yellow jacket due to unhelpful camera focus settings which took me too long to change.
After an hour and a half, I decided to give up for the time being.
I stopped at Halibut Point rec where it was fairly quiet. The tide was most of the way up.
I had started towards Starrigavan when I got a message the kestrel was by the driving range.
I didn’t take long to get back, and was able to see the kestrel by the driving range. I chatted with DK for a bit and we watched it come and go.
Seeing its patterns this time, I suspect it had been there while I was there, but I was looking more towards the north end where the one last fall had frequented.
I didn’t get great photos, but it was getting to be lunch time and more golfers were showing up, so I called it good.
I made a quick drive by the airport and didn’t see anything.
I spent the rest of the afternoon at home. I thought about going back out this evening, but decided I needed to make progress on projects that have been lagging.
I did a little cleaning and organizing, but have lots left to go.
I figured out how to get livestreaming set up on my computer. I tried it out with recordings direct to computer to test hardware and such. A few wrinkles, but I think I’ve mostly got them figured out. Next step is to try livestreaming.
I think I will livestream both photo review/editing and iNaturalist identifying. I spend time doing both of those things almost every day, and it doesn’t seem like it will be much overhead to do the streaming. Doing the tests, I found it easy to talk through what I was doing. When working through photos, talking both about the photos, and my approach, as well as the story of the day from when the photos were taken. On iNaturalist I talk through what I’m seeing and what I’m thinking for the identification.
My iNaturalist Observations for Today
