https://www.geraldlisi.net/blog daily 0.75 2026-02-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/9ca91c37-c034-42b8-843b-5c46bf1369e7/snowy+spruces+hunger+mtn+summit-7.jpg Field Reports https://www.geraldlisi.net/blog/2026/2/12/wild-niche-is-live-in-vermont monthly 0.5 2026-03-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/27015e04-cea4-4595-ba44-d5775ae26e0c/bluejay+in+white+ash-2.jpg Field Reports - Wild Niche is live in Vermont! - Make it stand out Bluejay in White Ash https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/09bd87dd-639f-4974-a920-1f557eb9d5b5/_DSC0983.jpg Field Reports - Wild Niche is live in Vermont! - Make it stand out Monarch Butterfly feeding on Goldenrod nectar https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/276f9eae-ebe5-4713-afca-4a233e943c95/fawn+in+nb+river+park-4.jpg Field Reports - Wild Niche is live in Vermont! - Make it stand out White-tailed Deer Fawn in a natural forest clearing https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/0c3d35c7-bd99-4c5c-b98e-3adb785563f1/ovenbird+singing+in+sugar+maple.jpg Field Reports - Wild Niche is live in Vermont! - Make it stand out Ovenbird singing in Sugar Maple https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/eac4467d-46a3-4527-8008-f75666a3b5f7/luna+moth+on+sensetive+fern.jpg Field Reports - Wild Niche is live in Vermont! - Make it stand out Luna Moth on Sensitive Fern https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/d3e55084-8036-4c4c-9dee-ed77250ef4a2/phoebe+in+sumac+back+view+D%26D%27s.jpg Field Reports - Wild Niche is live in Vermont! - Make it stand out Eastern Phoebe in Staghorn Sumac https://www.geraldlisi.net/blog/2025/11/2/bird-party-at-the-pagoda-dogwood monthly 0.5 2026-02-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/77aec7e5-cb59-4b62-9078-dbadec47d3c1/robin+pagoda+dogwood-1.jpg Field Reports - Bird Party at the Pagoda (Dogwood) - Make it stand out American Robins and other thrushes are serious frugivores (fruit eaters), so seeing a few Robing take more than their share of this bounty was no surprise. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/43ed6655-97c0-4d0e-af04-f68368bbe1dc/robin+eats+pagoda+dogwood+fruit-1.jpg Field Reports - Bird Party at the Pagoda (Dogwood) - Make it stand out The scarfing of berries happens so quickly, and often without a clear view, but I was glad to catch this Robin with berry in bill. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/babb1b46-2738-4b1e-9ad4-58acf462f6c6/hermit+thrush+pagoda+dogwood-2.jpg Field Reports - Bird Party at the Pagoda (Dogwood) - Make it stand out This juvenile Hermit Thrush would have been still getting used to feeding his or her self, which was temporarily quite easy in these bountiful branches. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/b73200ba-1cd5-42b2-90ab-520bab85e642/thrush+juvie+pagoda+dogwood+-1.jpg Field Reports - Bird Party at the Pagoda (Dogwood) - Make it stand out Perhaps the same Hermit Thrush, or another juvenile. You can see that many of the red fruit-bearing stems had been picked clean at this point. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/950dc837-39e6-4c42-95d4-9ea906f66d52/bc+chickadee+pagoda+dogwood-1.jpg Field Reports - Bird Party at the Pagoda (Dogwood) - Make it stand out Black-capped Chickadees aren’t big fruit eaters, but they can be found wherever there’s action. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/3149850b-50b8-4f40-aeb6-ca7b3511bbb2/tufted+titmouse+pagoda+dogwood-10.jpg Field Reports - Bird Party at the Pagoda (Dogwood) - Make it stand out Tufted Titmice are larger cousins of Chickadees, with similar diets and habits. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/14575886-ed66-442e-b8e5-5f4b5f4e0c63/tufted+titmouse+w+caterpillar+pagoda+dogwood-1.jpg Field Reports - Bird Party at the Pagoda (Dogwood) - Make it stand out This Titmouse found a nice caterpillar on the popular Pagoda Dogwood. While fruits are important foods for many birds, the greatest nutritional contribution of plants to birds is the caterpillars that feed on their leaves. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/226da1e8-6468-478e-95e0-0c7543f04d55/yellow+warbler+fm+pagoda+dogwood-5.jpg Field Reports - Bird Party at the Pagoda (Dogwood) - Make it stand out This female Yellow Warbler was a fun surprise as I had not seen this species in the yard before. She and her mate had likely finished raising this year’s young by now and she was enjoying the freedom to wander, and eat all the insects she caught herself. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/65ffed1c-a10c-40f7-9fae-0c16afa6d67d/red-eyed+vireo+eats+pagoda+dogwood+fruits-2.jpg Field Reports - Bird Party at the Pagoda (Dogwood) - Make it stand out I’ve seen Red-eyed Vireos hunting caterpillars on many occasions. This was my first time seeing them eat fruit, and by far my closest look at them foraging. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/d036ae3a-fe50-477b-b41e-ee4d91964fde/red-eyed+vireo+pair+pagoda+dogwood-9.jpg Field Reports - Bird Party at the Pagoda (Dogwood) - Make it stand out I had seen and heard this Red-eyed Vireo pair a lot at this point, but getting to photograph them together in this beautiful plant was a real treat. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/008e202d-fcd6-4925-b184-3a1f880c9a3b/PXL_20251116_131201620.jpg Field Reports - Bird Party at the Pagoda (Dogwood) - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.geraldlisi.net/blog/2025/9/2/midsummer-medly monthly 0.5 2026-02-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/e80ac1da-bd39-4cc1-9a85-1d2cc00d0b5d/chipmunk+in+blueberry-1.jpg Field Reports - Midsummer Medly - Make it stand out I feigned dismay when I saw this Chipmunk eating my blueberries, but I had already opted against putting nets over the bushes. She paused her harvest to make sure I wasn’t out to get her, giving me the opportunity to frame her sweet little profile with fruit-laden blueberry branches. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/24d4d6f1-ca87-48ee-8ade-362f6ebf3a64/ghost+pipes+unfurl-1.jpg Field Reports - Midsummer Medly - Make it stand out Ghost Pipe aka Indian Pipe, Monotropa uniflora, is a plant of the Heath Family, Ericaceae. Members of this family, including blueberries, often share mycorrhizal networks with trees, especially conifers. photosynthesis products from the trees are shared with the mycorrhizal fungi who reciprocate with minerals and nutrients reclaimed from the decomposition of organic matter. Many forest understory plants rely on the sugars made by the trees, who enjoy much better access to sunlight. In some cases species completely lose their own ability to photosynthesize. The complete lack of chlorophyll (a green pigment used in photosynthesis) in Ghost Pipe is a classic example of this phenomenon. Non-photosynthetic plants are generally referred to as parasitic. They do rely on the photosynthesis of the trees on the other end of their mycorrhizal networks, but it’s important to recognize the contributions these flowering plants make to the greater ecological communities to which they belong. Bumblebees are the pollinators of Ghost Pipe, and they raise their young on the pollen they gather from them, as is generally the case with Bumblebee-flower relationships. I have also noticed that this plant very often gets eaten, although I don’t know by who. Likely deer and other plant-munching mammals. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/bed589d5-e204-44a8-bef3-761bb8ffccf0/garter+snake+in+mugwort-1.jpg Field Reports - Midsummer Medly - Make it stand out After glimpsing Garter Snakes fleeing my footsteps in my yard a few times, just a tail disappearing into a thicket, I was delighted to see this one’s sweet little face as he climbed a Mugwort. If you are afraid of snakes please let me assure you that Garter Snakes are not at all dangerous to people or pets. They are however predators of slugs and snails (and many other little critters), so gardeners should welcome them with great enthusiasm. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/17b8644d-3412-42e2-baff-0a0dc3c3b882/great+spangled+fritillary+at+milkweed+flowers-1.jpg Field Reports - Midsummer Medly - Make it stand out Great Spangled Fritillary on Common Milkweed. Milkweeds are rightly famous as favored food plants of Monarch Butterfly larvae (caterpillars), their flower nectar feeds many many species of insects, including adult Monarchs. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/f2b5c934-d757-4422-8310-8d96e9676919/toad+in+polytrichum-1.jpg Field Reports - Midsummer Medly - Make it stand out American Toad in Polytrichum (his butt parasol is a Wild Strawberry leaf). Toads are delightful creatures, and I am always happy to see one. The Hair-cap Moss complemented his portrait quite nicely. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/5122d6d4-3915-4904-92c5-439b61419795/chestnut-sided+warbler+juvie+in+red+maple-3.jpg Field Reports - Midsummer Medly - Make it stand out Chestnut-sided Warbler fledgling in Red Maple. Chestnut-sided are one of the most abundant and conspicuous wood warblers in central Vermont. But once the chicks have fledged the songs of warblers, and other birds drop of dramatically. This is the time listen more carefully for the little voices of fledglings begging their parents for food. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/ec7951da-6d81-488f-a61d-74243afbda04/loon+with+chick+rollins+pond-17.jpg Field Reports - Midsummer Medly - Make it stand out Common Loon with chick This is the only observation in this post that wasn’t made at home. This could well have been right up the road, but it was actually on Rollins Pond in the Adirondacks, where a friend of mine rents out boats. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/75e929af-0f96-45e5-929a-c8fea50c63da/blackburnian+warbler+m+in+red+oak-1.jpg Field Reports - Midsummer Medly - Make it stand out Blackburnian Warbler male in Red Oak. I heard him singing quite a bit this spring, and got a few way-up-in-the-trees shots of this. But as I often say, when they (various tree-top-singing-warblers) go quiet you might actually get a decxent look at them foraging in lower branches. In this case he was gathering food for his chicks. Continuing to hunt with prey items in the bill, rather than stopping to eat it before proceeding, is indicates that you’re watching a parent on one of their hundreds of daily foraging trips to feed their rapidly growing chicks. As Douglas Tallamy keeps trying to tell us, one of the major contributions of wild plants to their ecosystems is in the feeding of myriad species of caterpillars, many of which are primary sources of nutrition for the young of most species of birds. Oaks, he reports in ‘Nature’s Best Hope,’ are one of the ecological heavy hitters in this way. “If you think of a plant as a bird feeder, which is exactly what it is, then in most regions the oak makes the most food” Tallamy writes. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/ac19d169-1b7a-4b3f-adb2-dbbec81b8e78/blackburnian+warbler+juvie+in+red+maple-4.jpg Field Reports - Midsummer Medly - Make it stand out Three weeks later I spotted this juvenile Blackburnian Warbler, who is almost certainly one of the progeny of the father pictured above. It’s awesome to have one of my favorite birds successfully breeding virtually right outside my door. https://www.geraldlisi.net/blog/2025/7/27/back-in-june monthly 0.5 2026-02-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/abb2f3f4-4e2e-45c7-9439-846453a9868a/scarlet+tanager+m+home+53125-1.jpg Field Reports - Back in June - Make it stand out It was actually back in May, the 31st, when I had the pleasure of watching this Scarlet Tanager for a few minutes. He was in the deep shade of the forest early on an overcast morning, so the light was not in my favor for photography. But this is undoubtedly one of Vermont’s most striking breeding birds, so I was clicking away with great enthusiasm. Here I managed to get a clear view of him through a window framed with Beech leaves. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/a3feadb7-2047-4dcd-b530-763d9d7ca41e/scarlet+tanager+m+home+53125-5.jpg Field Reports - Back in June - Make it stand out Here he is perched on the boughs of an Eastern Hemlock, whose still-developing new leaves reveal the season of the shot. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/4391b34e-e496-40d1-b22a-e9251bcd41f4/cinnamon+fern+close+up+chickering+-1.jpg Field Reports - Back in June - Make it stand out Speaking of fresh spring growth I encountered this Cinnamon Fern at the perfect time to appreciate the namesake fertile fronds. Many species of ferns produce sori, their spore-bearing structures, on the undersides of their leaves, but Cinamon Fern is among those who produce separate sterile and fertile fronds. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/b02b9f74-d47c-44d1-b516-773322c2f149/bunchberry+spring+chickering+-1.jpg Field Reports - Back in June - Make it stand out Here we see a favorite of the forest floor. Bunchberry, aka Dwarf Dogwood, bears an inflorescence of small white flowers subtended by showy, white bracts. Said bracts are often misinterpreted as the petals of a single flower, but the bunch of berries that follow, one from each flower, reveal the actual arrangement. Here they are already developing into berries. This plant is nestled amongst Bead Lilies. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/768afa8b-18ca-4af1-ae97-e494c28798c2/pink+lady+slipper+chickering+060725-2.jpg Field Reports - Back in June - Make it stand out I was orchid hunting when I took the last two pictures. Specifically I was trying to find Pink Lady Slippers in flower. This is a photo of what turned out to be the first of dozens. This individual, well over a foot tall, was growing in a particularly photogenic spot. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/95527dd2-0ac6-4a8b-ac91-96ff56d7e5c2/pitcher+plant+flower+with+tiny+bee-1.jpg Field Reports - Back in June - Make it stand out The forest of the last three photos surrounds a fen where I encountered another botanical delight; Pitcher Plants. There were no clear views of the modified, insect-trapping, leaves that give these plants their name through the sedges they grew amongst, but their maroon flowers were opening. I was additionally delighted to see and photograph the tiny bee that was on one of this flower’s sepals. I suspect this is some species of solitary bee, but my bee knowledge is limited, unfortunately. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/c077dd4a-7670-47e2-89ae-428173e27dec/crimson-ringed+whitefaces+mating+chickering-2.jpg Field Reports - Back in June - Make it stand out Thanks to the Vermont Atlas of Life on the Vermont Center for Ecostudies I was able to identify these mating dragonflies as Crimson-ringed Whitefaces. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/8669ff13-90ca-498e-a4a9-582d45579c58/bluejay+chickering+spring+landscape-3.jpg Field Reports - Back in June - Make it stand out Stunted White Cedar and Tamarack manage to grow in the saturated soils of the fen. Here a Bluejay hunts for food from a branch of the former. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/d25df266-a92c-4f99-9cf5-75f0ed86bde7/blue-heade+vireo+takes+moth+larva-2.jpg Field Reports - Back in June - Make it stand out Another day, while birding at home, I had the pleasure of seeing this Blue-headed Vireo pulling what was probably a larval moth of some sort from its silken pupation tent. Many a caterpillar never metamorphoses due to the appetites and foraging skills of birds. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/a02f6c0d-c735-4c85-9662-3814909d2d99/redstart+fm+singing+blush+hill-1.jpg Field Reports - Back in June - Make it stand out I was fortunate this spring to hear a lot of female American Redstart songs, and even get clear views of this little lady belting it out. The songs of most songbirds in the northern hemisphere are performed by males, but in a few species females sing their own songs as well. Both sexes are strongly territorial during nesting season and this image captures that behavior in this female Redstart. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/2be6674b-01c3-4004-b10c-4f65507f0b89/tufted+titmouse+juvie+in+birch-2.jpg Field Reports - Back in June - Make it stand out One day a particularly loud and rapid exchange of Tufted Titmouse calls led my eyes to a whole family of these delightful birds. This juvenile and her siblings were still getting fed by their parents, but were probably quite close to fending for themselves at that point. Here we see adult plumage fully developed, but the fleshy gape at the base of baby birds’ bills is still apparent. https://www.geraldlisi.net/blog/2025/5/25/its-almost-all-about-the-birds monthly 0.5 2026-02-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/2a8f3d82-37fd-4699-ba54-512d06ec8bbe/tiny+red+eft+in+the+yard-2.jpg Field Reports - It's (Almost) All About the Birds - Make it stand out This tiny Red Eft was a most welcome preview of the mass movement of these juvenile Eastern Newts that takes place every summer in the Northern Forest. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/eaf1c0e0-a424-4714-b27a-ad408cfac9a0/black-throated+blue+m+050225-1.jpg Field Reports - It's (Almost) All About the Birds - Make it stand out One dark morning early this month was brightened for me by the realization that Black-throated Blue Warblers had returned. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/947a8a38-2647-4253-9d28-f2dbac091366/black-throated+green+m+close+up+050425-2.jpg Field Reports - It's (Almost) All About the Birds - Make it stand out The throat of males is also part of the namesake for Black-throated Green Warblers. After chasing this guys songs through the canopy for more than a few minutes I lucked out when he alighted in a Sumac just ten feet away from me. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/b257c4e6-65fc-4d7e-9802-fad3c0a0cfbd/myrtle+warbler+in+sumac+050425-4.jpg Field Reports - It's (Almost) All About the Birds - Make it stand out Also presenting himself in the late-to-leaf-out Staghorn Sumac was this Myrtle (Yellow-rumped) Warbler. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/7453b76e-3a06-4153-b20a-ddee183bf9f6/black+and+white+warbler+singing+profile+-3.jpg Field Reports - It's (Almost) All About the Birds - Make it stand out The Warbler game mostly involves craning one’s neck to scan the canopy from which a male’s song is emanating. Frequently one must settle for audio identification, but the relative lack of foliage in early May and this Black and White Warbler’s choice of singing perch enabled me to catch him in the act. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/0fab2ad2-d5df-48d2-b76c-0b6f4f07f1c7/pine+warbler+in+spring+birch+high+key-4.jpg Field Reports - It's (Almost) All About the Birds - Make it stand out Pine Warblers do live up to their names, and I generally fail to spot the songster high in a White Pine. But foraging for insects brings many of the upper-canopy-singing warblers closer to the ground. I was very pleased to get this Pine Warbler shot in a flowering and leafing-out Paper Birch. Catkins of male flowers dangle below him and the remnants of last year’s seed “cones” are at his head level. Note also that if this tree was done leafing out this warbler would not be visible. The first couple weeks of warbler season affords the best views. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/ef75fe3c-264a-4085-bd68-6a2112b9d6b5/northern+parula+m+singing+little+river-1.jpg Field Reports - It's (Almost) All About the Birds - Make it stand out The biggest float in my spring warbler parade was presented by Northern Parulas. I was hearing, and even seeing, them so much earlier this month. Here a male sings in a Speckled Alder. The catkins behind him belong to a Willow. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1a97c3c1-19b9-4dab-98c6-e5ef0e12e28c/northern+parula+1st+yr+fm+little+river-2.jpg Field Reports - It's (Almost) All About the Birds - Make it stand out So strong was my Northern Parula mojo that I even got a good look at this female, without the benefit of song to point me in the right direction. Although it was almost certainly the song of the guy in the previous picture that drew this little beauty to an Aspen branch in the same thicket. The plumage of female warblers is a less-colorful variation on that of the males, with that of some species having little or no bright colors at all, but the lady Northern Parulas are nearly as colorful as the males. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/9945a407-bedb-494e-9680-0930ca7694a1/ovenbird+singing+profile+colorful+bckgrnd-1.jpg Field Reports - It's (Almost) All About the Birds - Make it stand out Closing of the warbler section of this post with an Ovenbird singing the ubiquitous “teacher teacher TEAcher TEACHER” of spring and summer in deciduous and mixed forests of the northeastern United States. Ovenbirds are one of a few outlier species in the Wood Warbler family that have thrush like appearances and habits. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/adf78f2e-c0e2-4292-97a1-be404b43a8b2/veery+near+res+dam-13.jpg Field Reports - It's (Almost) All About the Birds - Make it stand out For actual thrushes today i have for you this Veery, who granted me my closest yet looks at this often-heard denizen of Vermont woods. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/9c3f58e8-39d5-4bd0-aad1-f241370bfb42/wood+thrush+near+res+dam-1.jpg Field Reports - It's (Almost) All About the Birds - Make it stand out Less often heard and rarely seen is the Wood Thrush. This guy’s truly enchanting song drew me like the piping of Pan, but I held little hope of beholding the feathered minstrel. The Spirits of the Forest smiled on me this day though, and I am very happy to share my first look at a Wood Thrush with you. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/8ab7cdfc-7eee-4b61-974a-61ce75896644/osprey+with+trout+flys+past+white+pine-1.jpg Field Reports - It's (Almost) All About the Birds - Make it stand out While I am indeed a woodsling, I am hardly allergic to the rivers, ponds and streams that so beautifully punctuate the forested landscape. The water draws me just as it does birds who are not at home in the deep shade of the forest. As strict pescivores Osprey bound to the bodies of water that feed them. I barely managed to get a couple pictures of my first Osprey of the year (they also migrate north to breed). But what a way to kick off Osprey season. She had just pulled this beautiful trout out of the Waterbury Reservoir. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/39d50724-51f7-4b92-91fd-2306eb0371ea/loon+waterbury+res+051025-3.jpg Field Reports - It's (Almost) All About the Birds - Make it stand out Almost immediately after being dazzled by the Osprey I spotted the distinct silhouette of my first Loon of the year 10 yards across the water. A mate was soon revealed too, and both thankfully made their way closer to me between dives. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/4a3c1faf-3627-4d45-b546-9de25c77c485/rose-breasted+grosbeak+m+little+river-1.jpg Field Reports - It's (Almost) All About the Birds - Make it stand out Back to the woods we go, with yet another first of year in then form of this male Rose-breasted Grosbeak in a Red Oak. He was o good ways off, but much closer than the only other one I have managed to photograph. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/0f528503-c590-4040-b084-3f45ce8be50c/phoebe+profile+spring+birch+colorful+bckgrnd-1.jpg Field Reports - It's (Almost) All About the Birds - Make it stand out Well ahead of the mostly May arrivals of the birds above was that of the Eastern Phoebe, our most familiar flycatcher in the northeast, but for added color I share this one in the early-May flowering and leaf-out of a Gray Birch. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/ea8367e9-b07a-491a-82fc-c83ae20816f7/grackle+in+spring+aspen+high+key-5.jpg Field Reports - It's (Almost) All About the Birds - Make it stand out And now I close this set of images with the stunning beauty of a Common Grackle in a Quaking Aspen. The high-key exposure required to get feather details on an overcast day revealed her shimmering blue hood. https://www.geraldlisi.net/blog/2025/3/30/not-spring-not-winter monthly 0.5 2026-02-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/c717945e-ae6f-4af9-899d-61f893803e22/song+sparrow+in+winter+apple-1.jpg Field Reports - Not Spring, Not Winter - Make it stand out This Song Sparrow is a new arrival in my yard. While some of these ground-foraging birds somehow manage to overwinter in Vermont most arrive from southern vacation spots around now. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1ff9e91c-3014-44a3-b958-da53ef4a5944/fox+sparrow+in+winter+apple-1.jpg Field Reports - Not Spring, Not Winter - Make it stand out Fox Sparrows pass through Vermont on leisurely migrations too and from their northern breeding grounds. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/d1297589-9fcd-4c53-a5f6-e2b83ab10cfd/Junco+fm+in+winter+cherry-1.jpg Field Reports - Not Spring, Not Winter - Make it stand out Slate-colored Dark-eyed Junco females are light gray above with varying amounts of light brown on their sides and backs. I’ve had a handful of Juncos around the house all winter, but on the morning of the 30th I counted 28. They have contributed more tha their share to soundscape of the changing season. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/389efaf8-65e6-4d75-848d-3690a14af2c5/junco+on+snow-11.jpg Field Reports - Not Spring, Not Winter - Make it stand out Here we see that the male Slate-colored Dark-eyed Juncos are much darker with no brown. Note the pink bill in both sexes. Males in this flock greatly outnumber females, which is common across species. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/b637e33b-3e4d-4814-909c-30c517b0ecb5/pine+siskin+in+winter+sumac-4.jpg Field Reports - Not Spring, Not Winter - Make it stand out Pine Siskin in Staghorn Sumac. I had very little Siskin action this winter, but am pleased to report that a flock arrived recently. Flocks of these little finches follow the cone crops of conifers, birches and alders, and like other finches they visit bird feeders. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/b01132ee-87c2-46a7-83eb-9670fbd3eaa2/robin+m+on+march+sumac+fruits-1.jpg Field Reports - Not Spring, Not Winter - Make it stand out American Robin male finishing off a cluster of Staghorn Sumac berries. Most Robins head south for the winter. Fruiting trees provide winter fare for the early arriving males, who are establishing nesting territories, and the few who overwinter. As soon as the ground is bare they switch to worms, of course, and other ground-dwelling invertebrates. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/d7b5ab87-2c67-4537-a70e-f5e939f7842a/robin+m+on+snowy+birch+branch-2.jpg Field Reports - Not Spring, Not Winter - Make it stand out Once his belly was full this guy perched for quite a while on this birch branch. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/4f47ca51-7a4f-4560-bd9f-d5913391f4f9/hairy+woodpecker+m+on+poplar-2.jpg Field Reports - Not Spring, Not Winter - Make it stand out Hairy Woodpecker males are distinguished by the red spots on the backs of their heads. Downy Woodpeckers have the same plumage patterns, but are smaller with shorter bills, and they tend to forage on the branches rather than trunks of trees. This guy was chasing around his lady love, squeaking with amorous delight as he did so. I’ve heard similar courtship vocalizations from Flickers and Sapsuckers, but this was my first time seeing this species doing it. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/cd16d65b-f52b-41e6-92ea-87836492084b/crow+in+winter+red+maple-1.jpg Field Reports - Not Spring, Not Winter - Make it stand out This Crow is one of four who spend some time here. They are most likely a mated pair and the young from last year. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/989774bf-ef66-4f18-b778-4112078db294/bluejay+in+winter+rhodie-1.jpg Field Reports - Not Spring, Not Winter - Make it stand out The other Corvids that visit my yard are Bluejays, and are similarly likely to be a mated pair and last year’s young. Their is a Ravn family in the area too, who sometimes visit my woods, but not the yard. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/f873700e-5409-4483-8198-4a50d5dd173e/ermine+by+the+house+032925-3.jpg Field Reports - Not Spring, Not Winter - Make it stand out Surprise! Birds aren’t the only charismatic vertebrates I have to share with you. Imagine my delight when this Long-tailed Weasel zipped across my porch. I was sure he would be gone when I rushed out the with my camera, but fortune and the bold/curious behavior of these weasels was on my side. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/74b809b1-aa00-4f9e-a46a-ae823fe32e28/ermine+by+the+house+032925-6.jpg Field Reports - Not Spring, Not Winter - Make it stand out Here he peeks from under the steps outside my bedroom. After his inspection I suspect any rodents around the house have been converted to weasel flesh. Just a couple nights before I had a five hundred pound Black Bear out there, certainly a male. He stole a fresh block of suet from my feeder, but was good enough to leave the feeder itself. No pictures as this was the middle of the night. As much as I would like to see him in daylight a fed bear is a dead bear, so I had to scare him off. A simple rapping on the window sufficed to have him swiftly loping off into the woods. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/0653f932-acdf-4b1e-8c2e-657d890c6bf2/ermine+by+the+house+032925-8.jpg Field Reports - Not Spring, Not Winter - Make it stand out I’ve never gotten good Long-tailed Weasel photos before, and this was my first time seeing them in their north-country winter coats. The white pelage seen here will sooj be replaced with a shorter coat of browns, with a bit of a dark mask. Seeing a photographing this guy was a real treat. It helps to be in the woods of Vermont, but wherever you are there’s wildlife that will surprise you right outside your door. Pay attention and you will be rewarded! https://www.geraldlisi.net/blog/2025/3/2/looking-back-on-and-forward-to-summer monthly 0.5 2026-02-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/badc104a-92c2-4022-a015-e5e73cf0a8c6/tiny+waterfall+mossy+rocks+gmnf-2.jpg Field Reports - Looking back on, and forward to, summer - Make it stand out A little waterfall in Green Mountain National Forest near Warren. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/c0a4ae76-9f85-44c9-a180-b1b7a174de63/pale+jewelweed+flower+gmnf-1.jpg Field Reports - Looking back on, and forward to, summer - Make it stand out Pale Jewelweed, an indicator species of rich woods, near the stream pictured above. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/8d9d4778-73eb-4357-9f5e-d20638bb8461/ruby-throated+fm+on+lilac+branch-4.jpg Field Reports - Looking back on, and forward to, summer - Make it stand out Female Ruby-throated Hummingbird in Lilac. The name of this species refers to the gorget of the males, but the pearly white white throats of females help to distinguish them from females of other species. This isn’t necessary in Vermont where we have only one species, with very rare exceptions, but at the western and southern parts of this eastern hummingbird’s range it’s good to know. Tail feathers also have useful field marks for female hummingbird identification. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/5208104b-0860-4c29-a123-76e5b662c8cf/ruby-throated+fm+bee+balm-71.jpg Field Reports - Looking back on, and forward to, summer - Make it stand out Here she is enjoying Bee Balm nectar. This flower should really be named for hummingbirds not bees, since it is very much adapted to being pollinated by them. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/2e83037d-d2c6-441e-bc9d-64b6df76a9de/broad-winged+hawk+juvie+on+dead+pine-2.jpg Field Reports - Looking back on, and forward to, summer - Make it stand out Juvenile Broad-winged Hawk. Most Buteos, Red-tailed Hawks being the most common and widespread example, favor open environments, but Broad-winged Hawks are forest raptors. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/f37ef29c-360e-4543-9972-51fa2d260b10/broad-winged+hawk+juvie+on+dead+pine-3.jpg Field Reports - Looking back on, and forward to, summer - Make it stand out Broad-winged Hawks are very vocal. After learning their loud whistle of a call in June I quickly discovered that they are very common. in the Vermont woods. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/d832dfde-ea9e-4ce0-9d36-134f71891341/porcupine+in+apple+tree-42.jpg Field Reports - Looking back on, and forward to, summer - Make it stand out When I first spotted him this young Porcupine was napping in this apple tree. I was most appreciative when he woke up for a photo shoot. Like Beavers, porcupines feed on cambium, the living inner bark of trees, but they climb rather than fell them to access it. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/4127fad9-4097-4e67-b731-90e4d4edc9f9/smooth+sumac+with+fruits+july.jpg Field Reports - Looking back on, and forward to, summer - Make it stand out Staghorn Sumac with freshly formed fruits. They were untouched for a couple months before Robins feasted on them. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/7275d68f-b9c9-47a0-bd41-256366fe24eb/chipmunk+cheeks+stuffed+on+mossy+stump-3.jpg Field Reports - Looking back on, and forward to, summer - Make it stand out This Eastern Chipmunk did a fine job of filling up her cheek pouches, probably with the seeds of the Red Maple she is under. They cache their food supplies in chambers within their tunnel systems. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/93839946-07a3-402c-8198-a4867ea39d1b/chipmunk+cheeks+stuffed+on+mossy+stump-5.jpg Field Reports - Looking back on, and forward to, summer - Make it stand out Even in profile those cheek pouches are clearly well stuffed. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/7a499ed9-5dac-418a-bb64-cd667b758d76/butterfly+at+joe+pye+weed-4.jpg Field Reports - Looking back on, and forward to, summer - Make it stand out Fritillary on Joe Pye Weed. I think this is a Silver-bordered Fritillary, but I’m no Lepidopterist. Please let me know in a comment or email response if you can confirm or correct my ID. Joe Pye Weed is a boon to nectar-loving insects, and a beloved component of the summer color palette of wet meadows in the northeast. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/40f5e383-4652-4ca0-b9de-4ad86ac0c7e6/monarch+on+goldenrod+flowers-2.jpg Field Reports - Looking back on, and forward to, summer - Make it stand out Monarch on Goldenrod. The thickness of the black lines on this individual’s wings identify her as a female. I don’t know which species of Goldenrod this is. There are many here, all of which are crucial late-summer nectar sources. Allergies at this time of year have long been wrongly attributed to Goldenrod, but are actually due to Ragweed and some late-flowering grasses. Wind-pollinated plants cause allergies, not those whose pollen is insect-distributed. https://www.geraldlisi.net/blog/2025/1/30/hunger-mountain-in-january monthly 0.5 2026-02-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/8a7b5d83-b865-459e-8196-fa89001cf8e4/long+tree+shadows+on+snow+hngr+mtn-1.jpg Field Reports - Hunger Mountain in January - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/98df2f24-c45b-4b0e-9699-5409634d4ca5/snowy+trees+and+boulder+hngr+mtn-1.jpg Field Reports - Hunger Mountain in January - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/91417b9e-855c-4e25-9cb4-50241b79f563/snowy+mtn+paper+birch+hngr+mtn-1.jpg Field Reports - Hunger Mountain in January - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/fa8ce859-edb4-45dd-a8db-9e60ab9c1fcf/snowy+trees+hunger+mtn+woods-13.jpg Field Reports - Hunger Mountain in January - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/238ea1fc-f431-41ca-bcf8-e48383b67dd7/snowy+trees+hunger+mtn+woods-10.jpg Field Reports - Hunger Mountain in January - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/4e34469e-e82d-4285-a574-d28089154839/snowy+trees+hunger+mtn+woods-7.jpg Field Reports - Hunger Mountain in January - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/9fc0f09b-bef2-4c72-9bb5-d53d804a09a7/snowy+trees+hunger+mtn+woods-15.jpg Field Reports - Hunger Mountain in January - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/5627f129-a85d-43ee-abe0-9e89f1c0f2e6/snowy+subalpine+hngr+mtn+w+mansfield+view-1.jpg Field Reports - Hunger Mountain in January - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/74da9eb5-fe7d-4955-beb8-8442d39be943/snowy+hunger+mtn+and+ridgeline-1.jpg Field Reports - Hunger Mountain in January - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/5184965b-0611-428a-ab1d-cef8c07cd0b3/moon+through+snowy+spruces+hunger+mtn+summit-5.jpg Field Reports - Hunger Mountain in January - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/9ca91c37-c034-42b8-843b-5c46bf1369e7/snowy+spruces+hunger+mtn+summit-7.jpg Field Reports - Hunger Mountain in January - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.geraldlisi.net/blog/2024/12/30/snow-birds monthly 0.5 2026-02-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/8ffa0539-e724-43a1-a450-4604a2fa9333/bc+chickadee+pin+cherry+snow-6.jpg Field Reports - Snow Birds - Make it stand out We begin with this Black Capped Chickadee in a Pin Cherry, since these gregarious little charmers are familiar favorites throughout their considerable range. Chickadees tend to be one of the most seen species at feeders. But, no matter how much suet and sunflower seeds they stuff in their sweet little faces they’ll still spend hours searching the nooks and crannies of trees and shrubs for insects and spiders. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/e0f757b4-2395-498a-a206-423bfa607f02/red-breasted+nuthatch+in+rhody-1.jpg Field Reports - Snow Birds - Make it stand out There’s no snow on the Rhododendron this Red-breasted Nuthatch is perched in (right by my door), but this was taken this month, December 2024. These tiny birds have voices that are as endearing as their faces, and as the only Nuthatch of the western Washington lowlands they have been a beloved part of my day to day life for the last twenty-six years. I’m so glad they’re here too, and that I have another every-day Nuthatch now too. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/5e488c5c-f471-4252-bea9-6ce5b99c994b/wb+nuthatch+yellow+birch+snow-2.jpg Field Reports - Snow Birds - Make it stand out As I watched this White-breasted Nuthatch hunt for spiders and insects in the crown of this Yellow Birch I was thrilled to see him start making his way down the trunk towards me. White-breasted Nuthatches are twice the size of the Red-breasted, but somehow manage to have voices that are softer and sweeter. Of the two species I have had more encounters with White-breasted Nuthatches since returning to Vermont. The novelty is still fresh, so I’m loving that. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/8ffbaa9a-4402-407e-9452-f7287cdb3583/wb+nuthatch+yellow+birch+snow-13.jpg Field Reports - Snow Birds - Make it stand out Here’s that same Nuthatch further down that same tree gifting me an absolute bird-photography highlight of the year. Thanks, little buddy! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/a440de84-58b1-43c7-babd-3ae048077dff/crows+snowy+blush+hill+rd-2.jpg Field Reports - Snow Birds - Make it stand out American Crows are snow birds, and are particularly photogenic in this context. I’ve been slowly but surely ingratiating myself to the local murder. I wouldn’t have gotten this close to these two a month earlier. As ever-curious omnivores Crows are well equipped for the challenge of finding food in the lean times. Ravens are here year-round as well, but their tolerance is harder to earn. If I could do a post on Ravens in snow alone before the winter is over I would be most satisfied. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/f17122ab-3e07-4e4f-a8b4-955c88d5d0d5/bluejay+winter+branches-1.jpg Field Reports - Snow Birds - Make it stand out Our other Corvid, the Bluejay, is also a year-round resident. While Jays are distinct from their Crow and Raven cousins in many ways, they have being clever omnivores in common. I’m looking forward to getting a nice close up of a Bluejay in snow, but in the meantime this one amongst winter twigs will have to do. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/56f80310-ddca-4547-aa00-3ade9548034a/goldfinch+fm+on+rhody+w-flurries+d%26d%27s.jpg Field Reports - Snow Birds - Make it stand out Here’s an American Goldfinch on that same Rhododendron (which you’ll see even more of). This species is named for the summer plumage of the males. There’s much less difference between the sexes in their winter plumage, but the touches of yellow on this individual suggest a male. The cheerful flight calls of these little finches reveal their presence all year long, and this winter they are the only finch I have seen so far. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/737ca90b-4d95-464e-98f5-429d4771b43a/purple+finch+fm+and+ash+keys.jpg Field Reports - Snow Birds - Make it stand out Going all the way back to a visit in January of 2016 with this photo of a Purple Finch female eating White Ash seeds. Finches are seed eating specialists, and the presence or absence of Ash keys and Ash-leaved Maple samaras determine their whereabouts in a given winter. The easiest way to distinguish female Purple Finches from female House Finches, who are also present year-round, is by the “eyebrow” seen here. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/3fb57d43-f43e-48b0-b6ae-2686d210ef74/purple+finch+m+and+ash+keys.jpg Field Reports - Snow Birds - Make it stand out This male Purple Finch was the presumed mate of the female seen in the previous photo. While clearly not purple the males of this species are redder than those of House Finches. They also lack the brown caps and belly streaks of that species. Another year-round finch in northern New England is the Pine Siskin, although they can seem like winter finches since they’re more conspicuous in the winter. There are three strictly winter finches here; the Common Redpoll, the Evening Grosbeak, and the Pine Grosbeak. I’ve not seen any of these species yet this winter, but all of the winter finches are at the top of my wish list. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/cf79ccc7-e641-43d1-b635-4656e3b169ae/tree+sparrow+in+snowy+rhody-2.jpg Field Reports - Snow Birds - Make it stand out Tree Sparrows are winter visitors who breed in the far north. They head south to places like northern New England and the Great Lakes states to get away from the cold. Rugged! While they may actually enjoy the relative warmth, it’s most likely the relative abundance of food that makes them migrate. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/e2912954-16c8-474f-9ef1-43269c30b2b4/tree+sparrow+in+snowy+rhody-3.jpg Field Reports - Snow Birds - Make it stand out Another view of the same Tree Sparrow, because who wouldn’t want to more of this sweetheart? I’m so glad I made a point of getting out to take her picture that day, because it turns out that she was just passing through. Hopefully she rejoined her flock, because that’s how these birds roll in the winter. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/fa2ebfa3-0960-4d65-ab1d-3bae12cb8752/carolina+wren+in+our+woods+121624-1.jpg Field Reports - Snow Birds - Make it stand out Historically their range barely reached southern Vermont, but Carolina Wrens have recently expanded their range northward. They have become a regular breeder here, and some even stay through the winter. I was very excited to discover one doing just that right outside my door. Hoping for better pictures, but for now just seeing and documenting this is exciting for me. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/b859c8ef-778c-410c-92bb-cd3c2ec244e5/mourning+doves+in+snow+d%26d%27s.jpg Field Reports - Snow Birds - Make it stand out Mourning Doves seen through the window. You won’t hear their enchanting namesake song in the winter, but the whistle of their wings is a frequent sound as these skittish birds move back and forth between the ground and the trees. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/e35454ac-a9f5-444f-b259-ed3b52af3292/turkeys+snowy+blushn+hill+rd-13.jpg Field Reports - Snow Birds - Make it stand out Wild Turkeys live here year round, but these giants become quite conspicuous in the winter. This is part of a family of nine, which would be mom and this year’s young. Toms, the adult males, roll solo, and I’m sorry to say that I haven’t seen one yet. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/d06c9d4a-cbe0-4af2-a560-e4a549782266/turkey+snowy+blushn+hill+rd-1.jpg Field Reports - Snow Birds - Make it stand out Get a load of those wings! They’re mostly only used for short bursts of flight, to escape a predator or get into a tree for food or roosting. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/a8b5c021-1109-4a54-aca4-9146caaabef9/pileated+fm+poplar+snag+home-4.jpg Field Reports - Snow Birds - Make it stand out A Pileated Woodpecker excavates a Balsam Poplar snag for Carpenter Ants. These crow-sized woodpeckers are North America’s largest since the untimely demise of the Ivory Billed. This is a female. The red of a male’s crest comes all the way to the base of his bill, and he has a red malar (mustache stripe). Pileated Woodpeckers require mature trees for their nest cavities, which become prime real estate for other wildlife after their first and only use by the woodpeckers. Like the Plieated our other winter woodpeckers, the Hairy and the Downy, are year-round residents. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/008b6099-df62-446e-b9e8-6b1893d049ca/tufted+titmouse+in+winter+birch-1.jpg Field Reports - Snow Birds - Make it stand out And now I leave you with this Tufted Titmouse in a Paper Birch. I’ve been thrilled every time I heard or saw these larger cousins of chickadees this year. I’m delighted that I get to see their charming faces and and hear their endearing voices all year long. https://www.geraldlisi.net/blog/2024/11/26/prairie-dogs-bison-and-badlands monthly 0.5 2026-02-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/0cdec47b-0d1f-4999-8de7-3d2b52742907/prairie+dogs+outside+badlands+np-12.jpg Field Reports - Prairie Dogs, Bison and Badlands - Make it stand out Black-tailed Prairie Dogs, Cynomys ludovicianus. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/ae94291d-b615-48e2-9b2b-6b520f32a21d/prairie+dogs+outside+badlands+np-10.jpg Field Reports - Prairie Dogs, Bison and Badlands - Make it stand out Standing up on their hind legs to survey their environment for predators is common behavior for many species of squirrels. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/07b26e2b-72de-4d09-ad4b-8b4a11dfb5a8/bison+outside+badlands+np-7.jpg Field Reports - Prairie Dogs, Bison and Badlands - Make it stand out American Bison, Bison bison. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/dea01ae5-5b27-49c0-901f-3a1cc75aaf7d/bison+outside+badlands+np-8.jpg Field Reports - Prairie Dogs, Bison and Badlands - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/eab9afa3-d371-4b2a-9cc8-bfb5e5931398/badlands+np-1.jpg Field Reports - Prairie Dogs, Bison and Badlands - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/e9b03156-cac7-4ffc-9c4e-f3e9f25ee604/badlands+np-13.jpg Field Reports - Prairie Dogs, Bison and Badlands - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/831b091c-511f-4bf7-ba81-ee325a53521b/badlands+np-23.jpg Field Reports - Prairie Dogs, Bison and Badlands - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/53b06257-7582-4b90-b9b1-d648b7d0bbc2/badlands+np-37.jpg Field Reports - Prairie Dogs, Bison and Badlands - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/dd32cd20-68a7-4ae7-bf0c-5a61b6457b6c/badlands+np-39.jpg Field Reports - Prairie Dogs, Bison and Badlands - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/f8b4b9a2-ab98-4b56-9386-438ce1caf904/badlands+np-55.jpg Field Reports - Prairie Dogs, Bison and Badlands - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/69075af9-7513-490d-bd56-0fe960cb7881/badlands+np-63.jpg Field Reports - Prairie Dogs, Bison and Badlands - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/fcc08378-410d-4112-bbf2-6f6b8f266dfa/badlands+np-68.jpg Field Reports - Prairie Dogs, Bison and Badlands - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/8c1f59c9-9029-42f9-9d1c-765b2e66a4c0/badlands+np-71.jpg Field Reports - Prairie Dogs, Bison and Badlands - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/a9ca0d75-c5d3-4683-87e1-3ba0a83e2e16/badlands+np-88.jpg Field Reports - Prairie Dogs, Bison and Badlands - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/b01aebad-d5fe-463e-a46a-f80b71f2935f/badlands+np-93.jpg Field Reports - Prairie Dogs, Bison and Badlands - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/03e95f18-9119-4370-b738-20d3ebeef1b0/badlands+np-43.jpg Field Reports - Prairie Dogs, Bison and Badlands - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.geraldlisi.net/blog/2024/10/28/autumns-spectacle monthly 0.5 2026-02-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/06cfc126-4281-4cab-ab5a-5beca2bb1c1d/blush+hill+fall+foliage+view-1.jpg Field Reports - Vermont’s Autumn Spectacle - Make it stand out Worcester seen from Blush Hill in Waterbury. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/c923617a-6cd6-4084-bb3a-8ff5162633bd/witch+hazel+flowering+9-22-24-4.jpg Field Reports - Vermont’s Autumn Spectacle - Make it stand out Witch Hazel, Hamamelis virginiana. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/9bd22ba5-c24a-4f5d-aca1-569a5018c5ca/virginia+creeper+autumn+leaves-1.jpg Field Reports - Vermont’s Autumn Spectacle - Make it stand out Virginia Creeper, Parthenocissus quinquefolia. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/ac0c8374-0527-40fd-a589-34b44a010e2a/autumn+gray+birch+and+hemp+dogbane+moscow-1.jpg Field Reports - Vermont’s Autumn Spectacle - Make it stand out Gray Birch, Betula populifolia and Hemp Dogbane, Apocynum cannabinum. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/71ccd54e-35cd-43f5-8a21-04d660bcd2c0/fall+foliage+by+little+river+moscow-1-2.jpg Field Reports - Vermont’s Autumn Spectacle - Make it stand out Moscow. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/551e81d6-6e65-4a4c-9a0a-5ebd57429446/stowe+pinnacle+from+moscow+10-01-24-13.jpg Field Reports - Vermont’s Autumn Spectacle - Make it stand out Stowe Pinnacle seen from Moscow. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/ef9b1c5a-505b-4af8-905b-ba35936beca8/hunger+mtn+from+gregg+hill+10-01-24-6.jpg Field Reports - Vermont’s Autumn Spectacle - Make it stand out Hunger Mountain seen from Waterbury. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/d0d082ad-c6c4-4e82-a2e6-c05a4c306225/autumn+spruce+mtn+with+white+pine+and+goldenrod-1.jpg Field Reports - Vermont’s Autumn Spectacle - Make it stand out Spruce Mountain with White Pine and Goldenrod seen from Marshfield. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/4571a2a9-cba2-4a16-890d-051a0af96100/autumn+sadie+foss+rd-1.jpg Field Reports - Vermont’s Autumn Spectacle - Make it stand out Sadie Foss Road, Calais. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/512e3a57-e64c-4bc4-8b2a-009498bf80d1/sodom+pond+autumn-1.jpg Field Reports - Vermont’s Autumn Spectacle - Make it stand out Sodom Pond, Adamant. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/891df4d9-d6ad-40b6-adb4-e2bd2ba56f16/autumn+owl%27s+head+and+stillwater+marsh-1.jpg Field Reports - Vermont’s Autumn Spectacle - Make it stand out Owl’s Head and Stillwater Marsh, Groton State Forest. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/35f0efc2-a8a8-46bb-8b40-532778e9214d/spruce+mtn+and+winooski+rvr+plainfield+10-06-24-1.jpg Field Reports - Vermont’s Autumn Spectacle - Make it stand out Winooski River and Spruce Mountain, Plainfield. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/cda461e1-d402-405f-8c60-e081eccad7fe/winooski+rvr+peak+week+duxbury-1.jpg Field Reports - Vermont’s Autumn Spectacle - Make it stand out Winooski River, Duxbury. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/d0a68dd8-55b9-4cc7-8a49-a217f28ef412/camel%27s+hump+autumn+moretown+common+rd-1.jpg Field Reports - Vermont’s Autumn Spectacle - Make it stand out Camel’s Hump from Moretown. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/0f62d6ce-75c8-4c14-bdce-cfc81d0afe3e/autumn+leaves+with+rotting+paper+birch-1.jpg Field Reports - Vermont’s Autumn Spectacle - Make it stand out Red Maple leaves on rotting Paper Birch. https://www.geraldlisi.net/blog/2024/9/28/my-birdy-summer monthly 0.5 2026-02-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/64c12ac0-2018-4113-a547-1f83a244b838/ovenbird+perched+with+caterpilar-71.jpg Field Reports - My Birdy Summer - Make it stand out Ovenbirds create a major component of the soundscape in the Northern Forest in June and July. The swelling staccato of their songs has enchanted me since I first gave it a proper listen several years back. These warblers are outliers in their family. Natural selection in the forest floor habitats they share with thrushes has given them a distinctly thrush-y appearance. An exquisite example of convergent evolution. This Ovenbird has procured a juicy caterpillar, most likely for one of their chicks. The ability of Lepidopteran larvae to turn leaves into protein and fat enables hundreds, if not thousands, of bird species to feed their rapidly-growing young. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/06ead59a-c4b8-4f25-a900-5fe1e22e26f3/red-eyed+vireo+home-10.jpg Field Reports - My Birdy Summer - Make it stand out The voices of Red-eyed Vireos are the most heard by this bird nerd during the summer in the northern Green Mountains. Their deceptively simple songs come from all directions, at short intervals, all day long. Getting a good look at one on the other hand is no simple matter. Their entire bodies can be hidden behind the leaves of their deciduous canopy habitat. Of course when I did get a clear view of this one it was in the deep shade, where my equipment performs poorly, but Red-eyed Vireos were far to big a part of my birdy summer to be left out of this collection. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/e3b93a8d-5eaf-49ed-83f4-cb9994d7338e/common+yellowthroat+m+nbnc.jpg Field Reports - My Birdy Summer - Make it stand out Common Yellowthroats are one of the easier warblers to spot since they live their lives at or below eye level in wet meadow and marsh edges. Olive and yellow feathers are common in this large, delightful family of song birds, but an adult male Common Yellowthroat’s black mask with white border above and yellow throat and breast below give a positive ID of this species. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/01c421ce-8886-4833-9839-1f34019dfcb9/tufted+titmouse+in+hemlock+hubbard.jpg Field Reports - My Birdy Summer - Make it stand out Tufted Titmouse in Eastern Hemlock. These larger cousins of chickadees have similar habits and charms, and they have crests! They are not so common as Black-capped Chickadees though, and I still get excited every time I see one. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/2c688315-8858-4fe2-9657-dde2fccf520f/broad-winged+hawk+in+white+pine-53.jpg Field Reports - My Birdy Summer - Make it stand out Broad-winged Hawks are very vocal, with a distinct whistling call. Once I learned that call I quickly realized that these forest hawks are all over central Vermont. I was lucky enough to have this juvenile frequent the woods by my home. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/28512e4f-e3b5-4177-8341-2c2b9a5eb2b4/turkey+juvies+run+through+yard.jpg Field Reports - My Birdy Summer - Make it stand out These young Wild Turkeys were just poults when I first saw them. Here I barely managed to catch them fleeing into the forest yet again. Their mom taught them well. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/dab00926-11c5-444f-a8d1-a7bf3a61f896/loons+curtis+pond-11.jpg Field Reports - My Birdy Summer - Make it stand out Here's half of the breeding pair of Common Loons that claim a beloved local pond as their nesting territory. A friend of mine took me for a paddle in search of them and their chicks one July morning, and the loons obliged us! I remembered well how beautiful these icons of wild waters are, but was also struck by how big they are. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/be79e957-c8ad-49d7-8966-cceebc4aa954/loons+curtis+pond-15.jpg Field Reports - My Birdy Summer - Make it stand out The loon chicks mostly stuck together, and a parent was always nearby. At this point they were still entierly dependant on thei parents' fishing skills, but learning to catch their own must have come very soon. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/19ce0d60-f6de-4124-bb00-814c43bc6069/bluejay+in+white+ash-2.jpg Field Reports - My Birdy Summer - Make it stand out Bluejay in White Ash. A childhood favorite of mine, as for many other I'm sure, before I knew about warblers, vireos, wrens, kinglets and so many other kinds of birds. I still love Bluejays of course, and all of the other corvids. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/922bdfb9-326c-45c6-bcc0-18736503135c/blackburnian+warbler+in+birch.jpg Field Reports - My Birdy Summer - Make it stand out Blackburnian Warbler in Paper Birch. No close ups of this bird for me. Typical of many Wood Warblers, they sing their songs from high in the trees where even a long lens, spotting scope or a pair of binoculars often won't provide a good look. It's when they're silently foraging on lower branches that those of us who obsess about seeing these birds are most often finally rewarded. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/6dc5420b-f031-43d8-ae43-4c36a27b50bb/northern+parula+singing+in+red+maple.jpg Field Reports - My Birdy Summer - Make it stand out This Northern Parula was one of my lifers (first sighting of a species) of the summer. In typical warbler fashion I heard their songs many times and repeatedly craned my neck for extended periods of time before I actually got a decent view of this guy singing. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/062dd1e2-f235-4bde-8a16-4321a8639f62/black+and+white+warbler+home-13.jpg Field Reports - My Birdy Summer - Make it stand out Black and White Warblers nave a foraging style like that of the nuthatches, gleaning insects and spiders from bark rather than leaves as they wind their way down trunks and branches. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/8b4e8a29-f4b5-411e-b78c-d2d4d4d0409d/american+redstart+m+nb+river+park-4.jpg Field Reports - My Birdy Summer - Make it stand out I was surprised to hear this American Redstart singing in late August, weeks after the songs of most other birds had stopped. Here he listens to another male who is singing nearby. With this year's young now raised this territorial behavior most likely is about control of foraging grounds. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/c8faff8d-4687-45b7-954b-c83fcba1ef08/black-throated+green+fm+home-7.jpg Field Reports - My Birdy Summer - Make it stand out This Black-throated Green Warbler female gifted me many nice glimpses as she hunted in the trees of my backyard. Unlike many warbler species whose females lack the brights colors of males Black-throated Green females have the same basic plumage patterns as males, minus the namesake black throat. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/60a0000b-e0f5-48a1-9db2-aaac021631cb/black-throated+blue+m+plainfied-6.jpg Field Reports - My Birdy Summer - Make it stand out Black-throated Blue Warblers were perhaps the most exciting lifer for me this summer. This male in Plainfield was the second individual I had the pleasure of seeing and photographing. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/f63cee26-bb84-4a68-bfab-36ba2665e665/ruby-throated+fm+bee+balm-69.jpg Field Reports - My Birdy Summer - Make it stand out Moving from one family of small, colorful birds to another, I am happy to leave you with this female Ruby-throated Hummingbird. After repeated unsuccessful stakeouts of this Bee Balm patch my persistence was finally rewarded with the shoot that yielded this shot of her hovering between sips of nectar. https://www.geraldlisi.net/blog/2024/8/31/a-few-hours-in-yellowstone-june-5th monthly 0.5 2026-02-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/7650147f-7a82-490b-9994-e7a9fd511d1a/yellowstone+mountains+from+livingston-20.jpg Field Reports - A Few Hours in Yellowstone, June 5th - Make it stand out The mountains of northwestern Yellowstone seen from Livingston, Montana the previous evening. The entire drive through Montana was incredible, and I was constantly struggling not to stop on the side of the freeway to take pictures. I was grateful that my friend in Livingston walked me to this incredible view, which will have to stand in for all of the jaw-dropping scenery drove through that day. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/f9565715-3902-4be4-bf89-56d11ae9fd9d/pronghorn+fm+outside+yellowstone.jpg Field Reports - A Few Hours in Yellowstone, June 5th - Make it stand out On the drive from Livingston to Yellowstone I spotted this beautiful Pronghorn. She was a couple hundred feet away, and the full sun was already high in the sky, but I wasn’t going to waste my first opportunity to photograph this awesome mammal. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/8190a5be-9844-483f-b76d-dd6b534b31d1/yellowstone+trail+to+mammoth+hs.jpg Field Reports - A Few Hours in Yellowstone, June 5th - Make it stand out The main parking areas at Mammoth Hot Springs were full when I got there, of course. But, I enjoyed some fantastic views on the walk from the next parking area up the road. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/531b8f3e-fc63-4cde-9021-5deddf92f0b0/yellowstone+strewam+from+mammoth+hs.jpg Field Reports - A Few Hours in Yellowstone, June 5th - Make it stand out This stream fed by the springs ran under the trail. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/dd42e0dc-7b23-43c8-a7f4-562ab0a13845/mammoth+hot+springs-62.jpg Field Reports - A Few Hours in Yellowstone, June 5th - Make it stand out Steam rises from an unseen pool at the edge of the hot springs. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/6b95a42d-c9d3-4856-9f59-84e35899501e/mammoth+hot+springs-86.jpg Field Reports - A Few Hours in Yellowstone, June 5th - Make it stand out Shallow pools on the a massive hill built by calcium carbonate deposition from the springs. The white is limestone, while colors in the water are from thermophilic cyanobacteria. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/4ae807f3-c5d9-4979-bdde-ba21c04569e4/mammoth+hot+springs-88.jpg Field Reports - A Few Hours in Yellowstone, June 5th - Make it stand out Thermophile mats on limestone terraces. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/5f5bcb14-581d-4526-9533-5d2f5db52b26/mammoth+hot+springs-26.jpg Field Reports - A Few Hours in Yellowstone, June 5th - Make it stand out Juniper by one of the vents. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/0137a0d1-ea10-45ef-ae0c-0eb9bc6d50b1/killdeer+mammoth+hot+springs.jpg Field Reports - A Few Hours in Yellowstone, June 5th - Make it stand out A Killdeer forages in a dry pocket created by a natural mote. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/24463684-87e8-452d-bb70-924e31a4cd3e/_DSC2853.jpg Field Reports - A Few Hours in Yellowstone, June 5th - Make it stand out I wasn’t expecting to see Sandhill Cranes. An awesome surprise! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/2e8c805b-a223-479f-94fb-acf249f00785/yellowstone+bison-18.jpg Field Reports - A Few Hours in Yellowstone, June 5th - Make it stand out An American Bison licks his nose for the camera. Silliness aside, seeing wild Bison is profoundly moving. May they return to more of their ancestral lands in the centuries to come. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/586f9146-57f3-467f-988a-4d0b54be3a4e/yellowstone+bighorns+in+road-21.jpg Field Reports - A Few Hours in Yellowstone, June 5th - Make it stand out This old Bighorn Sheep ram has true grit. He lingered by the road after the rest of the herd finished their very slow crossing. Cars and RV’s didn’t concern them, and of course the drivers welcomed the chance to see these mountain icons up close. Not the setting I would choose given the option, but still a great pleasure to photograph them. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/9fcd775f-2ef4-4ed3-8cd3-fdeb5616e90a/hoary+marmot+peeking+from+rocks+yellowstone.jpg Field Reports - A Few Hours in Yellowstone, June 5th - Make it stand out Having driven ahead and found a pull off to better enjoy the Bighorns I was also rewarded with a cautious visit from this Hoary Marmot. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/f96c11a8-8998-49e9-b34c-e7a227ad280e/yellowstone+west+mountains.jpg Field Reports - A Few Hours in Yellowstone, June 5th - Make it stand out By now it was late afternoon and I had some much better light for photographing the western edge of the park. I believe these mountains are known as Wapiti Ridge https://www.geraldlisi.net/blog/2024/7/28/north-cascades monthly 0.5 2026-02-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/5ec24a5e-7e0d-447d-8833-5964b1861d27/_DSC1536.jpg Field Reports - North Cascades Highway, June 1st - Make it stand out Mossy Western Redcedar by the Skagit River. The light was difficult for this shot, but I loved the juxtaposition of dark, mossy trees against glowing aqua water. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/0fac0893-61a8-44e0-b83b-93275d54ecfd/_DSC1544.jpg Field Reports - North Cascades Highway, June 1st - Make it stand out Douglas Fir and Western Redcedar tower along the Skagit. Bigleaf Maple and Red Alder lean out from beneath them. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/e9b515f1-0a70-49ba-a2e4-56dbf370f180/_DSC1562.jpg Field Reports - North Cascades Highway, June 1st - Make it stand out Douglas Fir line the rocky cliffs of the North Cascades. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/0cdb3f93-1f47-4127-9d8b-af53a240a3f9/_DSC1558.jpg Field Reports - North Cascades Highway, June 1st - Make it stand out Putting the cliff in the previous image in context, we see the massive boulders below which are buried in raging snow melt every spring. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/9c09bd89-41c0-4dcd-8f53-cfd5cdf7924f/_DSC1580.jpg Field Reports - North Cascades Highway, June 1st - Make it stand out The presence of Paper Birch in the northernmost part of Washington’s North Cascades is an ecological novelty to me. Having this common and iconic tree of Vermont growing among the Douglas Fir that epitomize the Pacific Northwest forests connects my two homes. Paper Birch is actually present from coast to coast in Canada, and in much of Alaska, but only dips down into the coldest northern regions of the lower forty-eight of the United States. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/28e1e759-699a-4643-b86c-4ee2282616bc/_DSC1674.jpg Field Reports - North Cascades Highway, June 1st - Make it stand out Subalpine Fir in the North American Alps. The spires of this high-mountain specialist predominate around tree line on this western slope, with Mountain Hemlock being the second most common species. Tree diversity declines sharply at high elevations. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/43472352-db59-48b8-b5e9-53de5b5ca2b7/washington+pass+overlook-12.jpg Field Reports - North Cascades Highway, June 1st - Make it stand out Mountain Hemlocks frame rugged peaks. The yellow seen on the dead ones is Wolf Lichen. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/3e493148-3fb8-4119-a58d-ac7526c6a1d9/_DSC1702.jpg Field Reports - North Cascades Highway, June 1st - Make it stand out Kinnickinnick thriving on a south-facing granite outcrop. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/0e6c5a6b-d210-4410-a7d0-285d60936379/_DSC1738.jpg Field Reports - North Cascades Highway, June 1st - Make it stand out A Lodgepole Pine limb hangs over lichen-speckled granite. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/20cf25bb-d064-480c-ae42-e5b88c6eb31d/washington+pass+overlook-11.jpg Field Reports - North Cascades Highway, June 1st - Make it stand out One of the spectacular views from Washington Pass Overlook. The leaning tips (“drooping leaders” in ecological jargon) of the Mountain Hemlock distinguish them from the Subalpine Fir. https://www.geraldlisi.net/blog/2024/6/29/may-i-still-share-may-with-you monthly 0.5 2026-02-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/d7e295d6-17e9-40d4-9b45-44f232669539/bl+maple+leaves+and+fruits.jpg Field Reports - May I still Share May with You? - Make it stand out Bigleaf Maple’s fruits mature in May. The double samara is the calling card of all maples. This image would be great in a field guide, if I do say so myself. Are any publishers reading this? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/32b9b8ad-6d9a-47cf-99ee-be6dc3cab63f/black+headed+grossbeak+m+in+hazel-6.jpg Field Reports - May I still Share May with You? - Make it stand out Black-headed Grosbeak in a Beaked Hazelnut. One of the most heard birds during spring in the Duvall area, where I lived, is also one of the most striking. I must admit that until a few years ago I mistook the “drunken robin” calls of these birds for, well, drunken robins. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/2c2fedd2-b6da-4e32-a970-88062b5a8fd2/western+redcedar+leaves.jpg Field Reports - May I still Share May with You? - Make it stand out The exquisite leaves of Western Redcedar. The bright green tips are the spring’s new growth. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/04c41d31-25a8-481c-8fe4-adea36f464b9/band-tailed+pigeon+in+redcedar-25.jpg Field Reports - May I still Share May with You? - Make it stand out Speaking of Western Redcedar, here’s a gorgeous Band-tailed Pigeon sitting in one. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/19e13348-8f7f-4be9-9bc7-c11b0c271e42/band-tailed+pigeon+in+redcedar-38.jpg Field Reports - May I still Share May with You? - Make it stand out Since this Band-tailed Pigeon was such a good model I can also show you her lovely wings and back. Speaking of field guides…. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/95a01130-6683-4674-b1e1-a1235cdd92f2/fringecup+flowers+with+thimbleberry+leaves.jpg Field Reports - May I still Share May with You? - Make it stand out Fringecup Flowers rising through young Thimbleberry leaves and Giant Horsetail. As seen in some other white flowers those of Fringecup turn magenta as they age. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/9babf32a-5bfe-42a7-90cd-606792e76c9b/evening+grosbeaks+in+hazel-4.jpg Field Reports - May I still Share May with You? - Make it stand out A major highlight of my spring, and indeed that of many western Washington birders, was the presence of Evening Grosbeaks. These denizens of mountain conifer forests are known to grace the feeders of bird lovers in the lowlands during the winter. Apparently this species had a great mating season last year and/or their spring food supplies in the mountains were lacking because May saw them greedily gobbling black sunflower seeds as we gratefully gawked through our windows. Too much alliteration? Sorry, not sorry. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/eff199cc-bcf1-4d13-90b8-0d1ac6519a57/evening+grosbeak+fm+close+up+in+hazel.jpg Field Reports - May I still Share May with You? - Make it stand out Like other finches Evening Grosbeaks are sexually dimorphic. Pictured here is the female. Unlike some other grosbeaks (Black-headed, Rose-breasted, and Blue) Evening Grosbeaks are finches. The giant bills that join them in name are the result of convergent evolution, not a recent common ancestor. One other North American finch has this trait and resulting name: the Pine Grosbeak. Since I mentioned evolution by natural selection while discussing finches I am reminded of an excellent book: ‘The Beak of the Finch’ by Jonathan Weiner, explores Peter and Rosemary Grants’ fantastic long-term research on Darwin’s Finches in the Galapagos Islands. It’s extraordinary how rapidly evolution by natural selection can initiate speciation under the right circumstances. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/6fa91379-5d12-4161-be55-c0d80c23f552/evening+grosbeak+m+on+red+cedar.jpg Field Reports - May I still Share May with You? - Make it stand out Moving back to quick, simple captions, here we see a male Evening Grosbeak in a tree you should now be able to identify. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/c743b5ca-4123-4554-9058-069ff3680a5e/steller%27s+jay+in+bl+maple.jpg Field Reports - May I still Share May with You? - Make it stand out Not my best Steller’s Jay photo, but it may be my last, for a while at least. I’ve gone from being nostalgic about Bluejays, who I now enjoy daily again, to getting sentimental about Steller’s Jays, who graced my days for the last twenty-six years. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/0caf1092-204c-4fef-b6f1-0e29fbd35331/north+bend+elk-15.jpg Field Reports - May I still Share May with You? - Make it stand out A young elk bull of the much celebrated herd in North Bend. I don’t suppose he’ll be winning any harems this year, but perhaps after another trip around the sun. Speaking of elk, I must confess some misgivings about the June photo in my 2024 calendar. I’ve been in two households this month where my calendar was displayed. This makes me happy of course, but I’m not sure that that photo should have made the cut. It’s certainly not bad, but the composition just isn’t up to calendar snuff. Anyway, I hope the handful of people that have my calendar have enjoyed it, but I’m glad they’ll be turning the page shortly. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/082f3ea9-a05e-4d46-8562-2a0bcabbfb5a/mt+si-7.jpg Field Reports - May I still Share May with You? - Make it stand out One last look at Mt Si, and it was a spectacular one from the North Bank of the Snoqualmie River. The tall trees in the foreground are Black Cottonwood. The northeast is graced by many Populus species (cottonwoods, poplars, and aspens), but none attain the awesome stature of the Black Cottonwoods (Populus trichocarpa) growing by the rivers and lakes of the Pacific Northwest. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/111045e6-7467-4f53-a055-31187ad062b0/barn+swallows+under+dock+deception+pass-8.jpg Field Reports - May I still Share May with You? - Make it stand out A pair of Barn Swallows enjoy a moment of rest together under a pier at Deception Pass. Their nest, and many others, were also under the pier. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/44989422-012e-4c57-a4d1-70fb5896ec0b/pileated+chicks+in+nest+hole-31.jpg Field Reports - May I still Share May with You? - Make it stand out A pair of Pileated Woodpecker nestlings eagerly await a food delivery. By the look of them they were close to fledging. Finding this nest fulfilled a long-time wish of mine, a birthday-week present from the universe. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/2cc9cd4c-9eb4-4f71-9448-ae8d2794d23a/pileated+mom+feeds+chicks+in+nest+hole-11.jpg Field Reports - May I still Share May with You? - Make it stand out My friend and I waited for about an hour for a parent to come feed the nestlings. It was so worth it when Mom showed up and the kids went crazy. "Feed me!" "No, feed ME!" Etcetera, on and on. Of course she had plenty of regurgitated ants and other insects for both of them. It was a joy to witness this. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/cd9c318c-49ca-4f17-baf6-04c244511a8c/pileated+mom+feeds+chicks+in+nest+hole-99.jpg Field Reports - May I still Share May with You? - Make it stand out And the first feeding goes to…. the chick on the top! The other chick is still yelling for food the entire time. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/8112cf97-de85-4d1e-b43c-2cfe04ecdeb2/pileated+mom+feeds+chicks+in+nest+hole-92.jpg Field Reports - May I still Share May with You? - Make it stand out “Hang on. Let me regurgitate some more bugs.” Chicks yelling… Note the chick on the bottom shifting to the left. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/625854fe-0c82-4250-bc62-d6b4c941e296/pileated+mom+feeds+chicks+in+nest+hole-88.jpg Field Reports - May I still Share May with You? - Make it stand out And now the other chick gets their portion. Seemed pretty equitable, and judging by the look of these two I would say it generally was. By now they’ve been out in the world for weeks. Their parents taught them how to catch their own damn food, and now insist that they do so. I wish them all the best and am grateful for this little peek into their lives. https://www.geraldlisi.net/blog/2024/4/29/leaf-out monthly 0.5 2026-02-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/b8aa003c-3570-48e4-be0f-e1f7832eb68b/riparian+woods+leaf+out+tolt+mcd.jpg Field Reports - Leaf Out! - Make it stand out Black Cottonwood, Red Alder and Bigleaf Maple leaf out in a riparian forest by the Snoqualmie River. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/ebeb3922-9fa5-472d-ad3c-72eca6a32d64/tree+swallow+pair+on+branch.jpg Field Reports - Leaf Out! - Make it stand out A pair of tree swallows (male in the top of the frame) enjoy a little rest together after a full morning of catching insects on the wing. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/e8f6d832-8492-413e-a41f-c06ac09b8041/black+throated+gray+m+in+red+alder.jpg Field Reports - Leaf Out! - Make it stand out My first-of-year Black-throated Gray Warbler searches Red Alder leaves for caterpillars. Resident song birds like Robins, Song Sparrows, Bewick’s Wrens and Dark-eyed Juncos are already nesting when these migrants arrive in the latter half of April. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1101a879-b1c1-4652-a799-50b0c704b67a/audubon%27s+warbler+m+on+river+wood.jpg Field Reports - Leaf Out! - Make it stand out Audubon's Yellow-rumped Warbler male. Unlike most wood warblers we have this species year round on the West Coast. They do become more conspicuous in spring though, both because of their bright breeding plumage and because of their courtship behavior. Like all warblers they eat insects, but Yellow-rumped, which also includes the Myrtle form, are unusual in that they sally for flying insects. This behavior involves flying out from a perch to catch a flying insect then returning to their perch to eat it. Sallying is the fly catching behavior that gives Tyrant Flycatchers, Family Tyrannidae, their name. Most Wood Warblers, Families Parulidae and Peucedramidae, pick insects and arachnids from leaves, but Yellow-rumped Warblers are fly catching wood warblers! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/a2e3d7e0-08c0-4a09-9dca-25855b3a5bff/myrtle+warbler+in+spring+blm+tolt+macd-4.jpg Field Reports - Leaf Out! - Make it stand out While Audubon’s are common here we also get some Myrtle Yellow-rumped Warblers. This one is surrounded by the flowers and growing leaves of Bigleaf Maple. As I write the leaves are big and green, and baby samaras are emerging from the fading flowers. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/8cda96f1-36a5-43fa-9ed4-b3236cd85538/black+twinberry+in+flower.jpg Field Reports - Leaf Out! - Make it stand out Black Twinberry flowers summon hummingbirds to drink nectar and transfer pollen. This wetland shrub is a member of the honeysuckle family. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/e523ada9-7cf9-43df-8957-4307d0c7143a/saskatoon+in+flower.jpg Field Reports - Leaf Out! - Make it stand out Saskatoon Serviceberry flowers feed bees, and their dark blue berries are enjoyed by many birds and mammals. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/89ce0baf-bee2-4a63-b2b9-47be2a283a20/bc+chickadee+hanging+from+willow+fruit.jpg Field Reports - Leaf Out! - Make it stand out A Black-capped Chickadee searches a willow fruits for insects. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/a5597fbc-f1e3-4153-80dc-a0c3720cfdc9/willow+going+to+seed.jpg Field Reports - Leaf Out! - Make it stand out The fruits of this other willow nearby were bursting forth with their cottony, wind-borne seeds. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/89a1e142-9a4a-44ad-ae65-bed76c2ff038/baby+garter+climbing+over+log.jpg Field Reports - Leaf Out! - Make it stand out This baby Garter Snake was about the thickness of a pencil. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/69499772-7f39-4f60-8700-41c0914763a4/aligator+lizard+peeking+over+log.jpg Field Reports - Leaf Out! - Make it stand out A Northern Alligator Lizard plays peekaboo with me. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/85f97bf8-d884-4ec5-a867-5a02cfd8c0d6/gossling+in+grass+by+water.jpg Field Reports - Leaf Out! - Make it stand out If you don’t share my adoration for reptiles I trust this Canada Goose gosling will get your “cute!” response going. https://www.geraldlisi.net/blog/2024/3/31/march-into-spring monthly 0.5 2026-02-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/5351abd8-e623-4b56-82d2-c486dbd7e0d0/trumpeter+swan+on+juanita+bay.jpg Field Reports - March into Spring! - Make it stand out March is our last chance to see overwintering Trumpeter Swans, Cygnus Buccinator, before they fly to their northern breeding grounds. This individual on Lake Washington is looking quite regal. Safe journey and successful mating, your highness! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/29039beb-45ae-4020-8eb9-a2df3d660d2d/anna%27s+on+nest+in+laurel+ubna.jpg Field Reports - March into Spring! - Make it stand out An Anna’s Hummingbird, Calypte anna, incubates her two eggs in a typically exquisite nest. The cup, which is only a couple inches across, is made of spider silk and moss, adorned with bits of lichen. It is lines with soft material, Cattail seed fluff in this case since she’s by a wetland. My friend, who goes by “Whispering Wind” on Instagram and Facebook, has a gift for finding hummingbird nests, and she shared this one with me. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/806a64ec-4d33-450f-b68d-e522192dfdeb/anna%27s+hb+w+begging+chicks.jpg Field Reports - March into Spring! - Make it stand out Following up on this nest three weeks later we found two chicks very close to fledging. Here they silently beg their mom for regurgitated insects and flower nectar. The colorful gapes of chicks send a “put food here” message without the danger of attracting predators with loud begging vocalizations. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/05b5db4b-f912-4da2-b0f9-f584f09101b1/bushtit+m+drops+from+willow+twig.jpg Field Reports - March into Spring! - Make it stand out A Bushtit, Psaltriparus minimus, drops from a willow twig after gleaning it for insects and spiders. Like Anna’s Hummingbirds, Bushtits have only recently expanded their range out of the Southwest into the Pacific Northwest, but both are now common and beloved here. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/e5898975-981a-453f-8c98-708b9689d2d3/bc+chickadee+hangs+from+dead+leaf.jpg Field Reports - March into Spring! - Make it stand out A Black-capped Chickadee, Poecile atricapillus, searches a dead cottonwood leaf for spiders, insect eggs or larvae. The “deee deeee” mating song of this familiar favorite is a quintessential, and joyous, sound of spring. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/6aa345c2-d63f-4c2e-8847-8553ebb0e390/Bewick%27s+Wren+profile+yesler+swamp.jpg Field Reports - March into Spring! - Make it stand out The songs of Bewick’s Wrens, Thryomanes bewickii, are a delightfully prevalent sound in March. I’ve not photographed them in the act for years, but I did have the brief opportunity for this closeup a couple weeks ago. Thanks, little buddy, and good luck with the baby making! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/15578f94-03f5-4a98-b563-c37615bb79be/marsh+wren+singing+ubna.jpg Field Reports - March into Spring! - Make it stand out Any self-respecting Cattail marsh, or other North American wetland, should have resident Marsh Wrens, Cistothorus palustris. These wonderful little wrens are mostly secretive, even singing their very complex songs while concealed by vegetation. But luckily the need to find mates and deter competitors does sometimes embolden the males to sing from conspicuous perches. After hearing this guy belt it out many times from afar I was thrilled to see he was on exhibition when I approached his virtuosic voice. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/7e1ae205-4f65-4eee-970e-84e99d7fb44c/pb+grebe+w+reflection+yesler+swamp.jpg Field Reports - March into Spring! - Make it stand out A Pied-billed Grebe, Podilybus podiceps, cruises Union Bay in Seattle, where so much of my early journey into birding and bird photography took place. While their breeding plumage (feathers) are the same as the rest of the year, their bill coloration changes, and gives them their common name. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/52aae3e4-8760-4a93-84bd-f1d8756bc10f/pb+grebe+w+fish+profile+yesler+swamp.jpg Field Reports - March into Spring! - Make it stand out Several Pied-billed grebes were present on this visit, and all were catching fish like the pros they are. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/a7ceaaa8-edd4-4cdd-80b7-f67313f2a11c/scrub+jay+on+fence+post+ridgefield-4.jpg Field Reports - March into Spring! - Make it stand out A California Scrub Jay, Aphelocoma californica, looks for action from a fence post. These Corvids are uncommon where I live, but abundant in oak woodlands of southwest Washington, Oregon, and yes, California and Baja California. Of course when I finally get a chance for some closeups of one they’re on an ugly post. Still, I’ll take it! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/72044f56-5e93-4ee9-a9c8-d988dd42de1b/scrub+jay+in+grass+ridgefield.jpg Field Reports - March into Spring! - Make it stand out From the fence post into the grass, where moments after this shot our hero grabbed a fat, juicy caterpillar. I do have a picture of them with prey in bill, but it didn’t make the cut. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/7301eb4a-86b3-443b-be7d-d3c88787cf86/gbh+ruffled+ubna.jpg Field Reports - March into Spring! - Make it stand out A Great Blue Heron, Ardea herodias, displays his magnificent plumage. When songbirds fluff their feathers they look like cute little “floofs”, but the same maneuver in a Great Blue evokes a samurai warrior in armor. It’s fitting since the yellow bill of death truly is the katana of the avian world. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1cd69169-c679-4a76-9db3-2594bb13a128/trillium+patch+trilogy.jpg Field Reports - March into Spring! - Make it stand out After that grim reference to death by keratin I hope I can calm you with this lovely patch of Western Trillium, Trillium ovatum. The blooming of this beauty is indisputable proof that spring has sprung indeed. https://www.geraldlisi.net/blog/2024/2/27/an-afternoon-with-short-eared-owls monthly 0.5 2026-02-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/e9446f93-76fa-49da-a93e-e0fbae225c1d/shortie+resting+on+bb.jpg Field Reports - Short-eared Owls and "Friends" - Make it stand out Short-eared Owl, Asio flammeus. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/fc78a5cf-adff-4294-b527-7e1a857c357c/shortie+spreads+wings+profile.jpg Field Reports - Short-eared Owls and "Friends" - Make it stand out Taking off to look, or more aptly listen, for voles. Their facial disk creates the flat appearance of their face in profile. This feather arrangement, which is seen in many owl species, acts as a dish that routes sounds to owls’ ears on the sides of their heads. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/4441dd75-0817-4d91-b3bb-6fb60b169cc2/shortie+in+flight-11.jpg Field Reports - Short-eared Owls and "Friends" - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/0447c01f-5d1c-43fc-b93b-74759f4ed0cf/shortie+on-with+dead+thistles.jpg Field Reports - Short-eared Owls and "Friends" - Make it stand out After a brief flight the owl settled onto another perch. A dead thistle stalk in this case. The fact that it easily supports this owl drives home how light they actually are. When we look at birds most of what we see is feathers. The ever-so-subtle “ears” in these owls’ name are somewhat apparent in this shot. In contrast, the namesake tufts on the closely related Long-eared Owl are highly conspicuous. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/e3e5378a-266e-42ba-9689-9b65e94fcef9/gbh+wide+mouthed+call+in+flight.jpg Field Reports - Short-eared Owls and "Friends" - Make it stand out “I just flew in from the Lower Cretaceous and boy are my arms tired.” Apologies to my social media followers who already saw this caption with the frame taken right after this one. That’s a slightly sharper photo, and a more flattering picture of this Great Blue Heron, but this one highlights a fascinating bit of bird anatomy. As this heron let out their Pterodactyl gronk they revealed the jointed bones of their lower mandible. Various long-billed birds have jointed beak bones that serve them in various ways. In the case of Great Blue Herons it helps them to swallow the astonishingly enormous prey they sometimes capture. I once watched one swallow a huge catfish over the course of about five minutes. I didn’t think they would get it down, but they sure showed me. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/5b9431d8-08be-4f17-84b2-3846692f21f2/_DSC8518.jpg Field Reports - Short-eared Owls and "Friends" - Make it stand out This Great Blue Heron was here for the same reason as the Short-eared Owl: voles. While they are wading bird that hunt fish and other prey in the water it’s not uncommon to see Great Blues hunting in fields for rodents, and snakes in the warmer months. In the case of winter vole and mice hunting this makes them competitors with Short-eared Owls, but the owls seem to ignore this particular competitor. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/9861f296-b176-456f-b788-f83ce7bc1c86/two+trumpeters+fly+by.jpg Field Reports - Short-eared Owls and "Friends" - Make it stand out A pair of Trumpeter Swans from a nearby grazing flock fly by. Short-eared Owls are likely indifferent to these giant vegetarians, but I was excited to see them flying low only twenty feet away. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/0e861d86-374a-488d-8172-96c34b498a3a/trumpeter+swan+flight+call.jpg Field Reports - Short-eared Owls and "Friends" - Make it stand out One more Trumpeter shot. They are a major winter birding highlight here. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/d0ff332e-444a-4122-8cc7-06d5bc0c7a86/harrier+juv-fm+in+flight.jpg Field Reports - Short-eared Owls and "Friends" - Make it stand out Can you guess what this Northern Harrier is after? Yes, it’s voles, and the overlapping ecological niches of Northern Harriers and Short-eared Owls makes them bitter enemies. Not only are they hunting the same prey in the same place at the same time, but they regularly attempt to steal that prey from each other after it’s captured. As members of the hawk family Harriers have a remarkable bit of evolutionary convergence with owls. While it’s less pronounced than in owls, they do in fact have facial disks. Because voles tunnel under fallen dead grass sound is a more reliable way of locating them than sight. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/631f3930-551c-4f8b-a792-8173e4e6c316/shortie+attacks+another+in+flight.jpg Field Reports - Short-eared Owls and "Friends" - Make it stand out Perhaps the worst enemy of a Short-eared Owl is another member of its own species. This heavily-cropped image shows a typical attack on an interloper. While there were several Shorties present they mostly seemed to partition the field into separate hunting grounds. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/b6bed6e4-6a9d-4a1e-9cda-e6b495d9eff1/shortie+in+flight-8.jpg Field Reports - Short-eared Owls and "Friends" - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/12ee5652-0695-4a0a-b05a-773cebb5b8d7/shortie+in+flight-10.jpg Field Reports - Short-eared Owls and "Friends" - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/a7d2bd8d-8634-4e8a-bbc3-c8d0f92b5927/shortie+in+flight-30.jpg Field Reports - Short-eared Owls and "Friends" - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/ac6f125d-1201-4ef4-b395-641409525ab6/shortie+in+flight-37.jpg Field Reports - Short-eared Owls and "Friends" - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.geraldlisi.net/blog/2024/1/25/winters-wealth-of-waterfowl monthly 0.5 2026-02-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/ec13050f-8840-4ea9-8e24-1589eb55939d/wigeons+on+logs+gg.jpg Field Reports - Winter's Wealth of Waterfowl - Make it stand out American Wigeons rest and preen on Red Alder logs. Flocks of dozens to hundreds of these handsome ducks winter on the waters and fields of the west coast. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/8d44cc41-4808-4f7c-8906-55c85620ca0d/gw+teal+pair+reflection+golden+light.jpg Field Reports - Winter's Wealth of Waterfowl - Make it stand out A pair of Green-winged Teals relaxes as the sun settles into the horizon. Catching these two in this wonderful light was a highlight of my first winter with a DSLR and a long lens, back in January of 2015! I could do better now, but I still like this image. Green-winged Teals are a favorite of mine. The namesake speculum (wing patch) is seen here on the female. The same metallic green graces the male’s head, along with a rich chestnut brown. Green-winged Teals are the smallest North American dabbling duck, at just over half the size of a Mallard. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/97acc004-d57f-4346-a486-d472471a43d8/mallards+fleeing%2C+snowy+trees.jpg Field Reports - Winter's Wealth of Waterfowl - Make it stand out The ubiquitous Mallard is particularly abundant here in winter, when year-round residents are joined by migrants who breed in the north. Those migrants, like all of the others in this post, come south because the northern ponds and lakes freeze. The rare snow that made for such a nice background in this picture can be a major hardship for ducks when it’s cold enough to freeze our lakes and ponds. These mallards were actually photographed recently in Duvall, where I live now. Here in the country, where there is duck hunting, they are understandably very skittish. But in the city they become more comfortable with people. That tolerance combined with their large size makes urban ducks great subjects for practicing bird photography. The rest of the images in this post are examples of me doing just that. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/d0d56925-61d3-44bd-9837-47adbc814a93/gadwall+pair+in+rain+hen+calling+Duck+Bay.jpg Field Reports - Winter's Wealth of Waterfowl - Make it stand out A male Gadwall warms his bill and breath, while his mate comments on the weather. Wet and gray of course! Female Gadwalls look similar to Mallards, but notice the white, rather than blue, speculum, and the steep forehead. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/4249abef-32dc-485b-ade4-c65c0dd8f2df/northern+shoveler+drake+steps+over+log.jpg Field Reports - Winter's Wealth of Waterfowl - Make it stand out A giant Black Cottonwood log in his path gave me a rare view of this Northern Shoveler’s orange feet! The huge, top-heavy bills of these dabblers give them their name. Shovelers are filter feeders. Their specialized bills take in more water, and thus filter out more seeds and tiny plants and animals from it. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/b1bfaf22-181a-41b0-bfab-53e55ba1c2d8/hooded+merganser+pair+in+rain+Duck+Bay.jpg Field Reports - Winter's Wealth of Waterfowl - Make it stand out A pair of Hooded Mergansers sit in the rain between dives for fish. This is our smallest and most distinctive Merganser species. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1febd056-7d34-4930-8706-f99e8c29ebf7/common+merganser+fm+on+log_.jpg Field Reports - Winter's Wealth of Waterfowl - Make it stand out A female Common Merganser enjoys some dry time, presumably with a belly full of fish. The “common” in the species name is belied by the elegant beauty of this distinguished lady. Her thin bill can be quickly opened and closed under water, and its edges are serrated to grip the slippery skin of fish. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/54388a04-12e7-40af-bdf6-ef9fbd87817f/common+merganser+m+MP-3.jpg Field Reports - Winter's Wealth of Waterfowl - Make it stand out The male Common Merganser is very distinct in his breeding/primary plumage, but his summer molt will leave him looking almost exactly like a female. Bald Eagles will go after about any bird on the water, but diving ducks have an advantage over dabblers in their escape. I have seen Common Mergansers disappear into the water as an eagle tried to grab them. I’ve also seen Mallards, dabblers, chased at full speed through the air by eagles. Most likely the pursuit began when the eagle tried to take the duck on the water’s surface, and flight was their only means of evasion. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/56a5e507-1f6c-49b5-8df0-3506e5f08ce4/red-breasted+merganser+m+Seattle+watefront.jpg Field Reports - Winter's Wealth of Waterfowl - Make it stand out Moving briefly to salt water now, to show the other North American species of Merganser. This male Red-breasted Merganser was seen on the Salish Sea, aka Puget Sound, from the downtown Seattle Waterfront. During winter they fish all of the North American coasts, but like so many ducks, geese and swans they breed across Alaska and Canada. Seen up close like this the males of this species and the Common Merganser can be distinguished pretty easily, but the females are more similar to each other. Mergansers seen on salt water are more likely Red-breasted, and those on large bodies of fresh water are more likely Common. Hooded Mergansers prefer ponds and marshes. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/f38388e5-ab09-4648-8bad-5e869b81171b/ring-necked+ducks+SP-12.jpg Field Reports - Winter's Wealth of Waterfowl - Make it stand out Ring-necked Ducks are divers who breed in boreal waters. While those waters are frozen they live in warmer parts of the US and Mexico. Notice they don’t have thin bills like mergansers. These ducks dive for mollusks and other invertebrates, as well as some plants. Females, who must be camouflaged while incubating eggs, have the earth-toned plumage. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/27c96d99-bab4-4d91-8c5f-69db092aa98e/lesser+scaup+with+a+clam.jpg Field Reports - Winter's Wealth of Waterfowl - Make it stand out This Lesser Scaup looks very pleased with himself. He’s about to swallow a freshwater mussel whole. His powerful gizzard will crush the shell, enabling his stomach to digest the flesh inside. Lesser Scaups are regular winter visitors, but less abundant in my area than their close relatives, the Ring-necked Ducks. Greater Scaups are seen too, but even less than the Lesser. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/ebbbb662-3a3f-4cee-901f-34065a0aaa35/lesser+scaup+pair+listens.jpg Field Reports - Winter's Wealth of Waterfowl - Make it stand out Here a pair of Lesser Scaups scan the sky for eagles, which is a prudent move for birds on Lake Washington. Notice that while her plumage is different than the males, the shape of the female is essentially identical. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/74dffae6-d67d-4334-8104-a5516563c28f/common+goldeneye+tri+w-bufflehead+fm.jpg Field Reports - Winter's Wealth of Waterfowl - Make it stand out Here we see a trio of Common Goldeneyes, with a female Bufflehead in the background. If you’re not already familiar with Goldeneyes can you guess the genders of these ones? Small groups of Common Goldeneyes are a regular sight on our lakes in winter. Occasionally a few Barrow’s Goldeneyes are seen with them. Common Goldeneyes can be sen across the lower forty-eight, but only in winter. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1cdf09d0-3cd4-41b1-8ee6-a1674db22bd7/bufflehead+m+blue+water+reflection+mp-16.jpg Field Reports - Winter's Wealth of Waterfowl - Make it stand out A Bufflehead drake (male duck) catches some rare winter sunshine as he cruises the shallows of Lake Washington for mussels and snails. They eat various invertebrates, and some plants, depending on the specific habitat and time of year, but winter lake fare is primarily mollusks. This photo, taken in January of 2017, is still one of my favorite bird pictures that I have taken. Buffleheads are quite small for ducks, and if you move towards the shore they tend to move away from it. Also, the iridescent colors seen on this drake’s head are barely visible if at all in the overcast weather that predominates here in the winter. So, when this guy swam right by me while I was enjoying the sun on a dock I was thrilled. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/dac54a55-baf4-4c3d-9096-d00ed4b4839f/Eurasian+wigeon+mp-5.jpg Field Reports - Winter's Wealth of Waterfowl - Make it stand out “I don’t follow the crowd.” Every winter a few Eurasian Wigeons end up with flocks of American Wigeons, particularly on the west coast. The females are hard to distinguish, but this Eurasian Drake’s reddish head stands out clearly next to the green eye patches of his American companions. Wigeons are dabbling ducks, but they also regularly forage like, and with geese, grazing grasses and other tender green plants. https://www.geraldlisi.net/blog/2023/6/17/spring-wildflowers-of-the-western-washington-lowland-forest monthly 0.5 2026-02-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/6304350c-0200-406b-867a-08cafbad49f7/may+lily+trilogy-2.jpg Field Reports - Spring Wildflowers of the Western Washington Lowland Forest - Make it stand out Here we see a nice little patch of May Lily, Maianthemum dilatatum, which is known for forming patches much larger than this. Another, horrible, common name for this plant is “False Lily of the Valley.” They do resemble Lily of the Valley of course, but that hardly makes May Lily a false version of it. May is in fact the flowering time of this species. They aren’t lilies though, but members of Asparagaceae, the asparagus family. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/bc723fd7-478a-4987-b1ce-c3de07e968d6/candy+flower+rwp.jpg Field Reports - Spring Wildflowers of the Western Washington Lowland Forest - Make it stand out Candy Flower, or Siberian Miner’s Lettuce, Claytonia siberica. Claytonias are found across North America, with many members of the genus known as Spring Beauties. The leaves of Claytonias do make a good salad green, and though I haven’t tried it yet you can also cook and eat their tubers. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/338f5e1f-06ed-4776-927b-892916a7fc25/enchanter%27s+nightshade+backyard.jpg Field Reports - Spring Wildflowers of the Western Washington Lowland Forest - Make it stand out Enchanter’s Nightshade, Circea alpina is named for the Circe, the enchantress of Greek myth. The “nightshade” in the name is enigmatic however, as no one who is familiar with Solanaceae, the nightshade family, would mistake this member of Onagraceae, the evening primrose family, for a nightshade. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/ef51b38c-bae3-43a2-9fa4-714d74a16be8/bleeding+heart+close+up+rwp.jpg Field Reports - Spring Wildflowers of the Western Washington Lowland Forest - Make it stand out The delicate leaves of Pacific Bleeding Heart, Dicentra formosa, are a “sight for sore eyes” when they appear in March. In April their flowers provide an early nectar source for bees and hummingbirds. Several weeks later long, green seed pods protrude from the bottoms of the still-pink hearts. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/c877cbbb-b14e-4c43-a48f-ca1635573593/salal+flowering+branch+rwp.jpg Field Reports - Spring Wildflowers of the Western Washington Lowland Forest - Make it stand out The urn shaped flowers of Salal, Gaultheria shalon, are telltale signatures of Ericaceae, the heather family. They are buzz pollinated by bumblebees, which means that the vibration frequency of the bumblebees' wings shakes loose the pollen from the anthers inside the urn. When they stick their pollen-dusted, fuzzy little faces into the next flower to reach the nectar with their tongues some of the pollen sticks to the stigma, initiating fertilization. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/94335436-8d41-4e4f-b654-55203e8086c1/salmonberry+patch+flowering+toltmcd.jpg Field Reports - Spring Wildflowers of the Western Washington Lowland Forest - Make it stand out The flowers of Salmonberry, Rubus spectabilis, have petals of the most exquisite magenta. This distinguishes them from most other members of genus Rubus (raspberies and blackberries), which have white flowers. Salmonberry is particularly fond of wet ground beneath Red Alder and Black Cottonwood, where they form dense thickets that can be taller than a really tall guy. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/bc65b011-52c8-4ddc-a370-cb4a3c60311f/thimbleberry+flowering+moss+lake.jpg Field Reports - Spring Wildflowers of the Western Washington Lowland Forest - Make it stand out Thimbleberry, Rubus parviflorus, is a gentle bramble. In fact its completely thorn-free stems make it hardly a bramble at all. I wouldn’t describe the broad, deep red raspberries dry, but their tiny drupelets are less juicy than others. This actually has the effect of concentrating their wonderfully sweet and tart flavor. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/0bee4846-3e35-4257-8120-29a62a7c4678/star+flower+rwp.jpg Field Reports - Spring Wildflowers of the Western Washington Lowland Forest - Make it stand out In May Western Starflower, Lysimachia latifolia, brightens the forest floor in the western Washington lowlands. The white to pink petals of their flowers have the curious habitat of varying in number, from five to nine, but most often in my experience six, as seen here, or seven. This perennial of family Primulaceae (Primrose) emerges from a small bulb, which is edible but nobody's favorite for flavor. A beautiful flower that could save your life in a wilderness survival situation. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/8921b0b7-05f2-41a2-8ebe-ae507b3afad7/bald+hip+rose+flowering+serina%27s.jpg Field Reports - Spring Wildflowers of the Western Washington Lowland Forest - Make it stand out Bald-hip Rose, Rosa gymoncarpa, has flowers just a centimeter or two across. While most rose hips are adorned with the persistent sepals of the flowers from which they grew, the sepals of this species are shed as the fruit matures. This brightener of shady places has rambling stems densely covered with soft prickles. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/504065a1-a017-4a85-80e9-0ac8f3bbebd3/nootka+rose+stillwater.jpg Field Reports - Spring Wildflowers of the Western Washington Lowland Forest - Make it stand out Nootka Rose, Rosa nutkana, has much larger flowers than Bald-hip, at 1.5 to 2 inches across. Their exquisite fragrance permeates the sunny forest edges they call home. The tall smooth stems of this wild rose are punctuated with two large thorns at each node. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/ec327d43-a76e-4126-bcc3-52c8e2160445/ninebark+flowering+stillwater.jpg Field Reports - Spring Wildflowers of the Western Washington Lowland Forest - Make it stand out Pacific Ninebark, Physocarpus capitatus, is named for its shreddy bark, “Capitatus” refers to the heads of white flowers. This many-stemmed shrub can grow taller than ten feet, and is often a component of impenetrable thickets in wet woods. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/5955e6e1-ada2-4863-b783-5aa45d00d5db/orange+trrumpet+honeysuckle+rwp.jpg Field Reports - Spring Wildflowers of the Western Washington Lowland Forest - Make it stand out The vines of Orange Trumpet Honeysuckle, Lonicera ciliosa, crawl over sunny clearings and climb deciduous trees and shrubs in search of light. The tubular flowers are hummingbird pollinated, and form translucent red berries that are eaten by Finches, Flickers and other frugivorous birds. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/3db258e1-b068-4b23-8153-f6e6300e44ae/brooklime+close+up+moss+lake.jpg Field Reports - Spring Wildflowers of the Western Washington Lowland Forest - Make it stand out The flowers of American Brooklime, Veronica americana, have the distinct appearance of all Speedwells. In some other species the flowers are too small to fully appreciate with the naked eye, but it’s worth kneeling in front of American Brooklime to admire their diminutive blooms. This is a relatively large Speedwell, especially when growing in the edge of brooks where it can reach two or three feet in length. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/865dbd33-4386-4184-ac5a-3bbe78ca8a5a/hedge+nettle+flowering+close+up+moss+lake.jpg Field Reports - Spring Wildflowers of the Western Washington Lowland Forest - Make it stand out Cooley’s Hedge Nettle, Stachys cooleyae, is not a nettle. The bilabiate flowers, square stems and opposite leaves identify it as a member of the mint family, Lamiaceae. Another common feature of this family is an abundance of aromatic oils, but nobody is making tea or seasoning food with this musky-smelling mint. As an herbaceous perennial this plant would not make a proper hedge, but its rhizomatous spreading and stems up to nine feet tall, perhaps five on average, do enable to fill a lot of space. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/024c7add-f1ce-4c00-9c07-bfdd30778b26/twin+flower+rwp.jpg Field Reports - Spring Wildflowers of the Western Washington Lowland Forest - Make it stand out Twinflower, Linnaea borealis, is a circumboreal species, growing in high latitudes across the northern hemisphere. In western Washington it now grows mostly in the mountains, but it thankfully persists in mature and old-growth forests in the lowlands. This member of the honeysuckle family, Caprifoliacea, is so small that it’s hard to tell that it’s a woody plant, but it is in fact a subshrub. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/15a16f99-c786-4f5b-b2f6-101115446a34/piggy+back+plant+flowering+rwp.jpg Field Reports - Spring Wildflowers of the Western Washington Lowland Forest - Make it stand out Piggyback Plant, Tolmiea menziesii, is one of several woodland Saxifrages, family Saxifragaceae, in this region. Cultivars of this species are grown in gardens, and even as house plants. I suppose this reinforces my feeling that it is a very attractive plant. Every spring I have another go at photographing it, but without a macro lens it’s hard to do the delicate little flowers justice. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/692f5af9-38e7-42f3-97ce-a5e0ab2429e2/tiarella+flowering+rwp.jpg Field Reports - Spring Wildflowers of the Western Washington Lowland Forest - Make it stand out Another woodland Saxifrage, and a favorite of many a naturalist and woods walker, is Trefoil Foamflower, Tiarella trifoliata. The tiny white flowers are hard to see in detail, but their beauty is in numbers, and how they sparkle like stars in the dark of the forest floor. https://www.geraldlisi.net/blog/2022/4/6/winter-woods-on-the-cusp-of-spring-central-vermont monthly 0.5 2026-02-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/bcca57f7-c3af-4774-ad86-1f88f07836c4/winter+spruce%2C+beech%2C+birch+etc+d%26d%27s+woods.jpg Field Reports - Winter Woods on the Cusp of Spring, Central Vermont - Make it stand out Spruces with American Beech, Paper Birch, Red Maple and Witch Hazel. Last year’s orange leaves identify the beech, the straight gray trunk of the maple is to the right of the birch and the wily Witch Hazel leans out from in front of the maple. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/e1034659-5dbc-4aec-a925-95ac23a29175/paper+birch+closeup+with+yellow+birch+in+snow+d%26d%27s.jpg Field Reports - Winter Woods on the Cusp of Spring, Central Vermont - Make it stand out Paper Birch with Yellow Birch in the background. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/3d9971cd-f8ca-4710-9f7c-df715f5b209d/wavy+birches+in+snow+d%26d%27s.jpg Field Reports - Winter Woods on the Cusp of Spring, Central Vermont - Make it stand out Here the Yellow Birch is in front, with Paper Birches in the background. Golden green moss adorns the base of the Yellow birch and dark green in the background is courtesy of spruce saplings. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/cb3a6c79-ba57-420b-b5d4-2d056666835e/eastern+hemlock+and+paper+birch+trunks+waterbury+rsrvr+high+key.jpg Field Reports - Winter Woods on the Cusp of Spring, Central Vermont - Make it stand out Eastern Hemlock and Paper Birch. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/b5f8784d-444e-4b3f-b18e-768294e3bf05/maple-birch+shadow+on+snow+blush+hill.jpg Field Reports - Winter Woods on the Cusp of Spring, Central Vermont - Make it stand out Shadows cast by Sugar Maple and Paper Birch. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/ddd974f6-3c89-4b78-8ed0-dd9dc08b8fe3/yellow+birch+and+rock+outcrop+with+snow+blush+hill-2.jpg Field Reports - Winter Woods on the Cusp of Spring, Central Vermont - Make it stand out Yellow Birch by a lichen-crusted outcropping. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1be52553-3b6a-46c1-832c-db5ea1f80a96/stream+waterfall+with+icicles+and+yellow+birch+trunk.jpg Field Reports - Winter Woods on the Cusp of Spring, Central Vermont - Make it stand out Stream waterfall with icicles and Yellow Birch. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/158c3856-dc48-43cd-bca2-fa959162a495/stree+club+moss+in+snow+blush+hill-2.jpg Field Reports - Winter Woods on the Cusp of Spring, Central Vermont - Make it stand out Tree Clubmoss. Neither tree nor moss, but more closely related to the latter. Like mosses the Club Mosses, or Lycopods, are spore plants. The strobilus seen at the top of this plant is the spore-bearing structures, the “club” in their common name. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/deb78d6f-27b4-4159-822a-9942496f1954/hemlock+ion+snowy+stone+wall+blush+hill.jpg Field Reports - Winter Woods on the Cusp of Spring, Central Vermont - Make it stand out Mature Eastern Hemlock in a stone wall by the road. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1bc6f7f6-2d36-4903-8a4c-c1732efe5d30/hemlock+ion+snowy+stone+wall+blush+hill-4.jpg Field Reports - Winter Woods on the Cusp of Spring, Central Vermont - Make it stand out More Eastern Hemlock in the same stone wall. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/2fc7dae8-307e-4bfc-ae6a-68760f5625f6/worcester+range+through+winter+maples+and+birches.jpg Field Reports - Winter Woods on the Cusp of Spring, Central Vermont - Make it stand out The Worcester Range seen through Paper Birch and Sugar Maple. https://www.geraldlisi.net/blog/2022/12/4/duvall-snow-days monthly 0.5 2026-02-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/c985b74a-9acc-4592-853a-916be444892c/Duvall+snow+12-03-22-19.jpg Field Reports - Duvall Snow Days - Make it stand out A chilly warm-up shot on the way out of my apartment’s driveway. A Beaked Hazel bowed over by the snow beneath Red Alders and a stately Bigleaf maple. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/70bc8bd9-d77a-4cb6-9984-c78a630fe509/Duvall+snow+12-03-22-20.jpg Field Reports - Duvall Snow Days - Make it stand out Lake Rasmussen was my first destination. This small lake is a few blocks from my place and the opposite shore of it’s public access side is a nice patch of mixed forest. This is a somewhat eastward view too, so the rising sun added some glow and color to the dissipating clouds. The barely freezing average temperature of the last couple days is seen in the partially frozen surface of the lake. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/92ede274-a0cb-4eb0-b3b1-ee956b1b9d4f/Duvall+snow+12-03-22-21.jpg Field Reports - Duvall Snow Days - Make it stand out The Duvall Tavern on Main Street/Highway 203, with Rocking E Feeds across the street. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/cdef7394-ad00-48d3-ae87-ca3af4cf220f/Duvall+snow+12-03-22-22.jpg Field Reports - Duvall Snow Days - Make it stand out Crossing the street and grabbing another downtown snapshot with the morning-sunlit background. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/b0c2f436-b2a8-40b4-b8b7-219a62ed7e22/Duvall+snow+12-03-22-23.jpg Field Reports - Duvall Snow Days - Make it stand out The light was getting better by the moment, so I grabbed this shot with the Duvall-Woodinville Rd bridge on my way to the river it crosses. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/350fb452-d8a7-480e-ab6d-bf7f106f1f4e/Duvall+snow+12-03-22-24.jpg Field Reports - Duvall Snow Days - Make it stand out I thought of Dark Tranquility’s ‘The Mundane and the Magic’ as I placed these structures and vehicles in the foreground of this snowy-trees-with-sunrise shot. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/99011a32-7ec9-4486-a530-482b6b5c9294/Duvall+snow+12-03-22-25.jpg Field Reports - Duvall Snow Days - Make it stand out Coming up to the river I was taken by the color of this powdery lichen on the concrete. The foremost bridge support and a Bigleaf Maple frame what appears to a support from a previous bridge across the Snoqualmie River. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/7175f4e0-7f63-49e2-b5ca-0e1cc2b65c4f/Duvall+snow+12-03-22-26.jpg Field Reports - Duvall Snow Days - Make it stand out The old bridge support and a delightfully spreading Bigleaf Maple make the foreground for the soft shapes and colors of this morning sky. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/dacc0dce-5f81-476a-a3ef-f77e37e31628/Duvall+snow+12-03-22-27.jpg Field Reports - Duvall Snow Days - Make it stand out Down the river a bit and I framed the sky with these snowy trees and shrubs. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/2bbbea7a-c273-49e6-a261-77e01f500b33/Duvall+snow+12-03-22-28.jpg Field Reports - Duvall Snow Days - Make it stand out At the river’s edge I made this reflection image. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/054851ed-2309-4ff9-9533-ddc3a6acd2d6/Duvall+snow+12-03-22-29.jpg Field Reports - Duvall Snow Days - Make it stand out Turning upstream I was taken by this view of the bridge and trees reflected in the river. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/81b5b1db-b83c-4f0f-97e0-cf0dfde8c586/Duvall+snow+12-03-22-30.jpg Field Reports - Duvall Snow Days - Make it stand out Zooming in on these Black Cottonwoods for another reflection shot. It’s hard not to make these kinds of pictures by a calm body of water with some nice colors in the sky. I’m not sure what kind of work was going on in the big green building, but whoever was at it was cranking ranchera music inside, and I smiled at the festive atmosphere. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/322d2f9b-b4b1-4e2a-9804-7399d9be6c54/Duvall+snow+12-03-22-31.jpg Field Reports - Duvall Snow Days - Make it stand out Around the river’s bend I made a possible shot of the day with these snowy maples and that soft morning sky. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/e353676e-c7ab-4862-a7e5-33857e504133/Duvall+snow+12-03-22-32.jpg Field Reports - Duvall Snow Days - Make it stand out Into the shade of the foothills that Duvall is buit on I got more of the snowy trees and shrubs that were my main subjects of the morning. No choice but to overexpose the eastern sky as the sun rose higher, but I actually like to blow out the highlights on shots like these. I feel that it conveys the awesome power of the Sun, whose energy fuels all life on Earth. I also like the juxtapositions here; fire and ice, direct sun and shade. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/e7887e32-a93f-472c-8d8f-6b191391a3c9/Duvall+snow+12-03-22-33.jpg Field Reports - Duvall Snow Days - Make it stand out Bigleaf Maples line the Snoqualmie Valley Trail. These are the same maples seen in the previous photo, but there I was in McCormick Park facing the trail on an eastward perpendicular line. Here we are looking south, and I like the way that the trail bisects the morning sky into the blazing sun in the east and the soft blue and clouds in the west. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/cf5ddfe0-b58d-4f2f-b812-8d59185c9601/Duvall+snow+12-03-22-34.jpg Field Reports - Duvall Snow Days - Make it stand out Looking back across the Snoqualmie Valley Trail before heading through town to Taylor Park, which won’t be included in this post. What direction am I facing? What kind of trees are these? I hope you’ve been paying attention! ;) https://www.geraldlisi.net/blog/2021/7/11/chickering-bog monthly 0.5 2026-02-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1626023134481-F1UMQX10NKRU2ARZH9NM/yellowthroat+m+with+tamarack+chickering.jpg Field Reports - Chickering Bog, june 2021 - Make it stand out A male Common Yellowthroat, Geothlypis tracheas, surveys the fen for food and threats. The vibrant green needles behind him belong to a Tamarack, aka American Larch, Larix lacrina. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1626044477281-S8XP55R1LRJZLCU3X8AM/PXL_20210626_151901601.jpg Field Reports - Chickering Bog, june 2021 - Make it stand out A sampling of floristic diversity on the forest floor. Middle, lower right and lower left are Ash, Fraxinus, Balsam Fir, Abies balsamea, and Sugar Maple, Acer rubrum. The saplings are mingling with two species of Rubus blackberry/raspberry) and one of the many New England ferns that I can’t identify. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1626044632965-OKO572I4662J44BRS0H6/PXL_20210626_153133483.jpg Field Reports - Chickering Bog, june 2021 - Make it stand out I love the way this tree’s roots grasp the exposed bedrock. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1626044730679-RM5TLXDT18SVQ4EM067G/PXL_20210626_153856333.jpg Field Reports - Chickering Bog, june 2021 - Make it stand out Old stone walls are common in New England woods, and certainly lend to their charms, but finding this stone staircase was a special treat. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1626044787780-4UMSEOBC7RQRM9K1U9P9/PXL_20210626_155226553.jpg Field Reports - Chickering Bog, june 2021 - Make it stand out I can’t resist the beauty of birch bark. In life the outer layers of Paper Birch bark peel and roll into delightful scrolls as the tree grows. Here many layers are coiling together on a large section of bark shed from a dead tree. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1626044835230-GDD6G5CNS2CVN0FWL9FU/PXL_20210626_155320480.jpg Field Reports - Chickering Bog, june 2021 - Make it stand out Among the many seed plants on the forest floor can be found the vascular spore plants known as Clubmosses. Looking somewhat like tiny pine branches (“Ground Pine” is another name for them) these ancient plants are no more little trees than they are mosses. Like mosses they reproduce with spores, but they have water-transporting vasculature which mosses lack. This enables them to reach their height of eight inches, something unattainable to mosses. Seen here is Tree Clubmoss, Lycopodium obscurum. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1626044978577-CZU2XZY6GXAS7DXX4TGL/PXL_20210626_160036841.jpg Field Reports - Chickering Bog, june 2021 - Make it stand out Northern White Cedar, Thuja Occidentals. Seeing this species in the forest hinted at the proximity to the fen where I was headed. They are associated with bogs and swamps. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1626045049803-IX0MJGP25G2OBB3QESDM/PXL_20210626_160110149.jpg Field Reports - Chickering Bog, june 2021 - Make it stand out “Welcome to a Class I wetland designation that highlights Chickering Bog as “best in show” for wetlands in Vermont. Contrary to its name, Chickering Bog is actually a fen! Fens are fed by groundwater, carrying important nutrients from underlying bedrock, like calcium and magnesium. Bogs, on the other hand, are only fed by precipitation, creating acidic, nutrient-poor conditions. Surrounded a relatively undeveloped landscape, Chickering Bog has been a conservation priority since the mid-1970’s, with 220 acres and most of the surrounding watershed conserved by 2014.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1627236433678-O3ULSX91WZ3GQR5D4QHK/northern+pitcher+plant+flowers+close+up+chickering+bog.jpg Field Reports - Chickering Bog, june 2021 - Make it stand out Northern Pitcher Plant, Sarracenia purpurea. The specialized leaves of pitcher plants give them their name, but their flowers are pretty fascinating too. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1626045276261-QWAH5QSWBWP3BEDE142I/PXL_20210626_161613706.jpg Field Reports - Chickering Bog, june 2021 - Make it stand out The rainwater-filled leaf of a pitcher plant is an insect trap. Insects that drown in that water are digested by enzymes secreted by the plant and by bacteria living in the water. The nutrients obtained, nitrogen in particular, compensate for the low fertility of the acidic, water-logged soils these plants grow in. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1626045351555-DCJZT6SB9S3FV1USEPRT/PXL_20210627_153703885.jpg Field Reports - Chickering Bog, june 2021 - Make it stand out The reddish purple patterns on the surface of the pitcher attract insects. Much less obvious to us, but tantalizingly detectable to insects is the presence of nectaries at the top of the pitcher. The same sweet liquid that attracts pollinators to flowers is used here to lure prey. Insects that fall into the pitcher are prevented from crawling out by the downward-facing hairs above the opening. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1627236592017-1CIS5P4GPQ1U1RGDW3BN/rose+pogonia+chickering+bog-2.jpg Field Reports - Chickering Bog, june 2021 - Make it stand out Rose Pogonia, Pogonia ophioglossoides. Loss and degradation of wetlands make this and other orchids of these fragile habitats all the more precious. Collection of the plants further imperils populations of these wonderful wildflowers. If you have the good fortune of finding wild orchids please take only pictures. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1627244061794-22J3VDNFBDGD7QU3TEXH/grass+pink+with+white+cedar+chickering+bog.jpg Field Reports - Chickering Bog, june 2021 - Make it stand out Grass Pink, Calopogon pulchellus framed with Northern White Cedar foliage. At first glance I thought I was seeing more Rose Pogonia, but then I was doubly delighted to discover that there were two species of orchids flowering in the fen. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1627244097043-0WH5TJNU0VAAANT45EJK/grass+pink+close+up+chickering+bog.jpg Field Reports - Chickering Bog, june 2021 - Make it stand out The flowers of Grass Pink are upside-down orchids. The highly modified petal known as the lip is usually at the bottom, not the top as seen here. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1627244224123-1LZGEUF0T4S1D03PQETX/tamarack+chickering+bog.jpg Field Reports - Chickering Bog, june 2021 - Make it stand out Larch trees, such as this Tamarack, are deciduous conifers, which shed their leaves every autumn. I remember my mind being blown as a kid when I discovered the seeming oxymoron of the deciduous conifers. I knew conifers as evergreens, and broad-leaved trees as deciduous. Of course most conifers do have leaves that live through the winters, but larches are one of several exceptions to this pattern. Similarly there are more than a few species of broad-leaved trees that don’t shed their leaves in autumn, but they are found in milder climates than New England’s. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1627244306654-VM7BSB8I1HYVFHQ501N9/slender+spreadwing+on+dogwood+leaf+chickering+bog.jpg Field Reports - Chickering Bog, june 2021 - Make it stand out Damselfly on Red Osier Dogwood, Cornus stolonifera. Damselflies are close relatives of the dragonflies, which can easily be guessed by looking at them. Aside from their smaller size and more delicate features (“damsel”) they can be distinguished from dragonflies by their habit of holding their wings against their sides when at rest. The wings of dragonflies remain extended outward at all times. That being said I don’t know what species of damselfly this is, or even which genus that species is placed in. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1629506717901-3YVJDD8S9CD3HUL9NZGT/little+wood+satyr+chickering+bog.jpg Field Reports - Chickering Bog, june 2021 - Make it stand out Little Wood Satyr, Megisto cymela https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1629506290474-JP9FAX3GIJ26QMY99NN4/green+frog+close+up+chickering+bog.jpg Field Reports - Chickering Bog, june 2021 - Make it stand out Green Frog, Rana clamitans https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1629505926469-2KJFSYTGP2KMI9YCZLM7/ovenbird+with+caterpillar+chickering.jpg Field Reports - Chickering Bog, june 2021 - Make it stand out Ovenbird, Seiurus aurocapillus, with a caterpillar for their nearby fledgling. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1629506925139-QVOK8S6B3CYC30VVNYPN/yellow-bellied+sapsucker+fm+chickering.jpg Field Reports - Chickering Bog, june 2021 - Make it stand out Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Sphyrapicus varius, female (males have red throats as well as crowns). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1629506993254-9NYUZUPRDYAKQ7ZXBEPN/_DSC5666.jpg Field Reports - Chickering Bog, june 2021 - Make it stand out Pileated Woodpecker, Dryocopus pileatus, female (males have red malars or “mustaches” and the red on their crowns extends all the way to the base of their bills). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1629507030662-Q06KD7XQH9QTVNSFY0MS/red+squirrel+on+tree+trunk.jpg Field Reports - Chickering Bog, june 2021 - Make it stand out Red Squirrel, Tamiasciurus hudsonicus. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/a5ef69c2-80c0-4962-a9f8-e80a4b80384b/bluejay+perched+chick+bog+nat+area-2.jpg Field Reports - Chickering Bog, june 2021 - Make it stand out Blue Jay, Cyanocitta cristata https://www.geraldlisi.net/blog/2017/11/26/life-and-death-in-an-urban-forest-fragment monthly 0.5 2026-02-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1511735851920-ZGM0PVWKQD7T3QJUFHR9/Douglas+fir+forest+LP.jpg Field Reports - Life and Death in an Urban Forest Fragment Douglas fir stand with healthy, native understory. Yellow leaves left of center belong to a beaked hazelnut, which grows above a thick patch of salal interspersed with red huckleberry and trailing blackberry. This forest in Seattle's Lincoln Park is the setting of our story. Other trees in this exceptional patch of urban forest include western red cedar, grand fir, western hemlock, bigleaf maple and red alder. The native plant community here makes Lincoln Park an oasis of wildlife habitat. Most of the large mammals generally found in this type of forest are absent because it's in the city, but it is rich in bird life. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1511739673097-0RE4D342CL9JQQHRL4D5/raven+mole+in+bill+Seward+Park.jpg Field Reports - Life and Death in an Urban Forest Fragment The first raven I saw in Seattle, at Seward Park. This is not a character in our story, but since I mentioned it, and have this photo, why not? "What's that in it's bill?" you say. "It's a mole" I reply. Like crows ravens are omnivores, but a much larger percentage of their diet is made up of animals. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1511742567218-VEFDVP3KSJ9V4E9QGZ9C/snowy+Olympics+w-clouds+LP.jpg Field Reports - Life and Death in an Urban Forest Fragment The Olympic Mountains seen from the beach at Lincoln Park. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1511743199788-6NYJZ39298UFP1VIFHOJ/Hutton%27s+vireo+behind+honeysuckle+LP.jpg Field Reports - Life and Death in an Urban Forest Fragment This Hutton's vireo was sallying from various branches in a thicket, and is seen here hiding behind an orange honeysuckle vine in order to thwart my efforts at a clean shot. It's their nature and I don't hold it against her. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1511743523922-0T7EBH1MU6FK21C9E08A/eastern+gray+squirrel+LP-2.jpg Field Reports - Life and Death in an Urban Forest Fragment While every little bird on the face of the planet is a lousy model, city-dwelling eastern gray squirrels are total hams. I don't particularly want to photograph an eastern gray squirrel, but he basically gives me no choice. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1511743740595-Y3ARGQHBCYKY4U2YXDNA/house+finch+grabbing+honeysuckle+berries+in+flight+LP.jpg Field Reports - Life and Death in an Urban Forest Fragment A female house finch snags an orange honeysuckle berry. Like most birds she can't hover, and there's no perches for her to access the fruits from, so she was doing flybys from a tree branch below. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1511744043379-XI7U2EB2XZNDNCKC7CL3/house+finch+fm+eating+honeysuckle+berry+LP.jpg Field Reports - Life and Death in an Urban Forest Fragment And here she is enjoying the fruit of her efforts (which is also the fruit of the orange honeysuckle plant). Girl, you better wash up when you're done. You're bill is a mess. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1511744189052-TTZ3K65SP36YJTWLSA5U/song+sparrow+on+madrona+log+LP.jpg Field Reports - Life and Death in an Urban Forest Fragment A song sparrow forages on a Pacific madrona log. More orange honeysuckle to her left. Pretty background colors are courtesy of the invasive small-leaved cotoneaster, which I kill when given the opportunity. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1511744965738-XP59BFQR00SJYRVHT3X6/raven+calling+from+tree+top+LP.jpg Field Reports - Life and Death in an Urban Forest Fragment Raven calling to his mate, and inadvertently summoning a wildlife photographer. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1511746551789-BPGEE0T5CAVLM821DZH8/barred+owl+Lincoln+Park+111917.jpg Field Reports - Life and Death in an Urban Forest Fragment A crow-beleaguered barred owl assesses the person lying on the ground with a long lens pointed at it and rightly determine that it's not a threat. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1511746760411-YBYEVXHEBWTRC1UYL0A2/barred+owl+Lincoln+Park+111917-7.jpg Field Reports - Life and Death in an Urban Forest Fragment Her attention returns to the crows incessantly announcing her presence from the trees above. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1511746879990-FN8KQFR7AP1ID1DIJ2CH/barred+owl+Lincoln+Park+111917-8.jpg Field Reports - Life and Death in an Urban Forest Fragment "Sigh... they know exactly where I am. Gotta find a better hiding place. I seriously just want to go back to sleep." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1511747928047-DHE10FC278D3K2ZH4L3Z/raven+perched+profile+LP.jpg Field Reports - Life and Death in an Urban Forest Fragment Raven in all of his glory. The blue sheen on his black feathers is striking, and his eyes hint at the mysteries of wildness. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1511748484480-HGELRDP939W3B1VH6B7B/raven+at+barred+owl%27s+%28-%29+nest+LP.jpg Field Reports - Life and Death in an Urban Forest Fragment Raven found something. Something he wasn't meant to find by it's owner. At first I didn't know what he was standing on or why he was pulling it apart. But when I realized that it was a nest it all made sense. I don't know for sure, but this appears to be the nest a barred owl. The barred owl I just showed you. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1511748776545-KMHOCQDKUDEPKLEFZFX0/_DSC2998.jpg Field Reports - Life and Death in an Urban Forest Fragment And this of course is what he was after. Eggs are very nutritious, and there aren't many animals out there that won't eat them if the chance arises. Some specialize on exploiting this valuable resource, such as ravens. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1511750543933-6JFCZG82E5NWILV2P9UE/feathers+and+blood+LP.jpg Field Reports - Life and Death in an Urban Forest Fragment The feathers of blood of what appears to have been a red-breasted nuthatch. It was most likely killed and eaten by a Cooper's or sharp-shinned hawk. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1511751406253-YIOJY2POVHJ8NVXZ0WBL/golden-crowned+kinglet+fm+LP.jpg Field Reports - Life and Death in an Urban Forest Fragment Golden-crowned kinglet. This one's a lady. The fellas have a red/orange stripe through their golden crowns. https://www.geraldlisi.net/blog/2017/6/3/the-northern-hummingbird monthly 0.5 2026-02-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1500830498643-F5GQGRV8NJ49UJ7TJZYZ/Anna%27s+hb+fm+red+flwr+currant+042017+WPA.jpg Field Reports - The Northern Hummingbird Anna's Hummingbird, Calypte anna, female at red-flowering currant. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1496532646390-7EY9DJS08IQA9S3KR7JO/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - The Northern Hummingbird Anna's hummingbird male. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1496541795941-9JAO4O3LQMOIVHV8INE2/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - The Northern Hummingbird Drinking the nectar of orange trumpet honeysuckle, a native flowering vine of Pacific Northwest forests. These long, tubular flowers are characteristic of hummingbird pollinated species. Hummingbirds' bills conceal even longer tongues which are used to access the nectaries deep inside such flowers. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1496537226720-35JYZFGKFCR4HBSJDGZM/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - The Northern Hummingbird "You there! I said, NO PICTURES!" https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1496540628721-UKH4EBINWW75GB9TETYN/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - The Northern Hummingbird There's a nice symmetry to this one. It's also at least a little suggestive of a heart, which is appropriate for an image of such a lovable bird. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1496541041225-YQVXAU1AC2DBSFJMFBP7/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - The Northern Hummingbird Enjoying the early-spring nectar of flowering currants. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1496540932517-I9E6KVDC6M7JXHEZT98D/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - The Northern Hummingbird Little buddy on little buds. Notice the white pollen on the tip of his bill, which came from the white currant flowers in the previous photo. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1496541135605-6PKRZBIE0KF8PB97BJGJ/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - The Northern Hummingbird Resting in an ossoberry (aka Indian plum) bush. The fresh green leaves and dangling white flowers flowers of this native shrub light up deciduous forests in the Pacific Northwest in February or March. A most welcome appearance of life and color at this drab, gray time of year, especially when further adorned by the feathered jewel that is a male Anna's hummingbird. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1496541202408-81O7KGP2H63PCBIFMSNR/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - The Northern Hummingbird A sub-adult male declares his territorial claim. Hummingbirds are very vocal. I frequently use their calls to locate them, but have a hard time describing those calls. In "The Sibley Guide to the Birds" David Allen Sibley impressively writes them out phonetically. "Chase call a rapid, dry chatter zrrr jika jika jika jika. Song from perch scratchy, thin, and dry sturee sturee sturee, sccrrrr, zveeee, street street." So, yeah, what he said. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1496541307034-G8YVDRTZF0XGBGH1LHLM/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - The Northern Hummingbird Anna's hummingbirds do not frequent dance clubs, but some are known to shake it from time to time. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1496541519731-ZWTL5CT16G7CMWOJL7NI/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - The Northern Hummingbird Male hummingbirds really are fierce little critters. Look at that face! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1496541940315-MI5XD5ZGAGZC6IQXZCVV/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - The Northern Hummingbird Nice helmet, dude. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1496542581178-9US8Q9EO5VAKB6N8NNJZ/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - The Northern Hummingbird This red flowering currant bush is sideways, but that's no problem for this little lady. https://www.geraldlisi.net/blog/2017/1/29/winter-camping-at-deception-pass-day-three monthly 0.5 2026-02-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1485745281264-IGG8T2JMSXSHRID29ZVZ/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - Winter Camping at Deception Pass, Day Three After dozens of shots that weren't likely to be usable this female downy woodpecker finally reached a clear, open spot. Unfortunately she was in the shade, but when she stopped for half a second to look at me I got my first decent shot of the day. Luckily she decided that I wouldn't eat her, or that I could't catch her if I wanted to, and she continued searching the branches for food. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1485747148824-DPS7LGZ9WBBKUYW7D6VL/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - Winter Camping at Deception Pass, Day Three Here I finally caught a good view of her with in some decent light. Downy woodpeckers, Picoides pubescens, are North America's smallest woodpeckers at 6.75 inches long. That's three inches shorter than their close relative the hairy woodpecker, Picoides villosus. Hairy woodpeckers have a much longer bill which lacks the conspicuous tuft at its base. They are associated with mature forests where they forage on the trunks and larger branches of trees. Downy woodpeckers on the other hand prefer riparian habitats where they forage on small branches, just as this one was doing. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1485748765045-1JIZF247AQUABWIOUY9M/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - Winter Camping at Deception Pass, Day Three Hermit thrush, Catharus guttatus. A short walk away from my downy woodpecker encounter I spotted this one hopping around at the forest edge. Hermit thrushes are distinguished from the other four members of their genus by their reddish tails and unbroken eye rings. They are also the only one that is regularly seen in North America during the winter. This hardy thrush forages for invertebrates on the ground, and is often hidden by the brushy understory of its forest habitats. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1485750807923-9T0YK8Q0H5IQDKEADRVU/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - Winter Camping at Deception Pass, Day Three After seeing the thrush an hour or so passed without any photo-worthy wildlife spottings. So I switched my long lens for my 18-140 mm to take some landscape shots. I mostly came up with a bunch of crap, but I do like this one. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1485752820292-1UXUJVC6CU9QKG3UP9UZ/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - Winter Camping at Deception Pass, Day Three Nootka rose hip, Rosa nutkana, with madrona bark, Arbutus menziesii. Even in winter Nootka rose is easily distinguished from our other wild roses by having two large thorns at its leaf bases with otherwise smooth stems. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1485753697830-W7CRIXKQM5X03IOY7HZV/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - Winter Camping at Deception Pass, Day Three Pacific wren, Triglodytes pacificus. I didn't have my long lens on when this little beauty popped out of the bushes by the trail, so I couldn't zoom in much. It hasn't been long since ornithologists split what was formerly just know as the winter wren, Troglodytes hiemalis, into the Pacific wren of the greater Pacific coastal region and the winter wren east of the Rocky Mountains. So you still often hear people referring to Pacific wrens as winter wrens. Both live in wet, shady areas. This makes them uncommon across their ranges. However, in much of the Pacific Northwest, including western Washington, Pacific wrens are common thanks to our mature and old-growth forests. At just four inches long this really is a tiny bird. But their song is far from that, and it can even be enjoyed outside of the breeding season. Hence the name "winter wren" for the original, lumped species designation. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1485754304080-JWJBOZQNT8W5L4PUGBN5/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - Winter Camping at Deception Pass, Day Three Mere moments after my wren friend returned to the undergrowth I heard the soft tapping of beak on wood that led my eyes to this lovely male downy woodpecker. He was near, but not close enough to photograph with my shorter lens. Fortunately he stuck around while I changed lenses, and for several minutes afterwards. The red patch on the back of the male downy woodpecker's head is the only thing that distinguishes him from the female. This was definitely the best photo opportunity of the day, and one of the best of the whole trip. The woodpecker was in direct light, there were no distracting branches blocking or crowding my view of him, and there was enough empty space behind him to render the background into smooth colors with little distracting detail (bokeh). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1485754391865-ZG3N6SIW1M6NJWBGBF28/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - Winter Camping at Deception Pass, Day Three Here the shading of the woodpecker's face sacrifices an essential element of most effective portraits: a good look at the subject's eye(s). But I still think he looks handsome, and there's a lot of natural history in this shot. Three essential aspects of woodpecker morphology are on display; stiff tail feathers that help steady their bodies while foraging on trees, the orientation of their toes, with two in front and two in back, that facilitates their tree climbing, and last but not least their long, sticky tongue. Here we only see the base of that tongue, but the part that is now probing the tunnels of tree beetles or carpenter ants is coated with tiny barbs. These grab ants and beetle larvae on impact, enabling them to be drawn into the woodpecker's mouth. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1485754434457-BNTFMJCMFLWO2AK8OTKC/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - Winter Camping at Deception Pass, Day Three When you take a bite that's so damn tasty you just have to close your eyes and savor it. Actually this is the moment right after the bill's impact, and you can barely see the tiniest specks of flying debris above it. Woodpeckers close their eyes when pecking to protect them from chips. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1485754569211-DNS2AZTSDWLOT293H2AR/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - Winter Camping at Deception Pass, Day Three As always I kept my camera out until the last minute, and on my way to bus stop I enjoyed the company of several chestnut-backed chickadees, Poecile rufescens. While I didn't have the benefit of good lighting I couldn't resist photographing this little charmer when he briefly perched nearby. Although my subject is poorly lit I like the atmosphere of this image. There are many ways of creating a good photograph. The one thing they all have in common is making the best of the circumstances. https://www.geraldlisi.net/blog/2017/1/16/winter-camping-at-deception-pass-day-2 monthly 0.5 2026-02-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1484621116505-P7X4Z887D21T5YD8B2JT/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - Winter Camping at Deception Pass, Day Two I couldn't get any good shots of the robins in the tree tops, but this male alighted on a shrub near me where I had a clear view of him. At first he was looking away from me, which doesn't make for much of a photo, but when he looked over his shoulder at me I got this rather comical shot. His apparent plumpness is largely a result of him fluffing out his feathers for insulation from the cold. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1484621974796-BT6Z18YQP6VDMYY5MZ9B/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - Winter Camping at Deception Pass, Day Two This fox sparrow perched briefly about thirty-five feet away from me to assess the scene. While they are common around Puget Sound during the winter I never see fox sparrows in Seattle. Those large feet and long claws are used for scratching in the duff for seeds and invertebrates. Like many of their relatives fox sparrows use a technique of jumping up while kicking backwards with both feet. The prevalence of this foraging method surely speaks to its effectiveness, but I have to say that it looks kind of silly. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1484623803711-YIG0EMHMOEIADGEWVQ3Y/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - Winter Camping at Deception Pass, Day Two This varied thrush female perched in a lower branch of a madrona after feeding in its canopy. Varied thrushes are close relatives of robins, and have the same fruit-heavy winter diet. But while robins form winter flocks varied thrushes fly solo. At a glance It's easy to miss this species among its cousins, but it's worth scrutinizing your local robin flock to get a look at a varied thrush. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1484624477380-Q11UAUXS6DT06PT3RH4Q/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - Winter Camping at Deception Pass, Day Two After the trail wound from the east to the north side of Goose Rock I found myself in the shade. This dimmed the prospects for bird photography in that area, but I was afforded this sweet view of Mt Baker. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1484627277715-EUY2XEB50JPCCC5AT586/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - Winter Camping at Deception Pass, Day Two A great blue heron soaks up the mid-day sun, surrounded by the recently opened cones of the Sitka spruce in which it's perched. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1484627488002-3MA53P9H7PPFBECTDIHM/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - Winter Camping at Deception Pass, Day Two This killdeer blends in well with the beach pebbles. The double breast band of this species distinguishes it from other similar looking plovers. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1484627766596-CK37FN82ORIXYXEUHBY3/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - Winter Camping at Deception Pass, Day Two Shortly after entering the woods of the peninsula by the bay I spotted this Douglas squirrel, who retrieved an unidentified food cache from the duff and ate it on the spot. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1484628149255-81BJ4NQJ1KEQDRAN0VPT/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - Winter Camping at Deception Pass, Day Two After photographing the Douglas squirrel, and some failed shots of a golden-crowned kinglet, I found lighthouse point sunny but uneventful. I watched a belted kingfisher and a pelagic cormorant from there for a bit but both were too far off for good photos. So I walked on around the other side of the peninsula. There I changed lenses to get this shot of a little fjord off of Bowman Bay. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1484628922202-5DOFTYFLOICYAK98E5NC/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - Winter Camping at Deception Pass, Day Two Having changed lenses I decided to do some close-up botanical shots. Ever since I first saw a Pacific madrona tree I have though the colors and smooth texture of their bark were exquisite. Since taking up photography I have repeatedly attempted to capture that beauty, and until this trip I failed consistently. In this close-up I finally have a madrona photo for my portfolio. I want to have a large canvas of this image made for the next time I show my work. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1484629838994-JDTZMQG7ZECESMKQ44D2/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - Winter Camping at Deception Pass, Day Two When I saw this eagle soaring towards me I changed lenses and settings as quickly as I could, just managing to get this shot before it passed out of range. This is a second year bird. It takes bald eagles three years to develop the familiar and iconic appearance of adult birds. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1484630272967-XM64FWQCZA8C57HP94DV/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - Winter Camping at Deception Pass, Day Two Back into the forest, and back to my wide angle lens, for this one. The two trees in the center of the frame are a Douglas fir on the left and a western red cedar to its right. Also present in this forest are the other conifers that characterize low-elevation forests in western Washington; western hemlock, grand fir, Sitka spruce, shore pine and Pacific yew. I'm thinking that this image is another candidate for printing. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1484631131854-AASQ3C48G6ZZ5P7AF2QJ/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - Winter Camping at Deception Pass, Day Two Back out on Lottie Bay the sinking sun was casting a warm, soft light on this thick growth of moss and lichen that adorned an old driftwood trunk. I played around with some wide angle shots that included trees and sky in the background, but ended up liking the simplicity of this close-up better. I've always loved moss and lichen. The Pacific Northwest abounds with both, and back in my point-and-shoot days I took countless crappy photos of them. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1484631782592-NFM87NT1KOZ8YP2TV485/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - Winter Camping at Deception Pass, Day Two The textures and colors of lichen-crusted wood fill out this this composition since it's subject, this dark-eyed junco, was so far away from me. But he and his rustic throne were nicely lit by the fading sunlight, and both were brought into relief by the dark forest background. This was my last shot of the day. I needed to get back to camp and get plenty of firewood before it got dark. After the long, cold previous night in my sleeping bag I intended on spending more of this one up by the fire. I had a pretty good day of shooting, but was glad that there was another one ahead of me. That last day will be the subject of my next post. https://www.geraldlisi.net/blog/2017/1/10/winter-camping-at-deception-pass-day-one monthly 0.5 2026-02-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1484083908474-CP66J5B0N9FL3C8R67I3/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - Winter Camping at Deception Pass, Day One Pacific Madrona and Conifers by Cranberry Lake This broad-leaf evergreen tree is a favorite of mine for its smooth, peeling bark. It is also loved by American robins, varied thrushes, northern flickers and other birds for its small red fruits. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1484086520349-7OJN7L9M8XX8SNKDBTG1/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - Winter Camping at Deception Pass, Day One While waiting in vain for birds to come within photographing range this detail on the lake caught my eye. The low angle of the winter sun brought these dead reeds to life with golden light. And the contrasting colors of the cobalt sky and dark, shaded conifers reflected through the ice brought them into sharp relief. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1484091520990-5YCP9HQ3JZVYDN1JDEMR/river+otter+cranberry+lake.jpg Field Reports - Winter Camping at Deception Pass, Day One A river otter catches some rays by Cranberry Lake. Positioning myself so that I could see it's face through the trees was the best I could do under the circumstances. Not much of a shot, but it's better than none at all. It's always a pleasure to see an otter. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1484091157818-S3KWTKTYVPF40E70IQ7O/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - Winter Camping at Deception Pass, Day One "Didn't we fly south to find lakes that AREN'T frozen?" Trumpeter swans on Cranberry Lake. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1484091384677-2LQNTN19U1MVP7GF71BX/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - Winter Camping at Deception Pass, Day One After photographing the swans I found a sunny spot on the shore to watch for birds. This bald eagle was also scanning the water, but not a fish, duck, gull or coot presented itself to be eaten. Before long we both gave up and moved on. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1484092380438-UTVQ91X2P9VKHQYE0S5E/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - Winter Camping at Deception Pass, Day One This red-tailed hawk circled over the lakeside forest briefly. They seem small when you've been watching eagles. This picture is nothing special, but I like the way the red tail feathers are illuminated. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1484096351839-ONV2GQ78NYINJUQKB66Y/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - Winter Camping at Deception Pass, Day One Common merganser females fly over frozen Cranberry Lake. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1484096778041-XB18142SSJKKMYX6NBKI/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - Winter Camping at Deception Pass, Day One After slowly making it to the other side of the marsh I was watching chestnut-backed chickadees up in the trees when more splashing turned my head towards the water. A couple hundred feet out I spotted the commotion. This eagle rose up from the water's surface with empty talons as several ducks scattered across the lake. Having already outed itself the eagle flew to the top of the nearest tall tree, probably hoping that some other ducks would come along before dark and not notice it up there. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1484097450168-YH2BAO0JONXY9ZR20OGI/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - Winter Camping at Deception Pass, Day One With an hour of daylight left I needed to make my way back to camp and build a fire before it got dark. Along the way my old friend the song sparrow perched in the golden light, with salal leaves glowing in the background. https://www.geraldlisi.net/blog/2016/12/13/that-dinosaur-bird monthly 0.5 2026-02-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1481692538987-FG8KR930SSNCI6U0ZBXG/gbh+portrait+edit.jpg Field Reports - "That Dinosaur Bird" Great Blue Heron, Ardea herodias. The long, sharp bill and even longer neck are essential to this bird's hunting methods. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1481674662264-LLULW59GWMDYSF0A8EKZ/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - "That Dinosaur Bird" I watched this heron stalking behind the cattails for a few minutes before its long body rose into clear view while stepping over a dead tree. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1481688147602-QJHG8ZWMA5VSWXNEQB6Y/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - "That Dinosaur Bird" Waiting for some food to swim by. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1481688351491-DRZOUIBCBKKJB3YA38H5/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - "That Dinosaur Bird" Closing in on a potential victim. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1481682140217-OOLNTX1Q2NDNS33R2R20/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - "That Dinosaur Bird" This heron was at least a hundred feet away from me and the light was low for photography. But I was glad that I took pictures anyways when it struck and came up with this big catfish. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1481683328241-9G69Y2IFQ1GMEAF1Y9SL/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - "That Dinosaur Bird" This other heron caught an even bigger catfish. It was too big to swallow whole, but the bird managed to behead it with its sharp bill. Then it swallowed the head without much apparent difficulty. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1481682940728-0B3B8BEN98MOOCB92QTM/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - "That Dinosaur Bird" After the head it still had the huge body to eat. It took several minutes, and I thought it might choke, but it finally got it down! I don't think this heron needed to do anymore hunting that day. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1481683804680-HQHGQGH6P2MTDBCI5K5F/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - "That Dinosaur Bird" The satiated heron found a nice spot to digest and I went on my way. I don't know for sure but I'm guessing it stayed there in a food coma for a long time. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1481687375692-BNSMYNE4X09NKYOMY1AQ/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - "That Dinosaur Bird" Alighting in a willow. Something alarmed this heron and it flew up to this branch for safety. Great blue herons actually spend a lot of time in trees. They roost in them every night and nest in them every spring when it's time to produce the next generation. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1481694690293-MFGF7Z56YL3CKCYNCQVH/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - "That Dinosaur Bird" "Don't talk to me until I've had my coffee." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1481694990833-WZV7J695VHQD6XEOTPVZ/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - "That Dinosaur Bird" Ruffled. Birds fluff up their feathers to increase their insulation value, while they are preening, and to appear larger to rivals. But it wasn't cold when I took this, the heron did not proceed to preen and there were no other herons in sight. So I don't know why this heron ruffled its feathers briefly but it made for a cool photo. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1481687174306-0OZ8U5HHUMH5TF9LB4HW/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - "That Dinosaur Bird" Creeping. By moving along this dead tree branch the heron is avoiding detection by its quarry in the water. While I most often observe these birds using the wait-and-ambush hunting method it's not uncommon to see them actively stalking prey. Oh, and speaking of "dinosaur birds", look at those feet! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1481695529389-FTOQHJFX6F0LQHNVD418/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - "That Dinosaur Bird" The Best Spot on the Pond This heron was at rest, as is indicated by its neck being curled up, but that didn't mean it couldn't keep an eye on the water for potential snacks. https://www.geraldlisi.net/blog/2016/11/27/an-exotic-native monthly 0.5 2026-02-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1480288331668-Z752LYB9OOCEU07FOKUO/wood+drake+yoga-2.jpg Field Reports - An Exotic Native 'Wood Drake Yoga' https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1480295689663-N9M7M3WVX42N17T1W02O/wood+duck+and+mallard+drakes.jpg Field Reports - An Exotic Native Wood ducks share habitat and feeding habits with mallards, but the fact that they're from a separate evolutionary lineage is easily inferred by their radically different appearance. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1480290686212-VYKG4OA75M2SSF772BGZ/wood+duck+pair+wpa-2.jpg Field Reports - An Exotic Native A wood duck pair "fords" a fallen tree. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1480293448627-VJHG1TOZ0O8T3A4VISM5/wood+duck+pair+hen+eating.jpg Field Reports - An Exotic Native The hen is eating some kind of rhizome. They were swimming along looking for food, her in front, when the drake pulled the rhizome out of the water. He got her attention and when she turned around and approached him he dropped it in the water for her to pick up. What a gent! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1480294256263-TAM552F0Q9A6H4EFKYBD/wood+drake+head+on+duck+bay.jpg Field Reports - An Exotic Native The features that make wood drakes so beautiful also make them somewhat difficult to photograph. It's a balance between not underexposing the black feathers and not overexposing the highly reflective white stripes and red eyes and bill. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1480294813181-S73EVIZDVZFDFZP61L7F/_DSC3965.jpg Field Reports - An Exotic Native Wood drake hens are as lovely as the drakes are handsome. While less colorful than their mates they are more colorful than females of any of the Anas species. Unlike those species, who generally nest on the ground, wood duck hens nest in tree cavities. Since they are hidden inside their trees they don't require the camouflage while nesting that ground nesters do. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1480298742693-ANNJUJJF5U8RXQZOEYCB/_DSC5762.jpg Field Reports - An Exotic Native 'Dazzled Drake' Yeah, buddy. She's gorgeous. Don't screw it up. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1480298897295-NJOJ7W3PIEABB7KW0HAX/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - An Exotic Native These drakes are competing for the attention of nearby hens. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1480299002230-QL01WTOLQAPZVOATAUW7/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - An Exotic Native Two different drakes at a different time and place. One appeared to be mated to a hen he was traveling with. When the other showed up they chased each other around for a while, but the aggression seemed ceremonial and before long the bachelor went on his way. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1480300607106-FW120ORBYXDRKAT3WDKI/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - An Exotic Native These two obviously like each other. Once they pair up he won't leave her side until she hits the nest. But alas that is where the romance ends. She's on her own to incubate the eggs and teach the chicks how to be wood ducks after they hatch. https://www.geraldlisi.net/blog/2016/11/3/go-with-the-crow monthly 0.5 2026-02-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1481912866062-Y9DYTU3KSS3HLU2FJ7WO/crow+on+43rd+st+sign.jpg Field Reports - Go With the Crow American Crow, Corvus brachyrhnchos https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1481912956587-U7F8UPJ7TQFW0DC4TFCS/crow+w+street-cracked+walnut+mp.jpg Field Reports - Go With the Crow This crow is collecting a walnut that it cracked by dropping it in flight onto the pavement forty feet below. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1481913025018-VM3YG8JLNXBZXAQF957P/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - Go With the Crow When I watched this crow fly up from the street with a walnut I hoped to capture it dropping the nut in flight. Instead it alighted by the top of this utility pole and placed the nut into a cavity. At first I though the crow was caching the walnut, but she kept her bill in the cavity and made jabbing motions into it. I realized the nut had already been cracked. She was using the cavity to stabilize the nut while she pecked bites of meat from within the opened shell. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1481913190889-ARUBTLOW24GXTG6NUJ5E/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - Go With the Crow Oops! This crow isn't dropping it's walnut in a clever attempt to break it on the pavement. He flew into this sycamore with the nut to keep it away from other crows, but he almost immediately dropped it. A good deal of work has gone in to getting this nut ready for cracking. The thick, tough outer part of the walnut fruit has to be removed in order to expose the shell encasing the nut within. This guy swooped down with the quickness after he his dropped prize, and was able to retrieve it before any of the other crows around made it their own. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1481913257481-CZDHYII7SQ3HNXN9XOCX/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - Go With the Crow A neighborhood crow uses its bill and feet to tear bites from a piece of unidentified meat. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1481913319023-KWVNMEHW24G7JRCFXQ3F/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - Go With the Crow The meat source revealed: apparently this eastern gray squirrel was ran over by car. A group of crows gathered around and took turns grabbing their share of the valuable protein. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1481913372385-I50C4AP3NEC0M2OUUYLF/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - Go With the Crow One crow was ineffectively tugging at the dead squirrel's furry hide. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1481913419922-FM4JWFNUJGQEJ7AMZTNI/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - Go With the Crow "Step aside, youngster. I'll show you how it's done. Our bills and claws can't cut through that hide, but luckily the car opened the carcass for us." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1481913483634-7CJLAV02VUN52RGXAG2Y/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - Go With the Crow When this crow alighted here I saw a nice photo opportunity with the fall foliage brightening the scene. The crow was having trouble steadying itself though, and after struggling briefly it swooped down to the ground directly below. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1481914307015-G8BR4CATCDJZWOJQKAEI/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - Go With the Crow As I followed the bird with my lens I realized it had landed on another crow. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1481914375528-1OFCWDE2PW20HVSLYZV1/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - Go With the Crow Two other crows stood silently to the side, one with a morsel in its bill, and watched as the bully effectively pinned his victim to the ground. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1481914447070-1QKMOBJV9HZZN2BBRGHF/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - Go With the Crow But the victim was no weakling, and was able to push its attacker off. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1481914537836-7XAF9DUYNBPOH0X0TY4M/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - Go With the Crow The bully flew up a bit, perhaps relenting, perhaps preparing for another attack. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/580faaf18419c2aabf65ca52/1481914722172-YC5MGO9H0O5LH342IMLY/image-asset.jpeg Field Reports - Go With the Crow Either way the victim took the opportunity to quickly fly away. 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