wlhwildlife's Favorites

This pair visited my backyard feeders today. It was a dark, cloudy day, and everything was wet, including the birds, after the storms that had just passed through. These are the first of this species I have seen. I hope they stick around. I'd like to observe them on a nice sunny day.

When a cormorant captured a large Rainbow Trout, it set off a short but violent fight over the fish. These are random photos taken during the few seconds of the battle. I think the trout may have gone through several owners before finally being swallowed.

This bird was hunting on a flooded section of the road leading to the Village Creek Drying Beds. In about a 10 minute period I observed it capture and swallow 3 crayfish. It seems to have removed the the large claws on at least some before swallowing them.

Western tanager at SPI mud flats north of Convention center. It was spotted on Friday but I didn’t get to see it, luckily it was in the same spot Saturday morning. To see my gallery check out my insta: joakospamerwildlife

One June 27, I posted some shots of this female Black-chinned Hummingbird incubating eggs on a nest.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/27780904
She now has at least one tiny chick. If you look closely you can see the tiny head and bill of one chick as the mother feeds it.

White Rock lake
Pool by Winsted parking lot
Photo 1:
Almost Like a Ballet
First thing I do at the spillway is to look over the fence to see if any wildlife is by the parking lot. This time I had to scramble to get my camera up to capture a battle in progress. Snowy egrets are known for engaging in mock territorial battles. They look fierce but they never actually come in contact or inflict injuries. I didn't have time to focus or fiddle, all I could do was point & click as quick as possible.
Photo 2:
This Battle Is Not Mock
They both leaped in the air so suddenly I didn't get all of the top one in this shot. But it dawned on me that this was not the usual mock battle. Contact was definitely being made.
Photo 3:
The Iron Claw
This reminded me of a wrestling move as the top snowy drove a sharp toenail into the skull of the lower sno
Photo 4:
Death Grip
Check out the grip they have on each other's foot! And the one on top is driving that beak into the head of the lower one. For sure not a mock battle. This was the last shot I got. The next action happened too fast for me to keep up. Lower bird broke the grip and flew over the tree line with the other in hot pursuit.

I am keeping an eye on three active Black-chinned Hummingbird nests on the property where we are living this summer. The female is still apparently incubating on all three nests. I hope if one or more of the nests successfully hatch young I can get some good shots of the female feeding the babies. Male hummingbirds play no part in nest building or raising young, so the only adults visible will be the females. These shots are of the same nest from two different angles using my truck as a blind. Black-chinned is the only nesting hummingbird species locally.

This is my fourth posting of this same nest, starting June 26, 2019.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/27718328
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/27780904
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/28145676
One chick hatched July 3, I think. There are now two chicks in the nest just a few days from fledgling. I'll try to keep some photo records of them as my time permits.

I was very surprised to see a black colored White-tailed Deer fawn this evening behind my house. I have seen some very dark White-tailed Deer in this area in the past:
http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/816864
but not one like this. These are just quick shots, taken against the light and as the deer were rapidly moving away, but this black fawn can be seen in company with normally colored fawns. I will be trying to get more and better shots in the next few days.

White Rock lake, Winfrey Point
4 part behavior series
Photo 1: Mr. Kestrel On A Wire
Found the male kestrel perched on the wire, got as close as I dared and took his photo. He is so pretty. Wished he would turn around.
Photo 2: Something Catches His Attention
While I had him in the view of my camera, he suddenly turned and got very interested in something to his left. Before I could see what it was, he disappeared from view. I looked up from the camera, saw what was happening and hurried to where he now was, trying not to make sudden movements to scare him.
Photo 3: Carpe Diem
The female kestrel had lit on the wire down from him & he had instantly flown over and hopped on top of her. This was the only shot I got of the mating action because it literally lasted all of 25 seconds & part of that was me moving to where they now were. My first time to see kestrels mating. No courting involved, very much a wham bam event.
Photo 4: 25 Seconds Later
This was my next click after the mating shot. It was all over that quick. Right after this shot they both flew off in different directions. Glad I captured the moment, if I had blinked I would have missed it.