Going to the Books. Going to the Birds.

Sandhill crane, Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary

” . . . for a full and true appreciation, one must go to the books before going to the birds themselves.”
— Louis J. Halle, The Appreciation of Birds

Double-page spread from Birds of Heaven by Peter Matthiessen

In anticipation of my trip to Nebraska to see the sandhill crane migration, I did quite a bit of reading about these birds. Here are some of the books I liked:

• Cranes of the World by Paul A. Johnsgard
• The Poets Guide to the Birds edited by Judith Kitchen and Ted Kooser
• A Sand County Almanac by Also Leopold
• Living on the Wind:  Across the Hemisphere with Migratory Birds by Scott Weidensaul
• The Birds of Heaven: Travels with Cranes by Peter Matthiessen
• The Migrations of Birds:  Seasons on the Wing by Janice M. Hughes
• “The Nebraska Sandhills: The Flight of Cranes,” from The Necessity of Empty Places by Paul Gruchow
• Sandhill and Whooping Cranes:  Ancient Voices over America’s Wetlands by Paul A. Johnsgard

I had seen my first sandhill crane in Homer, Alaska in 2008.   I have been practicing painting sandhill cranes from the photos I took at that time.

Watercolor sketch of sandhill cranes

Watercolor sketch of sandhill crane

I was thrilled to see a few more sandhill cranes on my recent trip to the Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary in British Columbia.  They were right on a dike path, and we were able to get incredibly close.  (I can’t imagine we will ever get that close to a wild sandhill crane in Nebraska.  But we’ll see.)

Sandhill crane with shadow

Sandhill crane, Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary

Sandhill crane, profile

Sandhill crane, back view

Sandhill crane

The cranes in the Reifel sanctuary spent a lot of time grooming and preening.  This is considered a comforting behavior.  “Preening by cranes is a time-consuming activity that begins shortly after hatching and continues throughout life, especially during molting periods.  Typically cranes preen a single region for up to about 20 seconds, then move to another area.  Frequently the feather is nibbled at its base initially, and then the feather is gently drawn through the beak between the upper and lower mandibles.”
— Paul Johnsgard, ” Individualistic  and Social Behavior,” Cranes of the World: 2, January 1983

All of my reading and past experiences seeing these magnificent birds have just whetted my curiosity for seeing hundreds of thousands of them in migration.  I’ll keep you posted.

Sparrows: Hunger Organized

House sparrow

Sparrow
by Wendell Berry

A sparrow is
his hunger organized.
Filled, he flies
before he knows he’s going to.
And he dies by the
same movement: filled
with himself, he goes
by the eye-quick
reflex of his flesh
out of sight,
leaving his perfect
absence without a thought.

On my recent trip to the George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Santuary, I saw at least four kinds of sparrows of the 35 kinds that live in the United States. Here are some photos:

House sparrow

Fox sparrow

Song sparrow

Golden-crowned sparrow

 

Seattle Day Trip: To Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary

George C Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary

Last week I accompanied my friend Bonnie and her husband on a day trip to the George C. Reifel Bird Sanctuary in British Columbia.  This was my first trip to this refuge, and it was a spectacular place for walking groomed trails and watching birds.  They do allow visitors to feed the birds (they sell birdseed), so many birds seem accustomed to people and you can get very close.  This was wonderful for making photographs.  I find it very difficult to take pictures of birds because they move so quickly and it is hard to anticipate their moves.  Too often my photos look like this:

Photograph of lion swallow

Here are some of my better photographs of the wild birds and views within the sanctuary:

Female mallard ducks

Female and male wood ducks

Northern pintail

Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary

Canada goose

A bird in the hand . . .

American wigeon

Birder on a dike trail

We were very lucky because a vagrant Great Gray Owl had made a temporary stop at the sanctuary.  The owl had settled in a non-public area, but the staff took people back in small groups to see it — a rare sighting of this wild bird.

Great Gray Owl

Watercolor sketches of wood duck

Watercolor sketches of female mallard