I forgot to include one of the pictures from Barrow of my birding pals from the last 3 days, so here it is (Christian, John and Brandon):
This afternoon I visited the Campbell Creek Estuary Natural Area briefly. Birds there were a perched Bald Eagle, a Red-breasted Nuthatch, a Black-billed Magpie, a Steller’s Jay, a Black-capped Chickadee and flyover Common Redpolls. It was cloudy but very pleasant with only a slight wind.
When I got home there were two begging Steller’s Jays, even though I had filled their peanut jar before I went birding. The jar was now empty. I did a series of photos of one of the jays taking peanuts off the porch railing and showing the stashing of the first peanut in the bird’s throat so that a second peanut could be grabbed before the jay flew away. If at all possible the jays always feed that way unless there are no peanuts small enough to fit all the way in their throat. Rarely do I see them actually eat a peanut; rather, they usually jab the peanut into the ground or leaf litter, presumably for eating on a later day.
Tomorrow I’ll bird in Sitka where the weather is forecast to be very windy and 100% chance of rain. Sounds like lots of fun.
302 species so far
Lynn Barber's Birding Blog 