Blooming in Discovery Park

Indian plum is coming into bloom. I don't think it is early, despite the bizarrely warm weather lately. That's the thing about spring around here: it happens over about six months starting at the winter solstice.

From the meadow. I think these are hazelnut catkins.

Oo. Pretty. All orange and brain-shaped.

I think that has to be hardwood bark, so this is witch's butter, or Tremella mesenterica.

northern shovelers, Discovery Park

I like northern shovelers, largely because of their cartoonish, paddle-shaped beaks. (It has 110 projections called lamellae which filter particles out of the water, so perhaps they should be called strainers instead of shovelers.)


Those males are mighty pretty.



And they work hard to stay that way.

Pileated woodpecker, Discovery Park

Discovery Park was lovely yesterday. The birds are starting to sing, and I heard a Pacific tree frog. (Actually, I've heard tree frogs a lot in Discovery Park this winter. The only time I don't hear one is when there's frost on the ground.)
I also came across this lovely pileated woodpecker dismembering a snag.

This is after a big panel of bark has come out. Watching through my binoculars I could see the woodpecker's amazing tongue in action. But no picture of that this time.

A second woodpecker, another male, flew up to a neighboring tree for a few minutes, then flew away.

Sweet taste of spring

In a corner of the grounds of my daughter's school is a patch of miner's lettuce. Today we noticed the first succulent leaves, which are like butter lettuce, only thicker. My kids love them, and they otherwise avoid anything salad-like.

Here's our friend Jane, foraging for greens.

Indian plum bud burst, Discovery Park

Most Indian Plum buds were furled in tight little cones, but there were a couple of plants that were enticingly further along. Looks like winter might end after all.



Down by the beach, there were the first pussy willows.

Harlequin ducks and shorebirds, Cattle Point, Victoria

I took a walk to Cattle Point on a blustery Monday, all the better to see that most gorgeous of waterfowl, the harlequin duck.

There were also at least three black oystercatchers foraging along the rocks.

Here's one chiseling into a crevice. It came out with a limpet. Earlier, I saw it clutching a sculpin in its beak.

Then my bird ID skills were put to the test by a parade of shorebirds in winter plumage. Judging by the size, bill length, and the fact that they were foraging in the grass, I think the little birds next to the glaucous-winged/western hybrid gulls were dunlin.

Here are some more.

I also came across two black turnstones. This one seemed to be huddling into a rock crevice fore shelter.

And perched on a rock off Willows beach, two more species. I think the short-billed ones are black-bellied plovers, and the long-billed one is a willet.

Icy morning, Green Lake

A week into the cold snap, Green Lake was fringed with ice, and had big rafts of ice floating in the middle.

Hooded mergansers were putting on a great show in the willows on the east side of the lake. I spotted some males grunting and arching their necks at each other. Also, one female, who caught a large fish, had to evade all the others in her flock of 16 birds in order to swallow it. She managed.

Here's a splendid male.

Here's the biggest find of the day, a young green heron, perched discreetly in a willow. Too discreetly for my liking.

As usual, I could see it better than I could photograph it.

One of these wigeon is not like the others...

It's a Eurasian wigeon, likely visiting for the winter from Siberia, making it more exotic than the American wigeon that make up the rest of the flock. They breed in boring old North America.

And here is a lovely common merganser. Also seen: northern shovelers in full breeding regalia, three ruddy ducks and a common goldeneye.