Feather detail and more

  

Cooper's Hawk (Astur cooperii) feeding while perched on a tree branch in Cotati on 18 March 2025.  [You can click on the image for a larger version.]

In addition to feeding on prey, this bird happened to be quite vocal as we were walking by.  The calls were not the more-often-heard cak-cak-cak variety, but instead what are sometimes described as whaaa calls, more often attributed to females.

If you're interested, I recorded a very short audio clip for the record -- see below.  [If you can't see the video player in the e-mail, click on the title of the post above to find it on the NHBH web page.]  The lighting isn't the best, but at the time I was more focused on trying to record the sound.  You might need to turn up your volume a little bit.

Spring is on the way!

Following the feathers

 

 

From back on 19 November 2023, but here's a view of a young Cooper's Hawk (Accipiter cooperii) with some nice feather details!  [You can click on the image for a larger version.]

Light as a feather

 

 

A feather in the coastal prairie.  (Perhaps from a Burrowing Owl?)  Photographed on 7 November 2023.

Why so rusty?

 

 

Just a quick photo and a question.  As I was leaving work today, I noticed quite a few of the white pelicans roosting on the tidal flats in Bodega Harbor with rust-colored feathers on their breasts and sometimes their necks.  I hadn't noticed such dark coloration before, so I'm just curious.  Were their feathers stained by iron in the water at the breeding site?  Or is there something local (an abundance of diatoms)?  If you know more about this, I'd be interested in learning!

Tips for spring

  

A flock of Cedar Waxwings (Bombycilla cedrorum) returned to our yard this weekend.  The lighting was quite nice this morning (20 March 2022), so I decided to try for a few photos.  Things weren't quite working out, but then I noticed something interesting.  I had zoomed in on the image on my camera to check the focus and I noticed that this individual had more than the typical yellow coloration on its tail.

Waxwings are known for having red waxy tips on their secondary wing feathers — like this:

 

 

 

But if you look closely, the waxwing in the first photo (above) has red-orange waxy tips on its tail feathers.  Here's a closer view:

 

 

 

I couldn't remember seeing this before, so I read a little more about it in Birds of the World.  Here's what it said — "Waxy appendages...are found on up to 8 central rectrices (among r1–r4) in 0.3–0.9% of museum specimen and banded bird samples."

 

So it's pretty rare to find a waxwing with waxy tips on its tail feathers.  Also, it's a little hard to count, but it appears that on the bird I photographed there are 12 red-orange waxy tips (Cedar Waxwings have 12 tail feathers.)

Raven series

  

Wow, was it windy in Bodega Bay today!  Northwest winds at something like 20-30 knots with gusts to 35 knots (~25-35 mph with gusts to ~40 mph).  I stepped out to take a quick photo to document the conditions and came across this Common Raven (Corvus corvax) with its feathers being ruffled by the wind. 

The raven flew to a more sheltered location and seemed to express a little weariness, as people often do, too, in these blustery conditions:

 

 

And then a second raven approached.  The first raven bowed its head, a position usually taken for allopreening (when one raven preens the other during pair bonding):

 

 

The preening continued for several minutes, with work on feathers around the head, neck, and bill:

 

 

 

I can't resist including two more.  Lots of interesting reflections highlighting their beautiful feathers:

 

 

Splashes of white

 

I'm running out of time tonight, so here's a mystery for you.  I found these feathers a few days ago.  Can you guess what type of bird they are from?  I'll reveal the answer tomorrow night.

Coppery

I was watching this Allen's Hummingbird (Selasphorus sasin) when it flew in and landed fairly close to me:

 

With a slight turn, the gorget (throat feathers) lit up:

 

And check out this gorgeous color when it turned head-on:

 

I loved seeing the color variations across the gorget:

 

 One more view:

 

I was very grateful for a few minutes with this beautiful little hummingbird in the Bodega Dunes.

 

Patterns

 

Neat patterns on the water today.  The ocean was very calm, with southwest winds at ~5 mph.

When I went to look at the ocean, I noticed a pair of ravens on the bluff, one of which was gathering nesting material.  I love the patterns made by their feathers:

 

What the eagle had landed on...

Was anyone else wondering about what the eagle was eating?

 

Did you notice the feathers behind the eagle?

Well, later in the day, long after the eagle (and vultures) had left the scene, I couldn't help it.  I walked out onto the tidal flats to look at the feathers to see if there were any that might be definitive for an identification.

I should mention that Eric thought he saw a lot of black and white when he was watching the eagle eating.  And my instinct said that the prey item was likely a duck.  (So it's helpful to start thinking about the types of ducks that are present in Bodega Harbor.)

If you'd like to try to guess, below are pictures of three feathers.  In the field, there were some feathers that were all black and some feathers that were all white, but these feathers with beautiful vermiculations provided the best clues:

 

 

 

Are you ready to guess?

I think the eagle was eating a scaup, probably a Greater Scaup (Aythya marila).

Check out this wonderful Greater Scaup picture that Len took at Lake Merced, compare the feathers on the upperparts, and see if you think it could be a match.

If you've seen eagles eating other interesting prey in this area, I'd love to hear about it.

Feather puzzle #2

These are the first feathers I found (below).  They were scattered on the ground, but I lined them up for the photo.   

Do you have a guess about which species of bird they belong to? 

The largest feather is about 4.5 cm (1.75 inches) long and the smallest is about 2.5 cm (1 inch) long.

 

The patterning on the feathers made me think of one group of birds, but I couldn't be certain.  So I looked around for more clues.  

I finally found a different type of feather and it surprised me a bit.  I was right about the family, but I hadn't yet considered the species.

The next photo might give the answer away, so if you want to keep trying with the first feathers, don't scroll down until you're ready.

And this is what it looked like when I flipped it over:

 

Scanning around, I found one other feather type:

 

Did you guess Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus)?  

The bright yellow coloration gives it away — although some of you probably know that the more common form of Northern Flicker in this area has red or salmon coloration on its feathers instead of yellow.

The next question is, what types of feathers are these, especially the first ones?  Can you picture where they might be found on a flicker?

The smaller, black-and-white feathers are uppertail-coverts.  The Birds of North America account includes a great description of them: "Uppertail-coverts are diversely patterned, white with black bars, chevrons, 'horseshoes,' or other marks (Short 1982)."

The middle photos highlight a long, pointed tail feather dominated by yellow on its underside.

And the last photo is a secondary feather — one of the inner wing feathers.

Unfortunately, I realized that I don't have a good picture of a Northern Flicker.  :/  But you can see all three feather types in these illustrations:

Northern Flickers by Roger Tory Peterson

Northern Flicker account by National Geographic

Those first feathers had my mind twirling.  That was a fun puzzle!

P.S.  I read that possible predators of flickers include accipiters (e.g., Cooper's Hawks), Red-shouldered Hawks, and Northern Harriers.

 

Two white spots

Many feathers are difficult to identify, but some are relatively easy.  Do you recognize this one? 

 

The two white spots against the dark background are distinctive.  Any guesses?

This is a loon feather.

On the East Coast I wouldn't have hesitated to call it a Common Loon feather.  But after taking this picture tonight, I realized that I wasn't certain how to distinguish a Common Loon feather from a Pacific Loon feather.  I'll have to do more research about that, or if you know the answer, feel free to write in. 

For pictures of a Common Loon at Spud Point Marina, including some white-spotted feathers, see the post from 3 April 2012.

Plumulaceous barbs

 Any guesses on who this feather belongs to?

 

 Found in Sebastopol on 10 June 2012 

Note the plumulaceous barbs at the base of the feather — the loose, downy parts that are soft and fluffy.  They aid in insulation.

 

Our best guess is Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus).  I wish I had better photos of a Red-shouldered Hawk, but here are a couple from our yard in Sebastopol:

 

Note the black tail feathers with distinct white bands.

Can you find the hawk in the photo below?

 

This individual was perched very high in a redwood tree.  Below is a zoomed in view.

 

Red-shouldered Hawks can be seen year-round on Bodega Head, but they are less common than Red-tailed Hawks.

 

Feather puzzle

While exploring the dunes on 16 January 2012, I encountered several piles of bird feathers.  Most of them looked like this.  Can you guess which species they belong to?  (Spoiler alert: My suspicion is below the image.)

 

If you're still puzzling over them, here are two more scans, showing the wing feathers aligned -- one from above (upper surface) and the other from below (second image).

I suspect these feathers belong to a Varied Thrush.  Visualize the wing patterns -- strong tawny-colored stripes and wing bars above and a white band below.  If you're not familiar with Varied Thrushes, you can see images and read more about them (and listen to them!) here at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website.

(Note that the long feathers with white tips are tail feathers.)

It's a little puzzling, because I've never seen a Varied Thrush in the Bodega Dunes.  They're more typically associated with forests.  It's likely that a predator caught and then ate them in the dunes leaving the feathers behind -- perhaps it was a raptor, such as a falcon or an owl?  But the question remains, where did the predator capture them?  Where are the closest thrushes?  Or could they have been caught while flying over during migration?

I would have had a more difficult time identifying these feathers if Peter Connors hadn't shown me a few of the same type of feathers the day before I encountered these!  He discovered them at Salt Point.