Bird Encounters

Willow Goldfinch (aka American Goldfinch) ~ by Griz ~
Dad was born in 1909 on a farm, he was a good hard working farmer. When I was 6 (1951) Dad sold his very successful 40-acre farm in Ridgefield WA (which he owned outright) and bought a 20-acre dairy and 30 head of prime Jerseys in Brush Prairie WA (had to get his first ever bank loan to do it). Note: Someday I’ll tell you what I know about why he made the move (hint - my mother). 1st year on the diary milk prices were good and he did great growing 15 acres of corn and hay to winter the cows. 2nd year the local Co-op agent, convinced him and several other farmers into growing a special grain (which meant another bank loan). 15 acres of secret grain came up great and everyone was elated with expectation of huge profits. 2-3 days before the combine harvester machine was due to come bring in the harvest, several million goldfinch swooped in. I remember standing in awe at the edge of the field as the massive cloud of birds swooped, swirled, whirled, twirled over the field. They alternately blocked the sun completely then the sun would be reflecting off their backs in an amazing display of colors. I don’t remember any chatter when they were all in flight but I could “feel” their movement via the air pressure changes they created. The flock (Charm is the proper term with finches) was much wider than the field. Sometimes the whole Charm would converge and land to eat at the same time for several (5-15) seconds then call out and lift off almost in unison. Other times they would feed in waves, starting at one end of the field and moving to the other end they would land to eat. About the time the ones on my left were landing, the ones on my right were lifting off. So, I was seeing and hearing a wave a birds moving right to left, over and over again. Totally mesmerizing.

On the 2rd day we stated seeing lots of dead birds. Then all the cats, dogs, coyotes, owls, hawks, raccoons, possum, gofer snakes, and any other animal that would be interested in a dead or dying bird for miles around, turned up dead. Turns out one of the farmers who had his life savings in that damn special grain had dosed all his chicken feed with poison and spread it along the edge of his field to kill the goldfinch. I heard he killed at least a million but I saw no impact in the cloud of birds. I don’t know what – if anything – happened to the farmer legally, but I do know he offed himself within months.

They ate over 80% of the dad's grain and milk prices were down. Next year milk prices bottomed and he went bankrupt, never to farm again.

1995 - A Charm of over 100 goldfinches arrived and lots stayed to nest on our place.

2022 - I have 1 nesting pair.

8/20/23 - This year I had 4 pair of Goldfinch visiting my feeders. The males prefer Black oil sunflower but also eat nyger seed. I’ve never seen a female at the sunflower feeder, they always eat nyger. A week ago, the males all disappeared, but the females were making more frequent nyger visits. 7:00 this morning a female arrived with 4 chicks and showed them how to get nyger seed. She waited till all were feeding then flew off (never to return). All were at least twice her size. They stayed and ate for 45 mins, then were frightened away by a Steller Jay that swooped in for his breakfast of Wagner wild bird food and beef suet. As soon as the Jay left (about 9:00) another mom arrived with her 3 kids. As soon as they each made it to a nyger feeder perch, she flew away. One was a monster (3 times her size).

8/22/23 - I have not seen any adult goldfinch since the 2 moms dropped off their broods Sunday morning. The young ones stayed together as 2 family groups until today when I noticed they are arriving one at a time to feed. Seems like the “Monster” chick is making 3 times the visits as the others.

5/3/24 - 1st pair showed up this morning on Nyger feeder. Hour later I noted they were gone and did not return. I assume it was a fuel stop on the journey North.

5/12/24 - 2nd pair showed up on Nyger feeder. The male also sampled Wild Bird Food mix and even suet but spend most of his time eating black oil sunflower seeds. The female only ate Nyger. When they were both finished, they perched close together on top of the sunflower dispenser. At first, I thought they were kissing but realized that he was feeding her from his craw. First time I witnessed that behavior. I assume it is part of the premating ritual to demonstrate that he can & will support her while she is brooding.

6/5/24 - Looks like I have at least 2 nesting pair and 1 extra male.

Eagles ~ by Griz ~
East of the house is a patch of sky that both raven and eagle fledglings use as a training ground. Why that patch of sky? I have no idea, but its great for us. I love watching fledgling Bald Eagles learn to fly (fast, slow, dive, roll, swoop, tight turns, glide, attack, escape). Usually, 2 chicks joined sometimes by 2 adults (once there were 3 chicks). Over a week or two, they do it all and more. Then they are gone.

Some call them a stupid scavenger. The ones they have encountered may well have been stupid scavengers. But several times I have witnessed just the opposite. I was on the porch having a cig. 40 feet in front of me a Rabbit was stuffing himself with clover I overseeded up along the edge of woods. Bald Eagle was perched on large alder 25 yards to my right. Eagle watched rabbit for 10+ mins. Rabbit turned back on eagle. Eagle dove. First awareness of danger was when the talons sunk home from both sides. He finished it off by ripping out its throat, then set straight to cutting it in half. Never saw him swallow anything (rip, spit, rip, spit). The fur was flying. He grabbed half and lifted off – straight up to 30 feet before climbing out to the north. 20 minutes later I checked and 2nd half was gone. This demonstrated a very competent hunter with a high degree of intelligence. He did not even try to lift the whole rabbit (as I’ve seen other eagles and hawks do) he went directly to the cut. I like his work ethic, on task, no snacks, feed my family.

On the flip side, we were anchored up on west coast of Vancouver Island. I saw a bald eagle launch from top of an over hanging dead tree, swoop down and pluck his prey from the water, raise, circle around and drop the stick, he had mistaken for a fish, in almost the same spot he got it. I thought, that’s interesting, he was fooled by a stick floating just below the surface. 3 hours later he did it again – for the 16th time (that I saw). Same stick in same location as the first time.

2001 ~ by Griz ~
We bought a flock of 16 mallard ducks from a local farmer. At first they needed a lot of attention, I had to continually herd then back onto our property when they wandered off in search of slugs. One day I was standing near the corner of the house watching the interplay between 2 males about 15 feet in front of me. A bald eagle, wings folded, shot over my right shoulder within 2 feet of my head, flared it's wings (with loud whoosh) 3 feet in front of me. Talons extended forward it hit the ground, missed a duck by inches. Scared the carp out of me. I recovered and charged the eagle, yelling and waving my arms. It lifted off and circled around to perch atop a cottonwood 100 yards to the south. The ducks were all chattering and milling around but basically did not scatter as I would have expected. WoW - Up-close they are massive animals.

Eagle Fight - 4/1/2012 ~ by Griz ~
About 3pm I had both the TV & stove blower off and it was real quiet in here while working on the website. I heard something brush across the roof but the wind was not blowing. Then I heard what sounded like a faint short scream. So I was looking out the windows trying to figure out what it was. I had my nose pressed on the window when a tangle of 2 full grown bald eagles fell from above (2 feet in front of me) and hit the ground. They proceeded to chase each other around the yard. At full speed, less than 10 feet above the ground, the one in front would flip over and slash at the other with his talons as he passed. Sometimes they would grab each other and lock up till they hit the ground then release and the chase was on again. This went on for several minutes, all within the confines of the yard. I grabbed the camera and clicked as fast as I could, but when I checked the pictures, they were all garbage because the flash was reflecting off the glass of the window. I went outside to get some decent pictures but the battle was over. One eagle was sitting at the base of the maple eating something and the other was licking his wounds (do eagles lick?) in a nearby cedar tree. When the loser flew toward the other, they had another short battle ending with the winner going back to eating and the loser back to watching from the nearby tree. I got a few pictures but they were moving so fast those didn't come out very well either.

I went back to work. After a while the winner chased the loser off to the East and I did not see either again. Later I went out to find they had been fighting over a possum (not much left).

The next day there was nothing left of the possum (not even a blood stain). I searched the yard for eagle feathers but found none. Which really surprised me because I saw them grab each other with those big talons.

Ducks- 5/16/13 ~ by Griz ~
Stepped out on the porch today and 8 feet in front of me, on the parking strip between the house and the bank covered with 30' of ivy, were a Mallard Hen and 9 balls of fluff.

Mallards make their nest upland from water (sometimes several hundred yards). As soon as all her eggs have hatched, she leads the brood from nest to water and never returns. This one must have nested up in the woods east of the house and was on her way down to the creek (another 100 yards downhill).

As soon as she saw me she jumped up into the ivy and stood there calling to her brood. I grabbed the camera as they scrambled up the Ivy that hangs over the 12" high railroad tie bulkhead and made their way across the top of the 10" deep ivy toward mom. She continued to cluck as she waited for them to catch up. It was quite a struggle, but they all made it. Then she led them up and around, across the lawn and down into the woods that borders the creek..

Trish's Ducks - 1983? ~ by Griz ~
Not long after we bought S/V WaterBrother in the early-80s, Trish was working part-time and spending a lot of time working on the boat. She made friends with a small female mallard duck. The "duck" would hang around Trish as she refinished the teak trim & decks, made new sail covers, etc., etc. When breeding season arrived, each evening Trish had a new tale to tell of the duck mate selection adventures. "Duck" choose the least likely mate (a small, timid, cute little guy) that Trish promptly named Lucky. The pair gave us lots of entertainment as they "got to know each other".

Then she disappeared except for short visits every other day or so. Trish was feeding them a special wild duck food she found after lots of research, but only a small amount on each visit so as not to make then dependent on it. So even when the hen was away Lucky would come by for a snack several times a day and stay for a while afterward. One warm Sunday morning we went back to bed for some fun of our own and fell asleep with the entry hatch open on top. Lucky decided it was snack time and no one was forth coming with it so he got up on top of the cabin, stuck his head down the companion way and quacked insistently until Trish got up to put out his dish. He had her trained very well.

It was a very cold, windy, rainy evening when the hen showed up on the end of the dock making a hell of a racket. We went out and saw several balls of fluff bobbing in the choppy water. The chop was at least 5 times taller than they were and the wind was blowing so hard they had to run with little wings a-blur to stay close to the dock. She was calling them to come up on the dock where she normally slept, but the dock was over a foot above the water and there was no way for them to make it up. I took my long-handled fish net and scooped up 6 but at least 4 others were blown out of reach and shortly out of site among the boats on the other side of the waterway. Trish made a box lined with a blanket for them as I searched the other dock for the missing, but could not find any of them. We put the babies in the box along with a length of chain (under the blanket) to keep it from being blown away. All 6 were very cold and exhausted but one was very bad off (not able to hold his head up) so we took him in the boat to warm-up while the hen (now named Mom) got in the box and took charge of what was left of her brood. After a few hours next to the stove, the little one stopped shivering and was sitting up on his own so we put him out in the box with Mom and the others. In the morning one was missing and one was dead, leaving 4 that Mom proudly showed off to us as Lucky stood-by not knowing what to make of all the fuss or how to deal with Mom or the little ones.

Then Mom jumped in the water and called her small flock to join her. Off they went, with Lucky bringing up the rear, to find some protein. Trish spent that day researching and locating baby wild duck food while I constructed a floating platform under the end of the dock that Mom and the little ones could crawl up on to rest and sleep.

You can barely see some of them on the float under the dock. Trish added a floating water dish for them.

The platform worked fine for a week but then Mom decided she wanted to spent the night up on the dock (as she had before the kids arrived). She would leave the ducklings below and call them to join her above (which was impossible). So, I build a ramp, the top end pivoted and bottom end floated close to the floating platform. It took most of the day but finally they all made it up to crawl under Mom's wing for a well-deserved nap. During the process they had several amusing (to us) adventures. The last one to make it on to the ramp was not well coordinated, about half way up he was too close to the edge and stepped off into midair, landing upside down in the water where he thrashed and "screamed" for what seemed like several minutes. The others leapt into the water and "flew" down the waterway faster than I would have believed possible. Mom was hot on their heels which seemed to spur them on. They were 100 yards away before the one upside down (Moe) finally righted himself and stopped screaming. We saw Lucky across the way looking puzzled as he scanned back and forth between Moe (who was now bobbing about 5 feet out), Trish & I (who were laughing our asses off) and Mom & crew (who were slowly making their way back to the boat).

We named them Einy, Meany, Mighty and Moe (vs. eeny meeny miny moe).
Einy was the runt, very small and delicate, but determined and very clever when it came to getting her share of the food. The first to dive under mom's wing when it was time for bed or a nap.

Meany was always picking on the others and dominating the food dish. A real school yard bully. Poor Moe had a featherless patch on his butt where Meany was always biting him.

Mighty was the biggest, he walked and acted like a muscle builder. Not the sharpest tack in the box but the only one that Meany could not "push" off the food dish. Meany had to pester him long and hard before he would decide it was not worth the abuse and slowly walk away.

Moe was a clown, an idiot whose elevator barely made it above the lobby, he did a great slapstick banana peel slip and fall while walking on clear flat concrete. We were surprised that he grew at all because he would stand in front of the food dish and peck at the rim, it was only by accident that he would occasionally get his beak in the food, even then he would lose most of it by opening his mouth too wide when he went to get a sip of water and most of it would wash out.

Note 1: We quickly learned from Mom & Lucky that ducks need water to eat dry food. So we always had a dish of fresh water on the dock and the food dish was placed beside it. Mom and Lucky would only need a few drinks while eating their small portion of "Big Duck" food. But the little ones would take a little food in their beak, add a sip of water and "chew" it into mush before attempting to swallow.

Note 2: Never feed ducks (or geese) bread of any kind. It swells up and makes them full (or worse) and they get absolutely no nutrition from it.

The "Kids" grew fast and we quickly reduced feedings to small daily "treats". Learning to fly was quite the adventure. Our family of 6 ducks gave us endless hours of enjoyment before they all disappeared in the fall. Next Spring Mom and Lucky returned and all but Moe came by to visit on occasion. Einy selected a mate and brought him by for introductions but he was having none of this "friends with humans" stuff. Trish was now spending most days working away from the boat and we saw less and less of them. By the following year when a duck showed up we could not tell for sure who it was. Except Mom, who made frequent visits before disappearing for good.

Great Blue Heron - 80s & 90s ~ by Griz ~
Great Blue Heron are old friends of ours, I don't think a single day went by in the 20 years we lived aboard that we did not see a Blue Heron. For several years we had one on D dock at Shilshole marina that fished every day from the end of our finger pier (about 10 feet from the hatch of WaterBrother). I would watch him fish while having a cig. Very impressive what they can do with that big awkward looking beak. Most times he would grab the fish and a few times he speared it, but always he would kill it before throwing it into the air and catching it head first for the big swallow.

Coming home late at night could be an adventure. Sometimes he would roost on top of the piling at the end of our pier (always facing North - the direction we would approach from). Dead of night, all is calm, just the slight lapping of water on the boat hulls and maybe a shackle lightly tapping on its mast.

Damn I miss those times - It's like being in the biggest, oldest church on earth, only much closer to God (or whatever you call it). Almost as special as sitting alone deep in an ancient forest.

Just as we reached the step up into the cockpit (about 4 feet from the piling) we get an ear-splitting scream "aaaaawwwwwwkkkkkkk", accompanied by the “whoosh” of giant wings inches from your head, and a massive dose of fishy bird shit coming your way. Not good to scare a sleeping Great Blue Heron when you are in his escape path. The shit would "usually" miss us (landing further down the dock - to be hosed off in the morning). But a change of drawers was still in order.