Pete Thomas Outdoors

Blackbird catches midair flight... atop a red-tailed hawk

Sometimes, when relentlessly fighting off hawks, blackbirds need a place to rest.

Or so it might seem to anyone viewing a remarkable image captured recently by Bay Area photographer Eric Dugan.

It shows a red-winged blackbird standing atop a soaring red-tailed hawk as if it were catching a ride to some other destination.

Dugan's images, captured at Napa-Sonoma Marshes Wildlife Area in Northern California, appeared Tuesday in the San Francisco Chronicle. He described the event to outdoors columnist Tom Stienstra:

"I was exploring the wildlife refuge and heard the screech of a red-tailed hawk, loud and repeated. I scanned the sky but didn’t see anything at first. Then, in the distance, I saw a young red-tailed hawk sitting on a telephone pole and the red-winged blackbirds were jumping on and off its back and head, apparently to drive it away from a nesting  area.

"I immediately stopped, changed to my long lens and set up my camera in anticipation for the show. As I walked closer, I anticipated that the hawk would take flight and the blackbirds would pursue it, to drive it out of their territory. I raised the camera and the blackbird actually landed on the hawk multiple times.

"The small bird was so far more maneuverable in flight that all the hawk could do was tolerate it and fly away."

Dugan explained via email that the photos "are 100% legit" and that his only edits were exposure- and shadow-related because lighting was harsh at certain points because of the bright sunshine.

"I went back to the same spot a few days later hoping lightning would strike twice," he said. "But the red-tailed hawks were hunting way off in the distance."

--Pete Thomas

Related story: Hawks-versus-ravens dogfight photographed off Palos Verdes

In must-see video, hunter catches flying quail with bare hand

Two words you don't not expect to hear from your partner during a quail-hunting trip: "Sweet catch!" But then it's not often--and it might be unprecedented--that a hunter reaches into midair and clutches a fast-flying quail with his bare hand. And if you're wondering whether the accompanying footage is real, consider that it was uploaded by the Austin Stone Community Church in Texas.

 

Also, the hunting partner making the "Sweet catch!" remark is San Francisco 49er quarterback Colt McCoy.

The man fielding the incoming quail, casually, with his shotgun in his other hand, is Senior Pastor Matt Carter.

"It is totally real," Travis Wussow, executive director of teaching ministries at the church,  told GrindTv Outdoor. "While filming [the church uses creative storytelling, including films, to spread the gospel], inexplicably this bird takes off and stupidly flies right at Matt, and he grabbed it. It’s unbelievable…

"I was there and watched it happen. It’s totally unbelievable."

There was a film crew on site and it captured hunting's version of the "Immaculate Reception" from three angles.

What's not clear is what Carter did with the quail or, if he kept it, whether barehanded capture is a legal method of take.

--Pete Thomas

Dramatic hawk-raven battle photographed off Palos Verdes

A group of fourth-graders visiting the Point Vicente Interpretive Center in the hope of spotting whales on Thursday instead witnessed an incredible duel between red-tailed hawks and two ravens that apparently were interested in the hawks' nest and three fledglings.

Alisa Schulman-Janiger, who directs the ACS-LA Gray Whale Census and Behavior Project at the center on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, captured the aerial skirmish during a lull in whale sightings. (She photographed only one of the two hawks.)



She posted seven images on her Facebook page and we've picked three of the best for this post.

With the photos was this description: "Fight in the skies! Hawk defends its nest and three fledglings from two persistent harassing ravens at our gray whale census at Pt. Vicente yesterday!"



When I commented that this drama beats the passing of yet another whale, the researcher responded:

"I took these during a BIG lull in whale sightings. They did this aerial combat right in front of a visiting class of fourth grade students, swooping right down in front of them. MUCH more exciting for them than the average whale sighting!"

She added, via email: "It's very hard to get pics in good focus when they are racing by at high speed, swooping low out of sight and then soaring up high. I've tried to do so on several different days; this was the first time that I had any luck."

As for the gray whales, the fourth-graders saw a cow-calf pair but sightings generally are becoming more sporadic as the northbound migration winds down locally.

However, the blue whale season is just around the corner.

 --Pete Thomas

How cute is this albatross chick, hatched by Wisdom, its famous 62-year-old mother?

The chick might not be everybody's idea of "adorable," but a 1-month-old Laysan albatross born to the remarkable Wisdom, the world's oldest known bird of her species, is cute in a disheveled kind of way.

Wisdom, who resides on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, is at least 62 and she amazed scientists and bird enthusiasts when she successfully hatched another chick on Feb. 3.

If the chick, named Mana'Olana (which is Hawaiian for "Hope"), reaches half of Wisdom's age it will have enjoyed a long life. (Hopefully free of plastic pollution, which is often ingested at sea mistakenly by adult birds and fed to their offspring.)

The accompanying image was captured on Feb. 28 by J. Klavitter of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It was posted on Wisdom's Facebook page along with a post that reads, "A little Wisdom to brighten your day!" The post also linked to Wisdom's Flickr photo album.

Wisdom was first banded in 1956, in the same location of the refuge, at an estimated minimum age of 5 years old.

This marks the sixth consecutive year she has had a successful hatch at the refuge.

Midway, site of the famous World War II battle, is the world's largest nesting grounds for Laysan albatrosses.

About 71% of the planet's population nests on the atoll's three small islands.

--Pete Thomas

World's oldest Laysan albatross has a name for new chick

The world's oldest known Laysan albatross now has a name for her new chick: Mana’olana -- which is Hawaiian for "Hope" -- thanks to the bird's Facebook friends.

Wisdom, believed to be at least 62 years old, hatched her most recent chick Feb. 3 on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge.

In all, 270 people entered the naming contest via Wisdom's Facebook page, with seven people coming up with the same suggestion for the chick's name. A $500 donation will be made to the “Friends of Midway Atoll NWR” by Wisdom's human representative on behalf of those that entered the winning name.

Wisdom was first banded in 1956, in the same location of the refuge, at an estimated minimum age of 5 years old.

This marks the sixth consecutive year the bird has had a successful hatch at the refuge. According to Bruce Peterjohn, chief of the North American Bird Banding Program at the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Laurel, Md., Wisdom has likely raised at least 30 to 35 chicks during her breeding life. That number, however, may be higher because experienced parents tend to be more successful at rearing chicks than younger pairs.

Wisdom made headlines in 2011 by surviving a tsunami that washed over parts of the mid-Pacific atoll and killed thousands of albatross in the aftermath of the major earthquakes that struck Japan.

-- Kelly Burgess

Photo courtesy of U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

World's oldest known Laysan albatross hatches another chick

Congratulations are in order for the world's oldest known Laysan albatross, who earlier this week hatched a chick on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge.

Wisdom, believed to be at least 62 years old, hatched another chick early Sunday morning, the sixth consecutive year the bird has had a successful hatch at the refuge.

"Everyone continues to be inspired by Wisdom as a symbol of hope for her species," said Doug Staller, the Fish and Wildlife Service Superintendent for the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, which includes Midway.

Wisdom was first banded in 1956, in the same location of the refuge, at an estimated minimum age of 5 years old.

Wisdom made headlines in 2011 by surviving a tsunami that washed over parts of the mid-Pacific atoll and killed thousands of albatross in the aftermath of the major earthquakes that struck Japan.

-- Kelly Burgess

Photo of Wisdom and her mate courtesy of Pete Leary / U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Bald eagle makes play of the day in skirmish with osprey

The kick is good, but most viewers of the accompanying video will agree that the most exciting play on this day was made by the bald eagle, during a skirmish with an osprey over the football field. That's three points for the kick, a teriffic mid-air catch for the eagle, and an osprey that appears to have come up empty-handed.

 

Dave Strege, my colleague at GrindTv.com, writes: "One might call it the animal kingdom's version of the Immaculate Reception."

The event was captured on videotape during a Kohl's Football Kicking Camp session in St. Petersburg, Fla. The footage was magnified for the closeup segment toward the end.

Ospreys and bald eagles both prey on fish and the latter species is often more of a scavenger. As viewers can see, the two species sometimes clash over the rights of captured fish.

--Pete Thomas

Ravenous bald eagles swoop into Washington State for annual salmon feast (video)

 

Bald eagles have arrived by the thousands in northwestern Washington State to feast on spawning salmon, and Meg McDonald has captured this annual spectacle beautifully in a compilation of photographs and video footage.

(McDonald's amazing footage of endangered Southern Resident orcas frolicking in Puget Sound was featured here last month.)

The eagle footage was captured on the Nooksack River, which is not as well-known as the nearby Skagit River in terms of bald eagle-related tourism.

That's largely because the Nooksack is not nearly as accessible as the Skagit, which flows adjacent to State Route 20. (There are roadside viewpoints on the Skagit and several outfitters offer boat trips for viewing and photography.)

But as viewers can see, the Nooksack is plenty popular among the majestic raptors, which, as shown by McDonald, skirmish quite a bit among themselves during these incredible feeding events.

December and January are peak months for viewing on the rivers and their tributaries, but some eagles stay into February before migrating back to Canada.

With woodpeckers around, it's never a dull day in the forest

Cuyamaca Rancho State Park is overrun with acorn woodpeckers, and they're a beautiful sight ... colorful, sociable, raucous and simply entertaining as they zip from tree to tree, jamming holes with, or searching for stored acorns.

But capturing up-close woodpecker images can be tricky, especially for amateur photographers (like me) with limited lens-strength and patience.

(Typically, if I get close enough to photograph a woodpecker hammering away on the trunk of a tree, it will simply skitter to the opposite side of the trunk in what invariably becomes a frustrating game of cat-and-mouse.)

But on Friday, with little human traffic in the oak and pine forests of this spectacular East San Diego County wilderness park, at least one woodpecker didn't seem to mind the intrusion.

In fact, the bird shown in the accompanying images practically flew into my face before settling onto the tree trunk to single out one of hundreds of holes in its bark.

The woodpecker's purpose seemed so singular, at least for half a minute, that my presence was tolerated. 

But I did make note, while shooting through a 300-millimeter lens, that other woodpeckers were squawking in what seemed a protest. Or maybe they were just going about their noisy business. I'll never know.

However, when I got home, I consulted Cornell University's "All About Birds" website and enjoyed its description of the species:

"Reminiscent of a troupe of wide-eyed clowns, Acorn Woodpeckers live in large groups in western oak woodlands. Their social lives are endlessly fascinating: they store thousands of acorns each year by jamming them into specially made holes in trees. A group member is always on alert to guard the hoard from thieves, while others race through the trees giving parrot-like waka-waka calls."

So it seemed that despite the uncharacteristic absence of people on the trails, it was a typically busy day as far as the local wildlife was concerned, and that's what made the day so special.

--Pete Thomas

Pelicans to blame for murre deaths along Oregon coast

The mystery surrounding the deaths of hundreds of murres that have been washing ashore this week on an Oregon beach has been solved: pelicans are to blame.

At least 300 murres have been counted along three miles of Agate Beach, with many more believed to be dead in the water.

 

Rob Suryan, an Oregon State University professor, told KATU that on Monday night, a large group of brown pelicans landed at a nearby murre colony, where thousands of adult murres were raising their chicks.

Suryan explained that many chicks plopped into the ocean because of this disruption or were consumed by pelicans.

Suryan described this as a natural event, although he had not seen it on this scale, but offered a grim assessment regarding this year's crop of chicks. "It's going to be a near failure this year," he said.