| Someone
had reported seeing Hooded Orioles at the mouth of the Coquitlam
River on the first, so on the morning of the second I headed out
to see if I could find any. I parked at Maquabeak Park and walked
the trail by the Fraser over to the Coquitlam. Just before I got
to where I was going, my photos of the day started, with a bunny. |
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He was fairly small,
so I think he was a young'un.
I went on to the little
spot of land where the orioles had been seen, and after about
fifteen minutes of looking, and of getting my legs eaten alive
by mosquitos, I found a couple of orioles—males—chasing
one another around. They were pretty quick and I was hesitant
to call the species in the field, although I did note that their
belly was colored, not white. (Female and young male Bullock's
Orioles have a white belly; Hooded Orioles have a colored belly.)
Here's one of the guys.
From this view (a common view when Orioles are the subject matter),
this could be a first-summer male Hooded Oriole.
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| But as we
see in this photo, when he turns his head, he's got a dark line
through the eye, which is characteristic of Bullock's. Furthermore,
he appears to have a black nape, which would mean that he's an adult.
Although I will admit that his yellowy coloration looks more like
the first-year male oriole color than the adult color in my guide
book: that color is more orange. |
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| As these
two fellows flew around, I had to be quick to try to get photos
of them. I missed them at a few perches. Then, a bird flew in to
a branch near me and my itchy trigger-finger squeezed off six shots
before I realized that the orange I was seeing was too brownish
to be an oriole. That was a bit disappointing, but I guess I did
get some decent photos of an American Robin. |
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| Here's another
oriole shot that I got that looks vaguely like a Hooded. A close
inspection of his head shows a small black line extending behind
the eye, though. Again, this looks to me to be a Bullock's. (I suspect
that the rest of the eyeline is washed out from the overexposure.)
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| 'Round about
this time, I heard a big screechy noise being repeated from nearby,
and I walked towards it and found the most vocal Red-tailed Hawk
that I've ever heard. |
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| And I wasn't
the only one attracted by the sound. Orioles came by to check it
out, too. Here there's one right above the hawk; it has a white
belly and small black throat-patch, implying it's a first-year male
Bullock's. |
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| And here
an adult male Bullock's eyes the screaming hawk. |
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| Then he
hopped in a little closer. |
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The orioles were doing
more than just looking, though: they were harassing the hawk.
Maybe that was why he was screaming. As I watched, I kept seeing
orioles zoom past the hawk, nearby. I couldn't tell if they were
actually pecking at him as they did.
Here's a typical Oriole
attack. Here, he uses concealment to creep up near the hawk.
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| Then he
sticks his head down to see if the way is clear. |
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| And if so,
then he launches himself at the hawk. This particular attack seemed
to be the last straw for the poor Red-tail. |
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| Still screaming,
he rose up |
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| ...and flew
away. |
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After another five
or ten minutes of waiting for Orioles to reappear, my friends
Len and Dian arrived at the spot, apparently having the same oriole-checking
idea that I had started my morning with. We waited and watched,
and soon Dian was heading back to their car for insect repellent:
the skeeters really were vicious. After a few minutes, Len couldn't
take it and headed back to meet up with Dian, and when they returned
they kindly offered some repellent to me, which was gratefully
accepted. We hung around for another half an hour, watching the
Cottonwoods, craning our necks, and saw little in the way of orioles.
I did briefly see one, a female Bullock's, fly in to a tree from
across the Coquitlam River. Right after she perched, she flew
a little further into the tree, and was lost in the foliage, never
to be seen again.
We called it quits
after my friends had been there for about an hour. On the way
out, Len pointed out to me a robin sitting on a nest, and I took
photos of her as they went on.
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| I then went
back to my car, and headed to a friend's place in Coquitlam. I stopped
once near Mundy Park when I saw a Turkey Vulture circling overhead,
looking for some food to scavenge. |
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I had seen one early
when I was looking for orioles, but didn't take photos because
he wasn't my quarry and he quickly flew out of sight.
It had been a fun morning,
but it was quickly getting hot and time to head inside.
Looking for some food
to scavenge,
Tom
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