Although many other vertebrates avoid ants because of their stings or noxious chemical deterrents, the Northern Flicker is known to have ingested over five thousand ants in one sitting. He will fly after dark to avoid the threat posed by hawks and falcons.
Deep in left field, an Oriole pounces on the ball.
The males court females on a lek, snapping their wings with firecracker-like pops.
Imagine watering your garden on a hot August day, when a small yellow and gray warbler flutters into the spray and begins taking a shower.
These birds have molted, and their bright feathers are replaced with mottled brown ones. And how about its name? The Boreal forest is a vast band of spruce and poplar that extends from coast to coast across Alaska and Canada. And how can you help stranded birds? This meeting of waters is a lush expanse of marsh, tidelands, and tree-lined streams.
At a solid waste transfer station, gulls and crows eye the intake, arguing over who gets what before it gets hauled off to a major landfill. Western Tanagers are distinctive summer visitors to our area and the only tanagers seen regularly in Washington. A bird in the hand, my friend.
Although these swallows often nest as single pairs in cavities or nesting boxes, both adults and juveniles now gather on electrical wires by the dozens, socializing before they migrate.
They eat the mice, rats, and gophers that nibble on the roots of young grapevines. This proud dignitary appears along the sidelines during every home game. The Brown Creeper lives in a mature forest where evergreen and deciduous trees reach for sun.
They are typically found in open coniferous or mixed coniferous and broadleaved forests, and seem most at home in the dry Douglas-fir forests of Eastern Washington.
The Yellow-rumped Warbler, probably mid-way through its fall migration, is unafraid. Some even pollinate flowers! In Veracruz, Mexico, the flow of migrating raptors contains birds from all over eastern North America.
A Rock Pigeon bobs its head as it walks. Under this pummeling, a smorgasbord of shrimp is stirred up for the gulls to harvest. You may find it in willow thickets, brushy tangles, and other dense, understory habitats, usually at low to medium elevations around streams. Washington State Senator Ken Jacobsen tells of his visit with a constituent and their discussion of birdbaths and accessories.