Species – Page 2 – Birds of Bishop

Bald Eagles

The Bald Eagle is low-hanging fruit for a photographer. These big birds (10 pounds, wingspan 6.5 feet) often perch on a bare limb. With just a smartphone you can capture a classic pose: the fierce bird surveying its realm. The distinct white head makes it simple for the casual observer to spot and identify this bird. Even when flying, getting a photo is not hard due to the bird’s large size and straight path.

Bald Eagles show up at the Buckley Ponds near Bishop in November and depart in February. People get excited if they spot an eagle. When they see me walking with my camera, they love to tell me about this bird. I try to cheerfully thank them, suppressing a grumpy urge to say that I’ve been photographing the bird for weeks. Eagles so excite the public that I own five guidebooks that feature a Bald or Golden Eagle on the cover: The Audubon Society Encyclopedia of North American Birds, Smithsonian Birds of North America, National Geographic Complete Birds of North America, The Crossley ID Guide Raptors, and Birds of the Great Basin: A Natural History. Publishers know that eagles sell.

In winter, Bald Eagles can be found in several areas close to Bishop: Airport Road, Warm Springs Road, north of Dixon Lane, the alfalfa fields near the dump. I’ve seen them year-round at the Pleasant Valley Reservoir. They show up near Big Pine, Tinemaha Reservoir, and Mono Lake. In summer they can be found at Sabrina Lake (9200 feet) and Convict Lake (7900 feet).

Classic Poses of Mature Eagles

I’ll start with photos that show mature Bald Eagles in a classic perched pose. These birds are impressive. They look muscular and fierce. You can think of them as gangsters of the avian world. The first eight photos were taken at the Buckley Ponds and were selected because they also show some of the surrounding landscape.

Take another look at the last two photos. They show the same bird. Did you notice the scattered white blotches on the back of the bird? This bird has excrement on its back, undoubtedly from another Eagle that was flying above it. This majestic bird needs a bath.

The next 6 photos show Eagles at the Pleasant Valley Reservoir. They dine on fish and sometimes other birds. The first photo, showing an eagle surrounded by tree branches, is one of my favorites.

The Eagle below is at Sabrina Lake in August. A nice fishing spot for Eagles and people.

Eagle below checks out the electrical grid north of Bishop.

The next five photos are all Eagle portraits taken at the Buckley Ponds. It is often possible to get fairly close to these birds. Of course a telephoto lens helps.

Bald Eagles Have White Heads, Right?

In February of 2022, I saw a mature Bald Eagle near the Bishop Creek Canal. Then Roberta spotted a dark-colored eagle nearby. I examined my photos and realized that the second bird was a juvenile Bald Eagle, with a pale belly and scattered white feathers on the neck. Until that encounter, I thought all Bald Eagles had white heads.

Bald Eagles take about 5 years to develop their dramatic white head and tail. In their first year, they have dark brown heads and bills that are black. This change with age was worked out by bird artist Charles Wilson Peale in 1797; by the 1820s this was well-known to bird experts. Two centuries passed before I got the message. I lived in Seattle for over a decade and saw many Bald Eagles. Not once did I notice a juvenile Bald Eagle; this shows that you see only what you look for. Young Bald Eagles can be distinguished from Golden Eagles by several features; a pale belly, no golden feathers on the neck, white wing pits, lots of white color under the wings, a tail with messy-white feathers, lower legs free of feathers, brown eyes that become yellow with age, dark beaks that become bicolored and then yellow, massive beaks with a sharp hook at the end. Bald Eagles hang out with other Bald Eagles. Bald Eagles favor water and prefer to eat fish. Golden Eagles like cliffs and rabbits. In 2022, looked through my photo library and realized every “Golden” eagle in my collection was a young Bald Eagle.

Below I show photos of Bald Eagles ordered, approximately, from age one year to age 4 years. If you are a birding expert and think my age estimates are off, let me know.

One year old

The massive, hooked beak, below, tells you this is a Bald Eagle.

Alfalfa fields near the Bishop dump, below.

Age two years

Age 3 years

Age 4 years. By now the head is almost white, the eyes yellow, the beak nearly all yellow.

Flight

Below, an Eagle over Convict Lake, October, looking for fish. This was one of my first eagle photos: 2018. I did not even need a telephoto lens.

White Mountain in the background below:

Below, a young eagle hunting at the Buckley Ponds. When the Eagle takes off, dozens of American Coots go wild trying to fly or swim away from the Eagle’s path.

In December of 2022, I was walking on Warm Springs Road. I saw two birds flying toward me and I started shooting. These were two young Eagles. As they flew past, one Eagle braked and slowed, while the other bird did a barrel-role and displayed its talons. This behavior is sometimes described as a mating ritual. Or were they were just having fun? These are some of my favorite photos. How I wish I could see something like this again.

Below are 4 photos that show a young Eagle landing in a Cottonwood at the Buckely Ponds. It overshoots a bit, failing to stick the landing; then it balances properly. In the last photo you can see the bird’s tongue.

A young Bald Eagle takes off at the Buckley Ponds and swoops low over the ground.

A young Bald Eagle soars above the Pleasant Valley Reservoir.

In January of 2025, a 4-year old Eagle takes off at the Buckley Ponds. One of my favorite Eagle photos.

Eating

Double-crested Cormorants catch fish at the Pleasant Valley Reservoir. The Eagle below caught a Cormorant. You can see the Eagle is tearing apart its prey.

The Eagle below was perched at the Buckley Ponds on Dec 18, 2021:

A few days later, on Dec 22, I walked alone at the Ponds. It was 26 degrees and the Ponds were mostly frozen. I rounded a corner and found a Snow Goose on the road. I was surprised and so was the Goose; it flew off before I could get a photo. An hour later I came back to my car and saw an Eagle eating on the frozen lake; the fluffy stuff on the ice is white down, the remains of the Snow Goose. Blood, flesh, and bones were mixed with the down.

The Eagle flew off. You can see it below and even make out blood on the beak and feet. Some snow is on the ground.

The next photo, below, shows the Eagle perched, with blood on beak and toes. Compare with the picture shown above for Dec 18. This is the same perch and probably the same Eagle.

A Northern Harrier then arrived and tried to steal some of the remaining flesh; the Eagle chased the Harrier off. Later in the day, I came back to the Ponds and found a Red-tailed Hawk had managed to get some of the Goose meat. So three raptors dined on Goose that day. I wondered if my sudden appearance caused the Goose to carelessly fly into the path of the Eagle?

Below are 2 photos of the Red-tail, with Goose feathers on its beak:

The next picture shows a young Eagle flying near the Buckley Ponds. The bird is clutching something and seems to be pecking or biting whatever was in its talons.

Miscellaneous

The photo below shows a group of Crows harassing a Bald Eagle near Airport Road. The Eagle looks downcast.

The next two photos show a Crow chasing a Bald Eagle.

The next 4 photos show a Bald Eagle cleaning its beak on a branch near the Buckley Ponds. The bird cries out in the last two pictures.

The final photo shows the talons of a young Eagle.

A Fictional Eagle

Kenn Kaufman’s new (2024) book, The Birds that Audubon Missed: Discovery and Desire in the American Wilderness, describes how John James Audubon created a fictitious bird which he called the “Bird of Washington, Falco washingtonii.” Audubon claimed that this was a newly discovered species of eagle, 25% larger than a Bald Eagle, with a wingspan over ten feet. He did this to sell subscriptions for his expensive book series, Birds of America, which was printed in Britain starting in 1827. Audubon knew that Eagles sell. Recently, historians discovered that Audubon’s painting of this counterfeit bird was plagiarized from an illustration of a generic raptor in a book by Abraham Rees.

Red-shouldered Hawk – a still-hunter

In late December, 2024, Roberta and I were driving home after a bird walk. I was bemoaning how the Owens Valley had changed in ways that birds cannot control. Airports, canals, cars, cattle, highways, homes, and telephone lines have all appeared in the last two centuries. Birds, here for millennia, have no say in these changes.

But for the Red-shouldered Hawk (RSHA), my lament is mistaken. They are newcomers. These birds live east of the Great Plains. They are absent from the Plains, the Rockies, and the Intermountain West. But they reappear on the west side of the Sierra, inhabiting forests near rivers in California’s Central Valley. So there is a giant territory, from the Sierra crest almost to the Mississippi, where you will not find these birds.

They were absent from Inyo County until 1968, when the dead body of a Red-shouldered Hawk was found in Death Valley. During the 1970s, they moved into the Bishop area. Now they live here year-round, nesting and raising their young. They are on tree branches and power lines all over Bishop and the surrounding fields. They control the land along West Line Street from downtown to Riata Road. One of these hawks hunts patiently from a Line Street telephone cable; I drive past this bird 50 times a year.

I graduated from medical school and moved to California in 1970 to start my internship at Stanford. In June I drove over Tioga Pass and down Highway 395 for the first time. In 2002, I settled in Bishop. So I feel some kinship with our local Red-shouldered Hawks; I imitated their move to this area.

Size

Red-shouldered Hawks are a medium-sized raptor. Smaller than a Red-tail, larger than a Cooper’s. Here is a table of size and weight (numbers from Sibley’s guide) for some local raptors:

Length (inches) Weight (pounds)

Bald Eagle 31 9.5

Ferruginous Hawk 23 3.5

Red-tailed Hawk 19 2.4

Swainson’s Hawk 19 1.9

Peregrine Falcon 16 1.6

Red-shouldered Hawk 17 1.4

Northern Harrier 18 1

Cooper’s Hawk 16.5 1

Prairie Falcon 16 1.6

Sharp-shinned Hawk 11 0.3

American Kestrel 9 0.3

Appearance

The first photo below shows a mature Red-shouldered Hawk near the Bishop Creek Canal. I had recently purchased a telephoto lens and was excited to find this bird. These hawks are not that skittish; I was able to approach within a 100 feet or so and the bird let me take a hundred pictures. The red color of the chest continues onto the wing, giving the bird its name. Lower on the body the red feathers form horizonal lines. The characteristic that stands out most to me are the white markings on the black feathers, visible on the side and back. These white spots contribute to the bird’s Latin name: Buteo lineatus = lined hawk. If it were up to me, this would be called the “Spotted Hawk,” for the white spots or blotches on the back.

Above, the right eye looks like a black marble, while the left eye shows a brown iris around the black pupil. The eyes of many raptors look fierce, but the eyes of this hawk look like those of a harmless kitten.

Birds have a nictitating membrane, a translucent “third eyelid” that arises near the nose and can be drawn across the eye to clean, moisten, and protect it. There are other creatures with this membrane, such as sharks, beavers, and cats. See photo below.

Red-shouldered Hawks are “still-hunters” or “perch-hunters.” They sit on a branch or wire and look down, patiently watching for prey. While they do this, they look hunched over; see photo below. When they spot a rodent or insect, they will swoop down and grab it. Instead of flying down, they may just topple forward (or backward) and drop, falling quickly with little movement. Their folded wings snap open just before they hit the ground. I’ve seen this twice; it looks as if the bird just fainted and fell off the wire. See the hunting posture below.

The next two pictures show a Hawk on Line Street near Barlow Lane. In the second photo a breeze lifted up the feathers on the neck.

The photo below shows a pair of Red-shouldered Hawks on Barlow Lane, near Line Street.

The bird in the next picture was on Dixon Lane near the Green Gate road; this is where Great Horned Owls raise their young.

Just north of Line Street is the Conservation Open Space Area (COSA), run by the Bishop Paiute Tribe. The following 3 photos show a Red-shouldered Hawk that was present during the Christmas Bird Count. The first photo shows the spotted or linear pattern on the back. In the second and third pictures, look for a red spot on the left foot; blood from a recent victim.

A few days later I returned to the COSA and again saw a Red-shouldered Hawk. Same one? First I show a frontal view. Then a view of the back. The tip of the tail is white, most of the tail is black with thin white bands. The primary feather tips lie on top of the tail, but fail to reach the tail-tip. A curtain of white feathers lies on top of the primaries. From the back, the red-shoulders and breast are often invisible, but the feather pattern I’ve just described helps identify this bird.

The next photo shows the back of a bird at the Buckley Ponds. I can make out 4, possibly 5, white bands on the tail. The long primary feathers overlap the tail and above them is a horizontal “skirt” of feathers.

Another view of a bird on Dixon Lane. You cannot see the red shoulders, but the white-black patterns are a giveaway.

Juvenile Red-shouldered Hawks look rougher, the upper chest has red streaks, the lines across the body are less distinct. The next four photos show birds that I think are juveniles.

These hawks love telephone lines. If you see a raptor on a line, think of this bird first. The first photo below was taken near the Bishop dump, the next four pictures on Line Street near Barlow Lane. The bird in the last 3 photos is there almost every week, searching for food; if it is not the same bird, they must be related. The last picture shows two of these hawks.

Preening

An immature Hawk at the Buckley Ponds was preening; It was licking feathers, trying to tear them out, and generally contorting itself. Why is the lower eyelid so swollen in some images?

A week later I saw another immature Hawk, or perhaps the same one, imitating Linda Blair in the Exorcist.

Flight

Unlike some raptors, these birds do not usually engage in long flights. I have photographed them covering short distances, moving from one perch to another.

In courtship displays, the male bird is willing to soar upwards for hundreds of feet, then plunge to earth with wings folded, pulling up just before cratering. I hope to see this someday.

The picture below shows a RSHA landing on a post near the Bishop Creek Canal. At the end of each wing are long, dark, primary feathers. At the base of the primary feathers is a band of white; this is sometimes described as a translucent window, crescent, or comma. This feature can help identify the bird in flight. This translucent band can be seen below.

The following two photos show a RSHA taking off on Warm Springs Road. Both photos show the band of whiter feathers near the ends of the wings.

A Red-shouldered Hawk takes off on the Bishop Creek Canal. Left wing shows the band of light color.

Two more pictures show a RSHA landing at the Buckley Ponds.

On Barlow Lane, one Hawk takes off while its mate looks on.

The next two photos show a bird flying away in the forest of the Conservation Open Space Area.

Feeding

The United Methodist Church is in downtown Bishop. Roberta was finishing up a chore in the Soup Kitchen and I was waiting in the car. I noticed a hawk in a nearby tree and stepped out to get some pictures. It was a RSHA tearing apart a rodent; perhaps a Norway Rat? Birds have no teeth. Raptors rip their food apart, choking down the pieces. They have no manners. The bird looks like a fierce gargoyle in some images. These pictures were taken within a 7 minute interval; no leisurely dining for this bird. The bird kept thrashing the rodent about, changing position, and flying short distances. If you ever wished to be reincarnated as a bird, consider having to eat like this.

Fun fact

Red-shouldered Hawks are not the only raptors new to Inyo County. Bald Eagles were not recorded in the County until 1967. Now we see them every winter at the Buckley Ponds, Pleasant Valley Reservoir, and other locations. So Red-shouldered Hawks, Bald Eagles, and Peter are all fairly new to Inyo County. Other new arrivals are Great-tailed Grackles (1970) and Eurasian Collared Doves (2002).

Two seconds of action

Roberta and I walked north on Barlow, then turned west onto Line Street. Across the road, I saw a Red-shouldered Hawk fall backwards off a telephone pole. Just before it smashed on the ground, the wings popped out. This converted the falling momentum to horizontal flight and the bird shot across Line Street, a foot above the pavement. There was a mouse in grass near the road edge; it saw the Hawk, but too late. All over in two seconds.

Photos from 2022

November’s blog was a bit technical, with few photos. This month, December, will have more photos, fewer words. I selected pictures from 2022; 38 show birds or other creatures, 10 show landscapes.

Some Water Birds

Mallards are usually found at Bishop City Park. They sleep in my backyard and they float on our local ponds and canals. During breeding season the males have bright green heads, but the light angle can make the head look purple, blue, or black. For years, I thought there were two species of Mallards until I saw a duck that seemed to change its color right in front of me. The male below has a head that seems to be half black and half green.

The male below posed at the Bishop City Park, letting me photograph detail in the feathers.

Mallards take off with explosive force; their wings boost them up by pushing down on the water. At Airport Road, Roberta and I have been startled when 100 ducks take off at once. The picture below shows a quacking Mallard that just took off from the Buckley Ponds.

Buffleheads are easy to identify; the male below was in breeding plumage at the Buckley Ponds in March.

American Wigeons are often at the City Park.

Male Wood Ducks have implausible colors.

Years ago a friend showed us shorebirds in the Owens Valley. I was amazed and amused to learn that we have sandpipers (Least, Western, and Spotted) in our local desert.

Spotted Sandpiper. Buckley Ponds, Bishop.

Occasionally a tern will turn (pun!) up at the Buckley Ponds. When there are two of them, we always say “One good tern deserves another.” Lame, I admit! The Caspian Tern winters on the coast, breeds in the Great Basin. A spectacular bird.

Some Small Birds

Rock Wrens are common at the Pleasant Valley Reservoir.

Rock Wren. Pleasant Valley Reservoir, Bishop.

The Calliope Hummingbird winters in southern Mexico, breeds in the Sierra.

Calliope Hummingbird. McGee Creek, Sierra Nevada.

Cliff Swallows build their mud nests on the side of the Mono Basin Visitor’s Center in Lee Vining. The fledglings want food in early July.

Cliff Swallow learning to fly. Lee Vining, Mono Lake.

Violet-green Swallows are found on the tufa towers of Mono Lake, where they hunt for bugs in the air.

Violet-green Swallow. South Beach, Mono Lake.

I mistake House Finches for sparrows, but the red color and fat beaks make them easy to identify in photos.

Green-tailed Towhees are often found near Convict Lake and in McGee Creek canyon.

Green-tailed Towhee. McGee Creek, Sierra.

Ash-throated Flycatcher. An “ordinary” bird that is lovely when you look closely.

A Few Bigger Birds

The Ladder-backed Woodpecker has a distinctive back.

Ladder-backed Woodpecker. Bishop Creek Canal.

The Hairy Woodpecker is common in the Owens Valley, but this one was in the Arboretum in Reno.

This Robin was putting on a show at the Arboretum in Reno.

A Blue Grosbeak looks unreal.

White-faced Ibis migrant past Bishop in large flocks. They look dramatic against the mountains.

A juvenile Western Bluebird poses on a post.

The Eurasian Collared Dove has become the most common dove in the Owens Valley. This bird only arrived in California about 30 years ago.

Eurasian Collared Dove. Bishop Creek Canal.

Red-winged Blackbirds show up in late February and sing incessantly for months.

It looks as if this Bald Eagle is chatting with a Raven. I suspect the Raven is harassing the eagle.

Bald Eagle. Common Raven. Buckley Ponds.

Birds spend a lot of time preening — taking care of their feathers. This Red-shouldered Hawk was tearing out feathers, licking them, and generally going nuts at the Buckley Ponds.

Animals

American Pikas live in the high Sierra.

Mule deer are in our mountains and in the fields and desert near Bishop. This one is partly wet because she just crossed the Rawson Canal. They are named for their ears.

The Coast at Fort Bragg

Roberta and I visit Fort Bragg about once a year. Recently Fort Bragg built the Noyo Headlands trail on the bluffs between the ocean and a defunct lumber mill. Snails cross this trail.

Below a Black Oystercatcher seems to be wearing nail polish.

The Common Raven is common around Bishop. But they are hard to approach. At the coast, where people sometimes feed them, they are easier to photograph.

Brown Pelicans are easy to photograph because they are big and they fly in predictable lines.

Scenes Without Birds

If you drive 2.5 hours south of Bishop, you can camp amid the Trona Pinnacles. These are tufa (calcium carbonate) formations from an ancient lake. They were featured in a Star Trek episode.

Bryce Canyon National Park in February.

The Painted Desert seen from Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona. Creek in foreground is Lithodendron Wash. Pilot Rock is the distant butte against the sky.

Petrified trees litter Petrified Forest National Park.

In February, the Airport Fire started near Bishop’s airport. It jumped to the cottonwoods along the Owens River. High winds pushed the flames south along the stream for over 15 miles, threatening Big Pine. I took photos looking across Klondike Lake.

Roberta and I drove east of 395 on Aberdeen Road to photograph the sunrise on the Sierra. The first photo shows Cardinal Mountain in twilight at 6:49am. Six minutes later the sun cleared the Inyo Mountains behind me and the same scene was lit by red alpenglow. Both photos show a dark band of rock on the top of the ridge. This is a roof pendant. The dark rock on top is older volcanic or sedimentary rock. Molten granite rose up under this dark layer and cooled. The dark older rock eroded away across most of the Sierra. But in some places, such as here, the old rocks remained as a layer on top of the younger granite.

McGee Creek (and nearby Convict Creek) both have colorful twisted layers of sedimentary rock. The telephoto shot below shows ridges of different rock types that cover the north wall of the canyon.

In October, the aspens change colors. This panorama shot was taken up the canyon from the Bishop Creek Lodge.

Talons & Toes

The ancient Greek myths tell us that the First Bird, Archaeopteryx, bargained with the Gods. In a swap for the gift of flight, the Bird gave up his arms, hands, and fingers in exchange for feathered wings. But Zeus let the Bird keep his legs, feet, toes, and talons, which the Bird could use for carrying, climbing, diving, eating, fighting, hopping, hovering, jumping, landing, mating, paddling, perching, preening, running, scratching, swimming, taking off, wading, and walking.

Ok, I made up that Greek myth. But that was, in effect, the bargain that birds made when they evolved from dinosaurs. They exchanged their arms for wings, but kept feet which they later modified. This essay shows pictures of bird feet, a feature of birds that I’ve come to notice through photography.

The Four-toed Foot

The Red-winged Blackbird demonstrates the prototype of an avian foot; three toes point forward, one toe points backward. Each toe has a long claw or talon. Falconers wear gloves to protect their arms from sharp talons; but even a tiny blackbird has claws that look sharp and long.

The photo below shows the three forward toes and single backward toe of both feet. The backwards toe, the hallux, is equivalent to our big toe.

Red-winged Blackbird, male. Buckley Ponds, Bishop.

The next photo reveals the sharpness of the talons of the left foot. Talons, or claws, grow constantly; they are kept to a reasonable length by wear and tear. The bird’s position in the photo looks stressful, clinging to an upright limb. It looks like a pole dancer at a nightclub. [Full disclosure: I have never seen a pole dancer, aside from movie scenes.] But birds use this type of side-perch all the time, so it must be easy for them. Bird toes have a clever design. The tendon in each toe has bumps on its surface. Once the bird grips something, the tendon bumps mesh with corresponding notches in the surrounding tendon sheath. Sibley writes that this locks off the tendon much like a plastic zip tie. The bird can maintain its grip with little muscular effort.

The bird below is a female Red-winged Blackbird. We can see the first joint in her leg. Is that her knee? If so, her knee seems to bend backwards compared with our knees. This impression is wrong. The long bone from the first joint down to the toes is actually the tarsus, equivalent to the mid-bones of the human foot. What we call the foot of a bird is just the toes. The first joint that we see in the photo is the heel, not the knee. Birds literally walk and perch on tip-toe. The actual knee and femur are usually hidden by feathers and flesh.

Red-winged Blackbird, female. Buckley Ponds, Bishop

There are variations on this prototypical bird foot. Some birds have two toes or three, some have webbing, some have lobes, some have two toes forward and two backwards, and so on. A few of these variations will appear later.

Foot portraits

Raptors

I’ll start with raptors, because their toes and talons are so big and dramatic. The raptor-foot photos all show that yellow is the fashion choice for these carnivores.

The talons of a Bald Eagle are fearsome. These should not be legal.

A Cooper’s Hawk has very long toes.

Juvenile Cooper’s hawk. Warm Springs Road, Bishop.

A juvenile Cooper’s Hawk uses a powerline in my backyard to hunt for birds.

A Red-shouldered Hawk shows off its talons.

A Peregrine Falcon brings its reign of terror to the Bishop Creek Canal. These hunters kill birds by either grabbing them in the air or by slamming into them with their big feet. Their feet must be tough as they use them like boxing gloves with daggers.

A Prairie Falcon poses next.

Prairie Falcon. Warm Springs Road, Bishop.

The next few photos show Red-tailed Hawks. First, a classic pose shows how the feet grab a branch. The bird seems to let part of the branch rest in its “palm.” You will later see a Western Meadowlark use a similar pose.

Then a nice view of talons.

The photo below shows a common habit of Red-tails and some other birds. The bird perches on one foot, then hides the other foot in its belly feathers. It looks as if it is growing a foot out of a belly-button. Except birds don’t have belly buttons.

The next 3 photos show a young Red-tail that lifts its left foot and hides it in its feathers. Why do this? Their feet have little blood flow and are very resistant to cold. Still, perhaps it has to do with minimizing heat lose. Or perhaps this just feels comfortable for the bird.

Songbirds

Let’s move on to the feet of songbirds. Their feet look similar from one bird to the next, although the color varies. The first two pictures show a female Brewer’s Blackbird. She lifts her foot and turns herself around on a strand of barbed wire. Bird’s have terrific balance. It used to be thought that birds could perch on a branch because they had a very tight grip. But in fact their grip is often loose and the key is superb balance. Birds have one balance center in their brain and another in the pelvis. They are all miniature Simone Biles.

A male Brewer’s Blackbird is feeding on alkali flies at Mono Lake. The yellow eye gives him an angry look.

How does a Black-billed Magpie manage that long tail?

Black-billed Magpie. Bishop Creek Canal.

Western Meadowlark. The position shown here is used by many birds. One foot rests right on the end of a branch; it is as if the branch is covered by the palm of a hand. The other foot holds on below. For another example, see the first photo of a Red-tailed Hawk, shown above.

Yellow-rumped Warbler. Bishop Creek Canal.

Fun fact about Towhees. Apparently the origin of the word “Towhee” is unknown.

Northern Mockingbird. This spread-legged stance is common, even though it looks awkward. When they perch, birds are constantly balancing over their feet, with little effort. They can sleep all night on a branch, even in a wind.

Lazuli Bunting. Near Airport Road, Bishop.

Blue Grosbeak, male. Bishop Creek Canal.

Bewick’s Wren. These little guys hide in bushes and sing and sing; really noisy.

Bewick’s Wren. Gus Cashbaugh Lane, Bishop.

Rock Wren, trying to eat a grasshopper.

A Violet-green Swallow. For some reason, she let me get very close.

European Starlings. These birds are famous for flying in large flocks; murmurations. Their toes seem strangely long.

Water Birds

Birds that swim and wade have distinctive feet. A female Mallard has large webbed feet for swimming and wading. She has three forward toes, joined by webbing. And a rear-facing toe that is very small.

Female Mallard. Bishop City Park. Male in background.

Mallard ducklings already have big feet. Instead of a large rear-pointing toe, they have a short pointed toe. This is their remnant of the big toe, the hallux. You can see this toe in the duckling on the left.

A Common Merganser is shouting at a male Mallard. Both of them have a stubby hallux pointing to the rear. Why do both have orange-red feet?

Common Merganser, Mallards. Bishop City Park.

A Wood Duck is a strange sight up in tree. They are called Wood Ducks because they have adapted to living in trees; but it still looks funny. The webbed feet wrap partly around the branch.

Wood Duck, male. Gus Cashbaugh Lane, Bishop.

The American Coot has lobes on the side of its toes, instead of webbing. These lobes help with paddling. Big green feet.

The webbed foot of a Tundra Swan is enormous.

Tundra Swan. Klondike Lake, near Big Pine CA. (Foreground bird is a Greater White-fronted Goose.)

A Great Blue Heron lifts its giant foot and then hides it in its belly feathers. You can still see a little bit of a toe in the second photo. Roberta and I were walking in the early morning; so dark that we almost walked into this bird.

The foot of a Great Egret is gigantic.

The Black-Crowned Night Heron is a wading bird with big feet. I think these lovely birds look like a colorful football. I wish I could see them more often, but they hunt at night; our schedules do not overlap much.

Black Crowned Night Heron. Buckley Ponds.

The American Avocet has nearly translucent legs and feet. This bird looks very full of itself.

The Black-necked Stilt looks like a cartoon bird. Seriously, pink legs? Remember, everything below the backwards “knee” is actually the foot.

A young California Gull perches at the Bishop City Park. Note the short, spiky toe at the back of the “foot.”

Young California Gull. Bishop City Park.

A Snowy Egret wears yellow socks.

Miscellaneous Birds

A Mexican Jay in Big Bend National Park, Texas, grasps the sharp spine of a Harvard Agave. These spines are seriously dangerous — very sharp and strong. But the Jay can deal with it.

Mexican Jay. Big Bend National Park, Texas.

This Blue-footed Booby (yes, real name) was photographed in the Galapagos Islands by my friend Bart O’Brien in 2023. Nice photo of a great bird! I’ve seen these birds when kayaking in Baja, but I have no photos of them.

Blue-footed Booby. Galápagos Islands. Bart O’Brien photo.

Bart brought home a Booby as a present for me. I was going to let it free at the Buckley Ponds near Bishop. But Bart had to hide this gift from customs and sadly it was strangled by a pair of socks in his luggage. I had it stuffed and mounted in my yard.

Feet in Flight

In the air, the legs of a bird are less than useless. They add weight and create air resistance. For a bird trying to travel, it makes sense to abandon its feet and rent a new pair when it lands. In flight, birds copy the approach of a jet airplane. They fold up their landing gear into an aerodynamic position, then lower it on return to earth.

The Bald Eagle shows the strategy most used by raptors; fold up the feet and stow them out of the way, under the tail feathers.

The Red-tailed Hawk uses the same method, although the stowage below the tail is a bit sloppy in the photo below.

A Northern Harrier will often let its feet hang down a bit. This bird flies low, finds its victims, and suddenly drops. So high speed is often not important and having the feet ready to grasp an unsuspecting mouse is handy.

Northern Harrier, female. Buckley Ponds.

A House Finch shows perfect technique, quickly stowing the landing gear for flight.

A Western Meadowlark brings up its feet quickly after take-off.

Western Meadowlark. Gus Cashbaugh Lane, Bishop.

A Great Blue Heron has no place to hide its legs and feet. They are just too long. So it lifts the legs up and hold the toes out to minimize drag in the air. Sort of like an airplane dragging the luggage behind.

Several other wading/swimming birds also drag their feet behind them, raised up as best they can.

White-faced Ibis. Owens Lake. Sierra in background.

American White Pelicans can stow their big orange feet under their tail feathers. The ones shown below were part of a large flock flying in front of the White Mountains. These birds have 9-foot wingspans and weigh 16 pounds. They are the biggest North American bird, after the California Condor. Watching them cruise through the Owens Valley is a terrific sight.

A Greater White-fronted Goose does a fine job of hiding its webbed feet under the tail.

Greater White-Fronted Goose. Klondike Lake, Big Pine.

A Common Merganser has bright orange-red at both ends.

Common Merganser. Pleasant Valley Reservoir, Bishop.

Mallards tuck up their webbed feet.

Mallards. Male on left, female right. Bishop Creek Canal.

The feet of a Common Tern are tiny — you can barely see them in the photo below.

Landing

Bird toes have to be tough. They contact rough wood, barbed wire, dirt, and rock. Every day they absorb the shock of landing, over and over. Here are some landing photos.

An Osprey lands on a nest at Mono Lake. Note that both legs have bands on them. They look like handcuffs.

Preening and Scratching

Birds use their feet to manage their feathers and to scratch themselves. The first photo shows a Bald Eagle that had dirt and vegetation on its beak and head. She is trying to clean up.

Violet-green Swallow scratching itself.

Prairie Falcon scratching. Putting those talons right near an eye looks hazardous.

Northern Mockingbird scratching and going nuts. Why?

Owl scratches near its face.

Mating and Courtship

A male bird mounts the back of the female, so of course the feet are involved. Below we see a pair of Cooper’s Hawks. She has her right foot wrapped around a dead bird, probably an Eurasian Collared-Dove. The male Hawk has to take care not to hurt her with his talons.

California Gulls mating at Owens Lake. Get a room!

A male (grey color) and female (brown) Northern Harrier were hunting back and forth over the Buckley Ponds. Suddenly they flew up, displaying their talons toward each other. This looks like aggression, but it is actually a form of courtship display. A split-second later they flew apart and resumed the hunt.

Northern Harriers. Female above, male below. Buckley Ponds.

I saw two Bald Eagles high up and started shooting pictures. They were juveniles, maybe three years old. At first they flew side by side, but then one flew upward, rolled on its back, displayed its talons, and then completed the roll to an upright position. The other Eagle braked, hovered, and held out its talons. This is a courtship display. I was lucky to see this.

Ice and Snow

Birds can get frostbite, but that is rare. Their toes contain bone, tendons, only a few nerves and blood vessels, no muscles, and a tough outer sheath. Apparently their feet tolerate cold and heat well. Below we see Coots on ice. When the Buckley Ponds freeze, Coots lose their watery protection and they are cut off from food. Fortunately for Coots, the freezes are usually short.

A male California Quail hunts for food in the snow near Dixon Lane, north of Bishop.

California Quail, male. Dixon Lane, Bishop.

Hovering

When a bird hovers, its feet can be useful in the air. The bird lets the feet hang down to catch the wind and slow their forward speed. Birds often hover to hunt.

White-tailed Kites at the California coast, hunting over the headlands. The first photo shows a creature that looks like a white demon.

Northern Harrier (male) at the coast near Fort Bragg. The coastal meadows have lots of squirrels, highly valued by these hawks.

A Swainson’s Hawk hunting over a meadow in Yellowstone National Park.

Swainson’s Hawk. Yellowstone National Park.

Red-tailed Hawk hovers over a field near Bishop.

A Black-throated Hummingbird takes off near Bishop. This is true hovering; all the other photos show birds that can only “hover” by flying into a breeze.

Black-throated Hummingbird. Green Gate Road.

A Belted Kingfisher hovers at the Buckley Ponds The bird had just dived into the water and I think the hovering, which involved a lot of wing-flapping, was mostly to get rid of water on its feathers.

Aggression

Birds can attack with beaks or feet. First we see a Red-winged Blackbird using its feet to attack a Red-tailed Hawk.

Red-tailed Hawk, Red-winged Blackbird. Airport Road.

Below, a Red-winged Blackbird attacks a Swainson’s Hawk. The Hawk’s eye looks strangely blue because it is covered by the nictitating membrane. The Hawk can see through this membrane, but it helps protect the eye.

Swainson’s Hawk, Red-winged Blackbird. Airport Road.

Last, a Blackbird attacks a Raven. The Blackbird is using its feet. Why can’t birds be friends?

Common Raven, Red-winged Blackbird. Buckley Ponds.

Eating and Hunting

A Hairy Woodpecker uses its feet to climb and hang on to a tree limb, while hunting for bugs.

A Bald Eagle uses its feet to hold down a Double-crested Cormorant, while the beak tears apart the victim.

Bald Eagle eating Double-crested Cormorant. Pleasant Valley Reservoir, Bishop.

A Bald Eagle in the air bites into something it is holding. The bird may be snacking on the go. Or using its beak to kill a victim that is still struggling. Earlier I mentioned that bird toes use a mechanism similar to a zip tie, so the bird can easily hold prey that may be struggling or slippery.

A Bald Eagle in a tree, shown below, has blood on both the beak and the toes. The Eagle killed a Snow Goose at the Buckley Ponds. Then it tore the Goose apart and ate most of it in less than an hour, leaving a pile of feathers and bones. A Northern Harrier stole part of the meat, as did the Red-tailed Hawk shown in the next photo.

Red-tailed Hawk with part of a Snow Goose clutched in its talons. Note feathers on beak. And blood.

In the next three photos, a Red-shouldered Hawk tears apart a rodent (Norway Rat?) near the Methodist Church in Bishop.

A female Cooper’s Hawk is in a tree in downtown Bishop. She is clutching her kill, probably a Eurasian Collared-Dove. She is calling out to her mate, who soon will arrive for sex and a meal.

A Northern Harrier is carrying a rodent. You can see the tail.

The Osprey below plunged into the Pleasant Valley Reservoir and caught a trout. The bird then rocketed along the shore. Osprey’s have spiked scales on their toes to help them hold a slippery fish. They carry the fish with the head pointed forward, to reduce air resistance.

Osprey and trout. Pleasant Valley Reservoir.

(There is a technical aspect to the Osprey photo that I will describe. The lake was still in morning shadow and I was using a shutter speed of 1/2000 second, to prevent blurring due to motion. The low light resulted in a high ISO (6400) which produced a grainy (noisy) looking photo. But modern Lightroom software allowed me to reduce the noise in the photo by smoothing out the color changes from one pixel to the next. The result is a better picture. Digital cameras and software keep making clever improvements to produce better images.)

A story about bird feet: In 1965 I helped start a weekly newspaper, The Southern Courier, in Alabama. We covered news about civil rights and the Black community, stories that were not in the local press. Part of my job was to help with distribution, which led me Andalusia where William Shakespeare (yes, that was his name) was our local distributor. He was born to poor Black farmers around 1930 and grew up with his siblings in a small home with a dirt floor. His family could not afford to waste food, so when he was the youngest, he was given the chicken feet. He recalled, with a smile, that he was probably three years-old before he realized there were chicken parts other than feet. Mr. Shakespeare now owned an excellent fried chicken restaurant with a small dining room. He vowed to never eat chicken feet again.

Great Horned Owl – the silent hunter

In their book about Sierra Nevada birds, Beedy and Pandolfino wrote: “Eagles may get all the press, but Great Horned Owls are really the top predator of the North American bird world. They feed primarily on rodents and rabbits but will kill almost any animal they can carry, including birds, snakes, fish, and even animals other predators avoid completely, like porcupines and skunks. They can fly away with prey as much as three times their own weight and are known to kill house cats, small dogs, geese, and Great Blue Herons on occasion.”

Roberta and I have seen Great Horned Owls near Bishop at the Bishop Creek Canal, Airport Road, and the Buckley Ponds. One reliable location is a dirt road that branches off Dixon Lane. The road is lined with cottonwoods and owls sometimes raise their young there. In January or February, a pair of owls will occupy a nest that was built by Red-tailed Hawks. Eggs arrive in March and babies appear in April. Two months later the fledglings are learning to fly. We have seen from 1 to 4 baby owls in the spring. Dozens of people walk this road every day, often with dogs, but the owls still like the location. This year there were 4 fledglings and I was able to collect some photos.

An adult Great Horned Owl is almost 2 feet long, has a wing-span of 3.5 feet, and weighs 3 pounds; a little bigger than a Red-tailed Hawk. In daytime, the owls sit on the ground or branches and blend in with surrounding trees. At night they use incredible hearing and eye-sight to hunt.

When a bird flies through the air, the feathers create turbulence that produces sound. You can sometimes hear a whooshing noise when a large flock of Phalaropes or Blackbirds flies past. When a Common Raven flies nearby, up to 100 feet away, I often hear the sound of each wing-beat. The bird is constantly surrounded by this noise when flying. Most owls, however, use their ears to locate prey in the dark. These night hunters have evolved special feathers that smooth the airflow and muffle the sound of the wing slicing the air. Silent flight enables an owl to locate faint sounds that give away the victim’s position. The other night creatures do not hear the danger until it is too late.

Adult Owl Portraits

Below are photos of a typical owl, hiding in shadow behind branches. This is frustrating; it makes me want to carry hedge clippers so I can get a good photo. To find an owl, Roberta and I use camera or binoculars to study shaded areas. Often we spot an “owl” that turns out to be a stump or branch. One day we could not find an owl that we were sure was there; until we looked up and realized it was sitting on a branch just 4 feet above Roberta’s head.

There are two owls in this picture. Can you find them?

Sometimes adults are easy to spot. This seems to be especially true in early morning, when they are sitting with fledglings. Here are a few adult portraits.

The feathers are the same color as the tree bark.

Look closely at the “horns” in the picture above. They are just feathers. They have nothing to do with hearing. Some authors suggest they help with camouflage.

Adult owl on nest. Why does she appear to have red eye-shadow?

Fledgling Owl Photos

The youngest fledglings look ridiculous. They have white feathers and no “horns.” In just a few months they start to look like adults. By fall they go off to live on their own. Here are pictures of babies, starting with the youngest:

The white-feathered fledgling has blood on its mouth from a recent meal.

“Horns” start to appear. Feathers on legs and toes.

No “horns” yet. White feathers still on head and feet.

Left foot seems to show 3 toes in forward position.

Siblings. The owl in shadow looks older.

The “X” feet

Most birds have 4 toes; 3 point forwards, 1 points back. This is true of hawks, herons, sparrows, etc. But owls have one toe that can point forwards or backwards. When that toe points to the rear, their feet look like a large “X.” See the photos below. Having a powerful grip and sharp talons is useful for grabbing squirming prey. But other predator birds do not have this “X” formation; birds with this kind of “X” foot include cuckoos, woodpeckers, and parrots.

Same owl shows two toes pointing forward on both feet. Sharp talons.

Outdoor dining

The next section is R rated for violence, blood, and atrocious table manners. When owls catch prey, they carry it back to their daytime hiding area, so they can eat in peace. They dismember the body, often decapitating the victim. Next they choke down large chunks. Photos below show a fledgling that cuts a mouse in half and swallows the headless body. You can see the feet and tail sticking out of owl’s mouth. The faint-of-heart should skip these photos.

Siblings. The lower owl is having breakfast.

Sometimes I like to daydream about being born-again as a bird and having the power of flight. Photos like those above just kill those dreams.

Three short owl anecdotes:

1. Just after Christmas 2009, I did a loop hike in Death Valley with three friends. One morning we were walking on a dirt road which had a few inches of snow. Dan Ward, who sees things that I miss, pointed out that every 100 feet or so, there were rodent tracks and nearby feather marks. An owl had been hunting mice and it probably missed a few kills. Then Dan found a spot with similar markings and drops of blood in the snow; a mouse did not live to see the sunrise.

2. In 1985 I was leaving Kings Canyon National Park to get home to Visalia. It was late, the narrow paved road was pitch black. As my headlights came around a curve, the beams illuminated a Great Horned Owl descending over a mouse. The mouse changed direction at the last moment and the owl missed. This was a 2-second Nature Channel moment. The only thing missing was David Attenborough saying “The owl went hungry, but the mouse lived to see another day.”

3. Roberta and I like to walk; I carry a camera and often she spots a bird. We still haven’t learned to communicate well, partly because we both get too excited. We are not yet a well-oiled machine. In February of 2024, we were walking on the grassy headlands above the ocean near Fort Bragg, California. Roberta spotted a small owl in the grass just a dozen feet in front of us and she started yelling: “Owl! Owl!” I started yelling “What? Where?” The photo below was the result. We need to step up our game.

American Kestrel: Colorful Killer

Kestrels are tiny falcons, just 9” long with a wingspan of 22”, weight 4 oz. When perched, they can be mistaken for a Dove, a Shrike, or even a Blackbird. I did not start to identify Kestrels until I bought a telephoto lens and started collecting pictures in 2020. Thanks to the camera, I now realize that the Bishop area is infested with American Kestrels. They hang out on trees near fields and sagebrush flats. They like to stand on naked branches, from which they hunt insects, lizards, mice, and small birds.

Like other falcons, Kestrels have pointed wings, dark eyes, and a facial “mustache.” Their tails are flashy red. They appear to have “eyes” in the back of their heads, thanks to black feathers that form dark circles. The males have blue-gray wings, orange-brown backs with black horizontal dashes, and black spots on their white chests. A blue-orange, white-black combo. Females have a rufous back with horizontal black stripes. Their wings are colored like their backs and they have brown vertical streaks on their white chests. These little carnivores stand out for their gaudy feathers.

Falcons have short beaks that are sharply hooked. The beaks have a “tooth” that is used to sever the spine of their prey. They have big feet and long toes for striking their quarry. They may hold the victim with their talons, tearing it apart with their beaks.

Portraits of Male Kestrels

I will start with photos of male Kestrels. All these pictures were taken in the Bishop area near the Bishop Creek Canal, Airport Road, and the Buckley Ponds. The first image shows the black “mustache” that drops below the eye. Note the short, hooked beak. Black markings are on the back. The primary wing feathers cover most of the tail. The bird is looking over its shoulder, a come-hither look that is common for Kestrels.

The next five photos show a Kestrel near the Buckley Ponds. The lighting was particularly attractive that morning.

The next photo shows the “mustache” of black color below the eyes.

In the next image the bird shakes itself. This cleans the feathers of dust and dirt.

Hooked beak. Tail longer than wing feathers.

One foot on end of branch, the other lower down. Common pose.

One of my favorite images is below. The bird’s body is outlined by the dead branches.

Female on left, male on right. A mating couple? Siblings?

Same bird as the previous picture. Good view of the fake “eyes” on back of head.

Sometimes the young birds hang with their parents. Here are two females and a male. Family?

Portraits of Female Kestrels

Flight

Most falcons are built for speed. Not this bird. It can fly at 30 mph, but generally is lazy and takes its time. It is perfectly happy to eat grasshoppers, so there is no reason to rush about.

Female lands. The spots in air are from cottonwood trees or bugs.

Male below seems to be lost in thought. Female approaches. At first she looks threatening, but she is just trying to land.

Below a male lands. Then he staggers about trying not to overshoot the branch. Wings and tail wave about. This balancing act is common for these birds, as if it is hard for them to judge their final speed.

Female pivots to her right to launch from branch.

Hovering

Sometimes Kestrels will hover. They will face into a breeze and maneuver their wings and tail to keep their head steady, while they search the ground below.

Fun Facts

Pay attention. Some of this may be on the quiz.

First, Kestrels do not need to drink water. When kept in captivity, they can get all the water they need from their carnivorous diet. This makes it easier for them to live in the desert.

Second, DNA studies suggest that Falcons are not closely related to other hawks. They are related to cuckoos.

The third fact is related to defecation. If you are squeamish, you can skip this section. Kestrels do not build nests. They prefer to find cavities, such as holes left by woodpeckers. You have heard the phrase “Don’t soil your own nest.” Or, more crudely, “Don’t shit where you live.” Kestrels take this literally. Their waste, containing undigested food and a white paste of uric acid, is wrapped in a fecal sac, which is then evacuated. The bird can then throw this out of the cavity it resides in. Very tidy. Below, a photo sequence shows a bird evacuating and dropping this sac:

Other falcons

Three other falcon species can be found in the Bishop area. First is the Merlin, only a little bigger than a Kestrel: 10″ long, wingspan 24″, and 6.5 oz. They visit in fall and winter. Known for aggressive pursuit of other birds. Merlins come in 3 flavors: Pacific, Taiga, and Prairie. The photo below shows a bird with a faint mustache; probably a Taiga Merlin.

Much bigger is the Prairie Falcon: length 16″, wingspan 40″, 1.6 lb. Other birds should fear this hunter.

Prairie Falcon, Warm Springs Road. Note the talons.

Slightly bigger still is the Peregrine Falcon: length 16″, wingspan 41″, weight 1.6 lb. This bird dives from high above, can reach a speed over 200 mph, and can kill a duck or pigeon in mid-air by striking with its feet.

Wilson’s Phalarope

These shorebirds birds are 9 inches long, have a wingspan of 17 inches, and weigh 2 oz. They mate in the Dakotas and Saskatchewan in May. The females lay eggs and promptly leave, heading south to the saline lakes of the Great Basin: Great Salt Lake, Abert’s Lake in Oregon, and Mono Lake north of Bishop. The males look after the eggs, but once the chicks are hatched, the males also head south. The chicks are born with feathers and find their own food; soon they also go south. The birds show up at Mono Lake from mid-June to August. Surveys at Mono Lake done 35 years ago estimated up to 80,000 phalaropes in a year, but survey methods then and now are pretty crude. The females arrive first, then males, then juveniles. They hang out for a month doubling their weight on brine shrimp and alkali flies — an unlimited, but monotonous, buffet. They use the time and food energy to molt, discarding their old feathers and growing new ones. Then they fly south – a 3-day non-stop to South America, about 3000-4000 miles. They spend the Boreal winter at inland saline lakes near the Andes Mountains of Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile. In spring of the next year, they fly north and do this all over again.

Below are photos of Mono Lake, where thousands of Phalaropes gather every summer. The first photo was taken from the Mono Craters, a group of volcanos south of the lake. In the foreground is volcanic ash and rubble. In the middle distance on the right is an island called Paoha. Most California Gulls migrate from the coast to this island in the summer, nest, and raise their chicks. In the far distance are the snowy summits of the Sweetwater Mountains, which straddle the California-Nevada border.

Mono Lake from Mono Craters. Looking north.

The winter view below, looking south, shows the Lake from near Conway Summit. The large road is Highway 395. The town of Lee Vining is in the distance on the right. Rain and snow are coming down from the clouds.

Sunrise from the Lake’s south shore.

Lightning started a fire just a few years ago. It burned off sagebrush and rabbitbrush from a large area on the Lake’s south shore.

Mono Lake south shore. South Tufa area on left, Navy Beach on right. Burned from lighting fire.

Another view of the burned area.

Below are pictures of Wilson’s Phalaropes floating, preening, and feeding. These images were taken from the South Tufa area of Mono Lake, which has easy road access and a boardwalk that leads to the water. The female birds have a black facial stripe that morphs into a cinnamon color on the back of the neck; very elegant. Colors for the males and juveniles are muted; a blah look.

Wilson’s Phalaropes. Mono Lake. Two bird on the right are females in breeding plumage.

Wilson’s Phalaropes are wading birds, but also happy swimming about.

Lots of preening here. These birds are molting, getting entirely new outfits.

The image above shows some birds feeding. All they have to eat here are brine shrimp, which are less than a half-inch long, and small alkali flies. They grasp brine shrimp or flies with the tip of their bills, then open the bill so that a water droplet containing the food moves up to the mouth using surface-tension. Two California biologists studied this with high-speed cameras and their article shows photos of water droplets moving up a bird’s bill from tip to mouth in 0.01 seconds. (Rubega MA, Obst BS. Surface Tension Feeding in Phalaropes: Discovery of a Novel Feeding Mechanism. The Auk: A Quarterly Journal of Ornithology. 1993;110(2):169-173.)

Until 2021, I knew nothing about this bird. Roberta and I visited Mono Lake’s South Tufa beach early on July 2 and found thousands of them at the shore, floating on the water, and flying about in flocks of hundreds, even thousands. We came back on July 6 and 13 to get more photos. The birds made little noise; just faint gurgling sounds. At the shore they seemed restless, either eating or preening themselves. The scene was one of the most exciting wildlife events I’ve ever seen, comparable to seeing animal herds on the Serengeti.

Below are two images of Phalaropes landing.

This is a different bird, also landing. As they come down, they take a few steps on the water.

Every few minutes a flock of hundreds or thousands took off, zoomed about (at speeds up to 50 mph) near the water surface or high above the water, and then landed on the water. Large flocks made a “whooshing” sound as they went past. The landings looked like a controlled crash; the birds spread their wings, put out their feet, and take several steps on the water before flopping down. Their bellies are white, backs are a mix of browns. So depending on their angle in flight, they make look white, brown, grey, or black. As they change direction, the color of the flock changes — a fast moving plume of black smoke seems to turn white. Sometimes a dark-appearing flock crosses the path of another flock that looks white.

We see the bellies, so these birds look white.

In some photos, individual birds are upside down! Does air turbulence from the flock tip them over? Or are they just banking a turn very hard? How do they avoid crashing into each other? As they land, they seem to touch at times.

At the top of this group, right of center, one bird is upside down. Feet point into the air.

The more you magnify this photo, the more birds you can see. Could there be a thousand birds in this picture?

Why do they fly about so much? I assume they are getting their muscles in shape for the 3000-mile trip to South America. They are training, just as a human trains for a marathon. Are they also practicing how to fly as a group? When they head south, they usually lift off at night, head for the coast, and fly over the ocean. I wonder what it would look like to see a flock pass overhead against the stars or the moon?

Who was Wilson?

Alexander Wilson (1766 to 1813) was born in Scotland. He moved to America in 1794 (age 27) in the hope of escaping poverty. He lived in Pennsylvania. Before his death at age 47, he published 9 books of bird illustrations; American Ornithology (1808-1814). His name is attached to Wilson’s Storm-Petrel, Wilson’s Plover, Wilson’s Snipe, Wilson’s Phalarope, and Wilson’s Warbler.

In 2023, the American Ornithological Society announced a plan to revise North American bird names. Instead of naming birds for people (all white males of European heritage), names will be revised to describe the birds. They plan to revise 10 names in 2024, including Wilson’s Warbler and Snipe. Europeans did not discover these birds; they were known to indigenous people for thousands of years.

A couple of additional photos remind us that Phalaropes are not the only creatures at Mono Lake. Roberta spotted this Desert Cottontail on April 2, 2024.

Great Blue Herons

Bishop is in the high desert at 4000 feet. Despite being in a desert, we have Great Blue Herons; lots of them. They have been seen at 260 feet below sea level in Death Valley and as high as 11,000 feet near Sawmill Pass. They build nests in Cottonwoods throughout the Owens Valley; rookeries of several nests can be found. They fish in streams, canals, ponds, and reservoirs. They hunt small mammals in fields.

Compare a Heron with a Bald Eagle. Both prefer fish. The Heron catches fish with its long bill, the Eagle grasps them with its talons. They have colossal wingspans; 6 feet for the Heron, 6.5 feet for the Eagle. But the Heron is a lithe ballet dancer: 4.5 feet tall, 6.5 pounds. The Eagle is a muscle-bound thug: 2.5 feet, 9.5 pounds.

I have taken thousands of photos of Great Blue Herons. They are common and big, making them an easy target. I currently (March 2024) have 674 saved Heron photos, more than for any other bird. A heron was the first bird I managed to photograph while in flight. Their large size and straight path makes it easier to get pictures. Most photos in this post were taken near the Buckley Ponds or the Bishop Creek Canal.

Pony tails.

Herons have pony tails. Technically, these are occipital plumes. Apparently these feathers are used for mating displays. In reviewing my photos, the pony tails seem longest around January, when mating starts, shortest or absent in late summer. Or maybe this difference arises because juvenile Herons lack long plumes. Below are a few examples.

The pony tail floats above the back. Note all the holes in the wing feathers.

Shake it, baby!

Sometimes birds give themselves a vigorous shake, fluffing their feathers into a disorderly mess. Why? Are they trying to shed dust or parasites? Below is a sequence of photos showing this shaking.

Here is another example of shaking.

Note that the legs look like carbon-fiber hiking poles.

Feeding.

Herons usually hunt near or in water. They may stand motionless, or move slowly. Then they strike quickly and grab a fish. They may hold it for a while, until the flopping stops, then maneuver it so that it can be swallowed head first. If the fish is large you can see a bulge move down the bird’s neck. In addition to fish they eat crustaceans, amphibians, other birds, and small mammals.

Heron stalking fish or frogs at Buckley Ponds.

In the sequence below, a Heron catches a carp at the Buckley Ponds. The time from first to last photo is 52 seconds. Imagine if you had to eat this way.

Flight.

Herons use big, powerful, rhythmic wing-beats and tend to cruise in a straight line. I like to think of them as lumbering aircraft, an avian B-52. At the start of flight the neck is extended. Then it may coil back onto the shoulders, but not always. With the neck extended the bird often looks awkward, as if it has no business being in the air. The big primary feathers at the ends of the wings often have tears and holes, like a car riding on bald tires. Sometimes an entire feather is missing.

Flight through cottonwoods. Yellow plant is rabbitbrush.

Wings and reflection form a circle. Sometimes wing-tips touch the water.

Neck still mostly extended. The head and legs hang below the body. Ungainly look.

Birds descended from dinosaurs, but I find that hard to grasp when I see a Bald Eagle. But I can easily imagine the Heron below is a dinosaur.

Heron cruising over Pleasant Valley Reservoir, early morning.

Portraits.

I selected a portfolio of portraits to show Herons in a variety of places and poses. Their eyes look like sewn-on yellow buttons. The giant toes and hooked talons are remarkable. There is usually reddish coloration of thighs, wrists, and shoulders. They like to perch high up on poles, branches, and bridge structures. I picked many photos for unusual lighting or colors.

Herons often prefer to stand on one leg. They will do this even on windy days. They will lift up one leg and it will disappear into the feathers on their belly. All birds will stand on one leg, but this is more obvious in large birds such as Herons and Hawks. Sometimes a few toes will protrude from the feathers. The one-legged stance seems like a tricky and unnecessary balancing act. Humans have balance sensors, the vestibular system, in their ears; this helps us stand upright with our eyes closed. Birds have similar balancing sensors in their ears, but have another balance sensor in their pelvis, so they can move their heads independently of their bodies while perched on a bobbing branch. To stand on one leg they must have their foot right under their center of mass. They have a knob in their pelvis which allows them to lean on and lock-off the leg they are standing on.