The
meadows are looking very brown with just scattered splotches of color Other
than two large pink patches of fireweed (Chamerion angustifolium) above the
east spit and in the glade, small purple groupings of harvest Brodiaea (Brodiaea
coronaria), pink nodding onion (Allium cernuum), and yellow Puget Sound gumweed
(Grindelia integrifolia) provide color here and there. A few (<20) cactus
(Opuntia fragilis) did their 24 hour pale yellow bloom thing before withering. Seaside
rein-orchid (Piperia elegans) adds its white flowers to the flower mix
scattered across the island.
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| Rufous hummingbird nectaring on fireweed |
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| Harvest Brodiaea |
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| Nodding onion |
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| Puget Sound gumweed |
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| Seaside Rein-orchid (photo from a previous year) |
Most days on
Yellow I upload a bird list to eBird and there are now more than 3000 Yellow
Island daily checklists online. Recently eBird allowed uploading audio files
with the checklists and the audio will become part of the Macaulay Library of
natural sounds. This inspired me to get serious about recording bird songs and
calls. I upgraded my recorder and signed up for Cornell’s Bird Recording
Workshop held at San Francisco University Field Station located at an elevation
of 6000’ in the Sierras June 11-18. The director of the Macaulay Library, Greg
Budney, was the lead instructor for the class. For seven days we got up at 0430
and went out to various sites to record birds. It was a fabulous vacation!
The
following are some of the recordings of Yellow Island birds that I wake up to
every morning. Enjoy! (One of the recordings is from San Juan Island. Can you
guess which one?)
Western tanager and orange-crowned warbler: https://soundcloud.com/user-444804177/ocwaand-weta
White-crowned sparrow: https://soundcloud.com/user-444804177/wcsp
Olive-sided flycatcher: https://soundcloud.com/user-444804177/osfl-06202016
House wren: https://soundcloud.com/user-444804177/house-wren
Black oystercatcher: https://soundcloud.com/user-444804177/bloy-06052016
Black oystercatcher...yhe sound of my youth!!! Thank you for recording the birds. They are a treasure. Loved listening to all of them. Thank you for your efforts to capture them. Becky
ReplyDeleteThanks Phil from your Crane Island neighbors. Been hearing the Oystercatchers close up and warblers galore.
ReplyDeleteTiki Tom