Long-necked and long-legged, these grayish cranes stand three feet tall.
But sandpiper bills are far more than drills. This bird is often called the Chinese Pheasant for its country of origin.
The song comes from above, as a male Horned Lark hovers on fluttering wings, describing a large circle a hundred feet above the ground. The fleet and graceful flight of swallows livens up the sky.
But many remain, and even the shy and secretive sometimes reveal themselves. But the supply is limited.
Even most of the Dark-eyed Juncos that winter here will soon leave for mountain forests, taking their ringing trills with them.
The silence would be deafening, the absence of their songs like the loss of one of our primary senses.
Western Washington sits mid-way along the Pacific Coast flyway.
Brown Pelicans fly just above the breaking surf off the Washington coast.
Avid birdwatchers, particularly on the East Coast, use binoculars or telescopes to observe flocks flying across the face of the moon.
It is late February, a few miles from the Columbia River in Central Washington.
Sage Sparrows are arriving north from wintering in the Southwest deserts.
One person's dedication can make a difference, as it did with Kevin Li and Puget Sound's Purple Martins.
Storks and babies have been linked together for centuries.
Many owls appear in the Harry Potter films.
Where tall, shade-giving trees have been cut down to grow coffee in direct sunlight, what is also removed is the habitat tanagers require to rest and feed. Outside of the breeding season, robins tend to gather in large flocks. Long-necked and long-legged, these grayish cranes stand three feet tall.
Coastal beaches and estuaries offer excellent resting and feeding stops for migrating shorebirds, some of which travel from Argentina to the Arctic and back, every year. If this sounds a bit melodramatic, it just might be. Raven wanted the rivers to turn and wind, so that as he flew up and down them, he would have different views at every bend. Imagine flying thousands of miles without map or compass.
To bring them into your garden, plant thick, low vegetation, or create a brush pile.
You can help by requesting shade-grown coffee.
Brown Pelicans fly just above the breaking surf off the Washington coast.