Birds in Action

A Mountain Bluebird Sialia currucoides jumping up to catch an insect in the meadow at Sunrise yesterday.

Yesterday Bruce and I went to hike and bird at Sunrise 0n Mt. Rainier, and today I got an early morning walk in at the Chamber's Bay Beach Access area. My best photos from both days seemed like they were of birds just doing their thing, flying, hunting, or just existing. See what you think of these photos.

A Glaucous-winged X Western Gull hybrid (our usual "big gull" in the Puget Sound area) dipping into the water to capture prey.

The prey the gull caught looks like a tiny crab.

This Orange-crowned Warbler Vermivora celata was actively feeding catching small insects in the trees. Many of our wood warblers move into the mountains after breeding to where insects are more numerous in the summer heat in order to obtain the protein nutrients needed to molt, i.e. to replace all of their feathers each year.

This adult female Sooty Grouse Dendragapus fuliginosus was standing on the slope above the trail yesterday keeping an eye on her nearly grown chicks feeding nearby.

Here is one of the young Sooty Grouse feeding just downslope from the observant mother.

Birds, like humans, just do what it takes to make a living and stay alive.

Good birding. Steem on!