flowery shrub and some birdies up by Lake Stuart

[payslee]

Hi all,

Came across one this weekend that I don't remember seeing before, and I'm too buried in catch-up work after my vacation to sit down with all my books.

This was growing in a shrubby meadow near Lake Stuart, about 5,000 feet elevation. No scent that I noticed.



And Ducks! What the heck kind of ducks are these, besides "adorable"?


There were lots and lots of cool birds around our campsite that were too mobile for me to catch with my camera, but did get a shot of this guy eying a pine cone at Horseshoe Lake, around 6300 feet. Maybe robin sized? Or a little smaller?




And is this a Montia? Also up at Horseshoe lake, just starting to bloom around the snow patches.



Thanks for your help!

-payslee

[miah66]

I think the duck may be a Lesser Scaup

[n.bumppo]

The colorization of the duck looks like a female common merganser. Because of the head angle I can't see the characteristic crest of feather on the back of the head that would seal the id.

Your little brown bird could be any of a multitude of little brown birds. But, I am going with pine siskin because of the striped breast and it looks to be standing over a conifer cone. Did the wings have some yellow color on them?

[miah66]

Your little brown bird could be any of a multitude of little brown birds. But, I am going with pine siskin because of the striped breast and it looks to be standing over a conifer cone. Did the wings have some yellow color on them?

That was my first guess too, though the bill looks kind of chunky for a siskin and I couldn't see any yellow. Hard to tell.

[payslee]

Don't remember any yellow on the LBB, but there was a lot to look at up there so there may have been.

Here are some more adoraduck pictures.

Mom(?) is on the left, babies on the right.


Backlit family shot


The following evening, the kids seemed to be on their own. Looks like they have some kind of bouffy head thing going on



Thanks for the tips.

-payslee

[n.bumppo]

Based on your new pictures of the duck I am going with either common or barrow's goldeneye.

[kepPNW]

Your little brown bird could be any of a multitude of little brown birds. But, I am going with pine siskin because of the striped breast and it looks to be standing over a conifer cone. Did the wings have some yellow color on them?

That was my first guess too, though the bill looks kind of chunky for a siskin and I couldn't see any yellow. Hard to tell.

Having now been biased, I'd have to agree it looks like a pine siskin (without glasses), although those guys are only half as big as a robin so if her guess on size was close...?

[Waffle Stomper]

Little brown bird, hard to tell, I don't think it is a Pine Siskin because the beak seems a little large. I'm thinking a sparrow of some sort but then I tend to default to L.B.B. for Little Brown Bird.

I think Miah66's id for the Scaup is correct.

[cfm]

Your shrub looks like a black twinberrry, Lonicera involucrata, and the flower, Montia is a good guess, but it looks like it might be one of the Lewisia spp to me.

[adamschneider]

Your shrub looks like a black twinberrry, Lonicera involucrata, and the flower, Montia is a good guess, but it looks like it might be one of the Lewisia spp to me.

I agree. The black twinberry flowers I've seen were all yellow (not red), but it has be that; nothing else is similar.

And the other one is most likely Lewisia columbiana. All lewisias are similar to montias in that they have 2 sepals rather than the 5 you might expect.