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Kauai!

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A few months ago Jacob and I were talking about getting married and how we wanted to take a trip to celebrate afterwards.  It had to be less than a week long and it had to be somewhere we could both get life birds.  I did a target species search on eBird and got sucked into a blackhole of eBird checklists from Kauai involving Red-footed Boobies and all sorts of other fun birds.  I mentioned this to Jacob thinking it was probably unrealistic, but a quick search of flights showed there are direct PDX->Lihue flights daily.  Sold!


So...yeah, we got married last week and took off on Saturday for Kauai!  The first afternoon we were there we headed to Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge on the north side of the island.  We had been drooling over the checklists there and it was as amazing as we had hoped!


Red-footed Booby was our number one target and we were not disappointed.  They were flying around, sitting on nests, collecting nest material, doing all the things. 


The second most co…
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Local birds.

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There's been a lot happening in my 5MR so let's get right to it.  Last time I showed you the Great Horned Owl youngster, an Anna's Hummingbird nest with eggs, and a Lesser Goldfinch sitting on a nest.


The hummingbirds hatched!!  Two hungry mouths popped up when the mom flew in to the nest earlier this week.


So cute!  We stopped by this morning to check on them...


Mom flew in with food and again two hungry mouths popped up.


Progress!  Next up are the Great Horned Owls.  Last week the youngster was still hanging out close to the nest.


But a few days later it was no longer there.  We feared the worst but eventually Jacob spotted it way down perched on a leaning tree. 


Both parents were nearby keeping a close eye on it.  A few days after that we checked and the owlet had climbed up the leaning tree to a safer height.

Looking more owl-y

Today it was really wedged into a spot on the same tree, still not likely to be flying yet.


And now the Lesser Goldfinch nest.


Earlier this week…
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Spring comes to the 5MR

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It's here!  It's here!  It's all starting to happen!  Flowers are blooming, mason bees are hatching, and the birds are getting frisky.  In my last 5MR post I showed you a couple of nests at Marine Park on the Columbia River.  Well, that spot is blowing up with nesting birds, it's amazing.  I'll start with the Great Horneds:


They had a baby! 

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 3.30.19  Youngster concealed by the nest but definitely moving around

So that's cool.  Down the bike path from the owl nest I followed one of the dirt trails into the trees where I noticed a hummingbird flying around.  Since it seemed like everyone I knew was finding hummer nests I followed the bird till she settled down... on a nest.  YESSSSSS!!


It was still under construction and I watched her add spiderweb to the nest lining.  So cute and smart too.  A week later she seemed to be sitting on eggs but I wasn't sure.


Yesterday Jacob and I went by and checked and she wasn't on the nest.  We waited to se…
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