William L. Finley NWR

Yesterday I wanted to visit somewhere I'd never been before so I consulted the good ole Birding Oregon book for ideas.. My initial plan was to check out Marys Peak, and I made it most of the way to the top, but it was so foggy and rainy I gave up.  I headed back down to check out William L. Finley National Wildlife Refuge instead...

Outside Corvallis some Wild Turkeys crossed the road in front of me!



It was a good-sized flock!  I've only seen that many turkeys in my hometown in Connecticut...



Too bad I only got fuzzy photos... I forget how crazy they look!

At the refuge I decided to check out the Woodpecker Trail.  I quickly found a Pileated Woodpecker flying around calling loudly...


There were also a few trees filled with kinglets and chickadees...

Golden-crowned Kinglet

This next fella darted over a log when I came around a corner...  I took a couple steps towards him to take a peek, and he peeked back:


Ok so the next bird I saw drove me absolutely nuts.  I heard him and my first thought was that it was the wind-up bird from The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.  My next thought was where did he go?  I stalked him for about 20 minutes catching quick glimpses of an eye here and a tail there.  My pictures are as bad as you'd expect in this situation.



I finally figured out it was a Wrentit!  That makes this guy the 5th new bird I saw this week!  How crazy...

It started to rain again so I headed back to Portland, but I definitely look forward to visiting Finley again!

Comments

  1. Good pictures of the Wild Turkey Jen. I hear they are very difficult to see because they are so sought after by hunters?

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  2. I consider foggy conditions a gift. Take full advantage of them in the future.

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  3. You've had a remarkable series of sightings, and good photos to go along with them. Those small birds are very challenging - but the kinglets and wrentit finally gave in. Your egret was especially interesting, esp since an uncle in FL recently sent me a photo with a great blue that had taken a moorhen chick. Don't know why I would think the waders would only eat dumb fish and crustaceans. If cute mammals and chicks come along, why use the opportunity for a meal? I was surprised by your photo of the orange leaves - with an easterner's prejudice, I thought those kinds of colors were only in the east.

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  4. Chris, funny you should say that about the leaves... Before I moved to the west coast 9 years ago, I actually thought the leaves only changed color dramatically in the east!

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