My weekend...

I managed to be out and about quite a bit this weekend, often looking for birds though not finding a ton.  On Friday I took the dogs for a long long walk along the Frenchman's Bar Trail in Vancouver.  It wasn't too birdy but it was freakin gorgeous out.

Mount St. Helens

 Mount Hood

The dogs looked pretty handsome in their matching bandanas too:


Just saying. 
Anyway, this morning we walked out my front door and a raccoon was right there on the sidewalk.  It catapulted itself into a tree immediately and I yanked the dogs back inside. 


He was a cutie.  We waited for him to move on to a tree across the street before trying to leave again... The plan was to check out Baskett-Slough NWR down near Salem.  I had only been there once before and didn't really know where to go.  This time I was armed with Birding Oregon and feeling confident.

I didn't see much.  It happens.  Here's what I did see...

At the main overlook was this bird...  It's confusing me a bit... Is it just a female House Sparrow?  The head looked so much browner than the ones I usually see outside my window. 


And it's blurry backside:

American Coot

Mule Deer

 Red-tailed Hawk

Wow.  Not a very exciting few hours.  This afternoon back in Portland I decided I needed to find an interesting bird before the day was over.  If for no other reason than the fact that it wasn't raining...

I went in search of the Acorn Woodpeckers at East Delta Park.  I found where they were supposed to be right away.  Unfortunately I had startled a flock of starlings right up into the same trees.  That does not make things easy.  I wandered around the area with the dogs checking all the trees nearby... On my way back I checked the first trees again and I found one of the woodpeckers right away!


 Woohoo!  An Oregon first for me... I tried to find the second one but never did...  I was happy to find one though!  It was worth the numb fingers for sure.

Comments

  1. I had never even heard of an Acorn Woodpecker. It wasn't in any of my books so I googled it. What a great catch for you!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Congrats on the Acorn. Not a species I've run into. Hopefully I'll visit your area in the next couple years. Clearly now I know where to go.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sounds like a pefect day to me...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great that you got your Acorn!! That hawk shot is awesome!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Looks like you had a great day out Jen. The Racoon shot is brill and those bandanas super cool - market them for pooches double quick.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Congrats on the Acorn Woodpecker. You're pretty good at chasing birds!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment