I Used to Hate Birds

I just returned from a weekend at my friend's house outside of Philly where I did not do any birding whatsoever.  BUT, I did see this one bird hanging outside the ATM we stopped at:


I figure it's a young something or other... That's about all I got.


Also, there was this badass spider living in my friend's yard:


That's all!

I went over to Sauvie Island this morning in search of Red-eyed Vireos on the Wapato Access Greenway trail.  Failed to find any, but there was enough other good stuff so I was not disappointed.  Lots of good bugs and things...


Most of the birds were hanging low in the shade, so be warned, there are a lot of fuzzy dark photos ahead... The first bird I found was a raggedy little Bewick's Wren...


I'm not sure about this next young one... some kind of thrush... Swainson's?


A young robin:


A blurry young Cedar Waxwing:


This Red-breasted Sapsucker was really dull in color, probably the least bright one I've ever seen.


There were tons of Common Yellowthroats in one area...



And lastly, what I think is a raggedy young Song Sparrow...


Good times...

Yesterday was my birthday and I decided to start it off the same way as last year, with a trip to Ridgefield.  Nothing too exciting going on, but certainly lots of shorebirds that I could barely see due to my lack of scope.  Oh well. 

I watched a couple of coyotes hunting for a bit... Kind of far away for decent photos but I don't care.  I love watching them.


There was one area of blackberry bushes that was quite birdy. 

Willow Flycatcher

 Common Yellowthroat

White-breasted Nuthatch

For shorebirds, there were tons of yellowlegs, dowitchers, and other things that were far away.



A birthday bittern:


Good times... It was a beautiful morning even if it wasn't super birdalicious.  Yeah, I just wrote that.

Yesterday I went back to Sherman County to try to get some better looks at the birds I found there last month.  I had some success but was pretty surprised to find that a big wildfire had spread through...  According to the Oregon Department of Forestry it burned about 5600 acres.  Unfortunately some of the best spots I had found for sparrows were completely burned and seemingly bird-free.


Oh well, I found some other good spots.  On my way down Highway 97 I was surprised to look over and see seven pronghorn standing on a hill looking at me.  I didn't realize they could be found this far west.  I love them. 


I found the meadowlark in charge of hunting on someone's property.  He took his job very seriously... Not sure how he held the pen.


It was definitely a good day for Horned Larks.  On my last trip I only saw one or two and they were not the pretty adults I saw yesterday.  Check out the horns!


And the horns from behind...


It was a pretty nice day out- I could see both Mount…

Went up to Ridgefield on Tuesday morning... Shorebirds are definitely moving through now, though not a whole lot going on in general...

Western Scrub-Jay

Western Sandpiper

 Least Sandpipers


The Kiwa Trail wasn't much more exciting... Bunnies and muskrats... More exciting than nutria, I guess.






 Moth mullein

The best birds of the day by far were three Virginia Rail babies!  I wish I could have seen them close up, but since I may have seen their conception closer up than necessary, I will live...   Here's the only shot where you can see all three:




On the recent sightings board many people noted a lone pelican, but there are definitely two still around...


That same lake has quite a few Greater Yellowlegs and what I think are Long-billed Dowitchers...


Crappy photo:


Oh well, here are some cuties:

Cinnamon Teals? 

Good stuff... Definitely need some more shorebird practice.  Help is always appreciated!

I had an awesome day at the coast yesterday... I mainly wanted to play with my new GoPro camera, but also wanted to look for some gulls and stuff, as well as tire the dogs out.  Success!  I started my morning at the cove in Seaside...

Black Turnstones were scurrying over rocks by the dozen.  I was stoked.



I was watching them move across the rocks for awhile when I noticed this guy:


My first Ruddy Turnstone!!  So awesome.  The other turnstones were mad jealous of the Ruddy's fancy colors.


And one last Black Turnstone...


I took a lot of gull pictures throughout the day... Here's an easy one:

Heermann's Gull

 Western Gull

Glaucous-winged Gull

Next we headed to Fort Stevens State Park in Warrenton.  There were some small mixed flocks of shorebirds from which I could pick out only a couple species, Semipalmated Plover being the most obvious.


The rest of the birds looked like they might be Western Sandpipers and Dunlin, but I didn't get very good looks...


Later on I headed down…