Osprey.

-
Like many others in the northwest, I saw my first Osprey of the year yesterday.  A pair actually, sitting on the nest on Rentenaar Road. 



They took off soaring in the wind and disappeared out of sight...  Looking foward to more showing up soon!

Comments

  1. TammyMarch 29, 2012 at 10:35 AM

    Great photos! I like the decorative flowers and moss on their nest. The ones here seem to collect all sorts of trash in their nests.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Rhett WilkinsMarch 29, 2012 at 11:32 AM

    What a cool bird...

    Aahhh...I love Ospreys...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Laurence ButlerMarch 29, 2012 at 11:52 AM

    That Osprey nest is much more beautiful than others. It must be a part of that Oregon flower power.

    ReplyDelete
  4. FABMarch 29, 2012 at 2:41 PM

    Hi Jen. Great views of a fabulous species.

    ReplyDelete
  5. eileeninmdMarch 29, 2012 at 4:26 PM

    Great shots of the Osprey, Jen!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hilke BrederMarch 30, 2012 at 4:00 AM

    Love your Osprey, Jen! Great header shot! What kind of bird is that?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jen SanfordMarch 30, 2012 at 1:39 PM

      Thanks! It's an American Bittern, just turned sideways...

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Getting worse at birding.

-
Image
Sometimes I go out birding and find myself questioning every bird ID because I didn't see it that well or hear it that well.  Sometimes I start mixing up chip notes.  Sometimes I mix up finch songs, accipiter shapes, goose calls, or take fifty photos of a distant Savannah Sparrow because it looks weird.  Some days I feel like a terrible birder that is only getting worse.

We had an accipiter fly over the house in Lincoln City last weekend and I shot off a few quick photos.  Once at home and staring at the photos I was confused, went back and forth with Sibley and photos on eBird.  Finally I concluded it was a Sharp-shinned.


It has that no-neck look, a shorter tail, wings pushed forward, etc. Anyway.  Then I posted this photo of the same hawk on Instagram that I thought looked cool as a photo quiz:


Someone guessed the ID on the first try. 

I overthink bird ID's sometimes while other times I don't think hard enough.  I recently told someone that a Green-winged Teal they had p…
Read more

10-year challenge: IUTHB edition

-
Image
An article about the 10-year challenge popped up while I was trying to think of ideas for a 10-year blog anniversary post.  The premise is simple: post a photo of yourself from 10 years ago next to a current photo of yourself.  Perfect.  Here is the bird blog version. 

Birding in 2009...  The main difference between then and now is that then I didn't know I was birding.  Yes, I was going out and taking lots of photos of birds and yes, I started this blog specifically to keep track of what I was seeing (and share it all with my mom who loves birds).  But I didn't know birding was a thing.  I had no idea what a life list was, or a county list, or eBird or OBOL or any of that. 

Also, I ignored small birds for the most part.

Fall 2009, Jackson Bottom Wetlands

When I did venture a guess at a small bird I was wrong.  I called this a Savannah Sparrow.  

Bird ID in 2009...  I would open up my Peterson's Guide and make my best guess, throw it on my blog, and wait to see if one of my …
Read more

Pelagic Lite

-
Image
Last weekend Jacob and I joined Oregon Pelagic Tours for a short 6-hour pelagic trip out of Newport.  A private group hoping for albatross had set this trip up and some birders like us also crashed the party.  I knew it would probably be too short for rarities but Jacob had never been on a pelagic and I loved that we could do it without needing a dog-sitter.

Yaquina Bay sunrise

We lucked out with fantastic weather and calm seas and zero puking that I saw.  Quite a change from the last pelagic I went on which was apparently four years ago. While we waited to board the boat the sunrise continued to impress.


All week there had been reports of big numbers of Rhinoceros Auklets in Yaquina Bay and we got to see quite a few on our way out. 


There were also Red-necked Grebes, Common Loons, and this Common Murre quite close to the boat.


Outside the bay but while still close-ish to shore we spotted a couple of Marbled Murrelets.


A humpback whale was blowing and diving nearby.


Northern Fulmars we…
Read more