i used to hate birds.

I spent a lot of time in Washington this weekend.  Yesterday I decided to explore the Shillapoo Wildlife Area in Vancouver because although I've birded all around it, I had never actually been there.  There are three different sections and I spent my time at the Vancouver Lake unit.  I highly recommend checking it out if you need somewhere new to visit.

A drive down the entrance road produced oodles of goldfinches, Lazuli Buntings, Savannah Sparrows, and a couple of Anna's Hummingbirds chasing each other around.  In the main parking lot a couple of Violet-green Swallows were perched on the fence wire.



I walked the dogs up the gravel road to the next parking area and found a little haven of birds.  It started with this female Black-headed Grosbeak (that I briefly turned into a Varied Thrush):


She flew up to a nearby tree and soon I became aware of the amazing variety of birds in the trees- a pair of Bullock's Orioles defended one treetop, a couple of Townsend's Warblers…

Yep, it must be spring.  Our weather is all over the place and yesterday evening we even had a thunderstorm, something that many of us transplants dearly miss in the northwest.   They are so rare here that I didn't even realize what was happening during the first rumble (and went flying off the couch thinking a plane was about to crash on my roof).  Birding has been interesting- from cold and wet to hot and sunny.   Here's some recent stuff...

From Kelley Point Park on Thursday morning...

Spotted Towhee

 Young robin


Flycatcher... yep...


Wilson's Warbler


Warbling Vireo


Another young robin


Stick dog


I don't know what this next plant is called but I love it...


From Force Lake also Thursday morning...

Mallard family

 Anna's Hummingbird


Common Yellowthroat

From Oaks Bottom yesterday afternoon...

Barn Swallow

The cotton in the sky was kind of hypnotizing...


Check out this enormous turtle:


I swear it's the biggest one I've ever seen in Portland.  I didn't have too much lu…

I took the dogs out to Eagle Creek this morning for some wandering in the rain.  I was psyched that there were still plenty of active birds, but not psyched that I could barely get any photos.  At the overlook I finally remembered I had downloaded the app "Autostitch" and made a panorama:


It's not perfect but it was only my second time using the app.  Pretty cool, I highly recommend it.  Also at the overlook were juncos, Chestnut-backed Chickadees, Western Tanagers, Townsend's Warblers, and Black-headed Grosbeaks.  But none of those jerks would pose for me so here are some Common Mergansers in the river instead:


Back at Eagle Creek I was hoping for Harlequins but never found any.  Did see one American Dipper...


Also along the creek were Steller's Jays and Wilson's Warblers...



I love walking around this area, even in the rain...  



Oh, one last thing... One of the trees along the creek had this tag on it:


What's the deal?  I tried a quick google search and …