I Used to Hate Birds

Saturday afternoon Jacob and I went back to our cabin to pick up the dogs and take them for a great walk in the Deschutes National Forest.  We followed a tapping sound to a Black-backed Woodpecker and heard our only (!) Red-breasted Nuthatch of the trip.  The dogs had a good time too.

Rexi on the go.

That evening we decided to catch the sunset by a big open field with a view of Mount Bachelor and the Three Sisters.  Swallows and ducks kept the skies interesting. 



The next morning we woke early to head to the Greater Sage-Grouse lek near Bend.  There were a couple other groups of people there, none of whom wanted to stay in their cars as suggested by the sign nearby.  The four displaying grouse stayed to the far side of the fence so I did not bother trying for photos. Still cool to see.

It was pretty chilly and we decided to drive around and explore the area south of there, taking random forest roads.  I got out to pee in the tallest sagebrush I could find (not tall enough) and kept fin…

Last weekend Jacob and I took a road trip to central Oregon and spent four days birding and exploring.  We began with a snowy drive over Mount Hood, then descended into the sunny and drier side of the state where wildflowers were hard to resist. 


All the shooting stars I could ever want

We made a stop at Smith Rock for White-throated Swifts and found bonus marmots and a Townsend's Solitaire.  A Black-billed Magpie is all I have to share from there.


Our first big birding stop was in Sisters where we visited the Best Western, Trinity Way, forest roads off of 242, and Calliope Crossing.  It went from sunny to crazy snow and back to sunny while we were there.


Jacob found his lifer White-headed Woodpeckers in the snow.


Along Trinity Way we stopped when we heard a bunch of birds including Evening Grosbeaks, Pgymy Nuthatches and Cassin's Finches.



A Western gray squirrel was digging around by the high school while we looked for Pinyon Jays.


At Calliope Crossing we failed to find any pure …

Welcome to my last blog post about Texas!  This is all the random stuff that did not fit neatly into any of the other posts.  Enjoy!

When Audrey and I arrived in Brownsville to pick up Sarah, Max, and Eric from the airport, we had an extra hour to kill, so we found a small park to bird, Dean Porter Park.   It was windy AF but there were new birds and new trip birds and new turtles too.

Texas spiny soft-shelled turtles

Golden-fronted Woodpecker

Domestic Muscovy Duck in top of palm

Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks

Green Parakeets!

Audrey vs. Laughing Gull

Once the whole gang was in town we headed to our Airbnb in Harlingen.  This place was the shiznit.  We could have sat in the yard the whole five days and still seen a ton of birds.  For example, here is a checklist from one evening when we drank beer and ate popsicles. 


Harris's Hawk yard bird

The morning we went to South Padre with Nate and AJ we first drove the dusty Old Port Isabel Road.  The highlight here was finding the nesting Aplom…