Local birds.

The Five-mile Radius (5MR) list continues!  On Friday I made it out to Blue Lake Park for the first time in a month to see if I could nab any new 5MR birds for the year.  I had been trying to get the park list over 100 species and last I checked it was in the high 90's.  Of course, I got home and found some couple from Georgia had birded there and added THREE new birds to the park list pushing it up to 100.  Bastards stealing my thunder.

Anyway.  Good day for youngsters...




Ok, those were not the most exciting youngsters.  Let me try one more:

Gross!

The best bird of the morning was a surprising Red-eyed Vireo in the trees along the lake.


There are two main spots for this bird in the county and this is not one of them.  Very cool. 

That evening Jacob and I went back up to Larch Mountain to try for Common Nighthawks.  We heard our first one around 8:30, and had three more in that location.  There were even more at clearcuts on the way back down the mountain. 


The biggest celebrity bird in the area recently has been a Lawrence's Goldfinch coming to a feeder in Sherwood.  Thursday morning was my first chance to try for it and at the last minute Audrey decided to join the party.  We met up with a bunch of people including Colleen and John Rakestraw before carpooling to the location.  Within five minutes the goldfinch made an appearance at three different feeders.  My camera settings were all crazy and I only managed a few god-awful photos like this:

Heh.

The finches took off after a few minutes and the bird did not return for almost an hour and a half. 

Nerds.

Everyone knows that when you're waiting for a rare bird to return and you are with a large group of people the best course of action is to put on your day-glo orange poncho and stand twenty feet closer to the feeder than everyone else.


We left after seeing part of the bird one more time and decided to try for the Western Screech-Owl babies everyone has been talking about at Tualatin River NWR.  We found the nest cavity easily but it was just an empty hole.  Sad face.  Our consolation prize was this winning combination of a rough-skinned newt and a snail:


Back at home that afternoon the rain finally ended and the sun came out for awhile.  It had been a week since the chickadees fledged and finally the parents brought a young one around!



After stuffing the kid's face for a long time they parked the kid in an oak tree to fall into a food coma.


So sleepy.

Meanwhile Bushtits were doing the same thing but with a lot more children. 

  Subtle gape.

That's about it for local birds this week.  Good times!!

Comments

  1. Great post again love the photos especially the Owls (I don't know why I suddenly thought of Pen and Teller) , pitty about your list.
    Take care, Gordon.

    ReplyDelete
  2. BABY BIRDS. Also, hate to break it to you, but those are not owls. They appear to be props from the most recent Muppet movie.

    Good list building, too! Weird to think REVI is uncommon anywhere. My strategy for finding one is usually 1.) wait for summer, 2.) find a tree.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I wish that strategy worked here! They are fine birds.

      Delete
  3. The blue birds are busy on the second brood but I have not been after them with my camera...They have been learning how to catch grasshoppers. I never seem to be alone these days to just sneak up on the birds. Love the owlets.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's awesome that they're going for a second brood!

      Delete

Post a Comment