:-D
Today was an awesome day. My mom and I got up early and drove to Champoeg State Park, which is only just past Wilsonville, to go birding. It rocked. 39 species of bird later, including *11* I'd never identified before... yeah, it was pretty damn awesome. :-D
Highlights:
- Looking up to find a fluffy juvenile Great Horned Owl staring at us!
(Alas, by the time I'd taken the picture he'd turned his head away. But you can still see the fluffiness and his massive, massive claws.)
- Finding a Virginia Rail in the marshes! Rails are notorious for being extremely secretive and difficult to find. I was so damn excited when I walked by and one splashed past in the undergrowth of the marsh. :-D
- QUAIL! Can you believe I've never seen quail before? But a bevy of quail was crossing the road right before we entered the park. Little California Quail, so cute! <3 <3 <3
- A Willet was in the marshes too!!! It's not listed as being one of the birds identified in the park... however, the only remotely similar bird to it is the Lesser Yellowlegs and our guy had gray legs, so Willet it's gotta be. It was lovely!
- A nesting pair of Ospreys! They were pretty pissed off when we had to walk by their nest, poor guys.
- Seeing a pair of Western Bluebirds! These little fellas have had a tough time of things, what with invasive species stealing their nest sites, so the park has put up nest boxes for them and hopefully they will start to recover.
- I was able to identify three different kinds of swallows today! (Tree, Violet-green, and Barn.) Usually those little buggers are flying around so quickly you can't get a look at them, but I saw several perched on fences and boxes today. So cute! This is a Tree Swallow, the most numerous of the swallows we saw.
Man. Birds are awesome.
Here is my list for today; stars indicate birds I've never identified before (AKA life birds, birds I've ID'd for the first time in my life).
*California Quail
Merlin
American Crow
*Tree Swallow
Brown Creeper
Spotted Towhee
American Robin
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
*Western Wood-Pewee
Song Sparrow
Bewick's Wren
Dark-eyed Junco
Canada Goose
*Western Screech-Owl
Black-capped Chickadee
Rufous Hummingbird
*Violet-green Swallow
*American Goldfinch
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Red-winged Blackbird
European Starling
Western Scrub-jay
*Willet
*Virginia Rail
*Barn Swallow
Osprey
Green-winged Teal
Mallard
Great Blue Heron
*Western Bluebird
*House Wren
Brewer's Blackbird
Bushtit
Rock Dove
House Sparrow
Red-tailed Hawk
White-breasted Nuthatch
w00t birds!!!
Highlights:
- Looking up to find a fluffy juvenile Great Horned Owl staring at us!
(Alas, by the time I'd taken the picture he'd turned his head away. But you can still see the fluffiness and his massive, massive claws.)
- Finding a Virginia Rail in the marshes! Rails are notorious for being extremely secretive and difficult to find. I was so damn excited when I walked by and one splashed past in the undergrowth of the marsh. :-D
- QUAIL! Can you believe I've never seen quail before? But a bevy of quail was crossing the road right before we entered the park. Little California Quail, so cute! <3 <3 <3
- A Willet was in the marshes too!!! It's not listed as being one of the birds identified in the park... however, the only remotely similar bird to it is the Lesser Yellowlegs and our guy had gray legs, so Willet it's gotta be. It was lovely!
- A nesting pair of Ospreys! They were pretty pissed off when we had to walk by their nest, poor guys.
- Seeing a pair of Western Bluebirds! These little fellas have had a tough time of things, what with invasive species stealing their nest sites, so the park has put up nest boxes for them and hopefully they will start to recover.
- I was able to identify three different kinds of swallows today! (Tree, Violet-green, and Barn.) Usually those little buggers are flying around so quickly you can't get a look at them, but I saw several perched on fences and boxes today. So cute! This is a Tree Swallow, the most numerous of the swallows we saw.
Man. Birds are awesome.
Here is my list for today; stars indicate birds I've never identified before (AKA life birds, birds I've ID'd for the first time in my life).
*California Quail
Merlin
American Crow
*Tree Swallow
Brown Creeper
Spotted Towhee
American Robin
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
*Western Wood-Pewee
Song Sparrow
Bewick's Wren
Dark-eyed Junco
Canada Goose
*Western Screech-Owl
Black-capped Chickadee
Rufous Hummingbird
*Violet-green Swallow
*American Goldfinch
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Red-winged Blackbird
European Starling
Western Scrub-jay
*Willet
*Virginia Rail
*Barn Swallow
Osprey
Green-winged Teal
Mallard
Great Blue Heron
*Western Bluebird
*House Wren
Brewer's Blackbird
Bushtit
Rock Dove
House Sparrow
Red-tailed Hawk
White-breasted Nuthatch
w00t birds!!!