PFW Week 7

• Bushtits - 23
• Yellow rumped warbler - 2
• Dark eyed (Oregon) junco - 5
• Song sparrow - 2
• Black capped chickadee - 2
• Red breasted nuthatch - 1
• House finch - 3
  
• Bewick's wren - 1
• Ruby crowned kinglet - 1
• Lincoln's sparrow - 1
• Sharp shinned hawk - 1
• Anna's hummingbird - 1
• Western scrub jay - 1
  

Surprise at Koll Wetlands

Today I went on a bird walk with Tualatin Parks and Rec. Ranger Kelly. She took us to Koll Wetlands to see the birds there. We met at the Fanno Farmhouse before the walk. Right before we went over to the wetlands we saw two bald eagles!!
After they flew away we walked over to our viewing spot. I was excited to see my first ever bufflehead!!! While looking at all the ducks and waterfowl we got a BIG SURPRISE!




A bald eagle swooped in after a green winged teal! This is just a fraction of the action. He came in out of nowhere and sent all the birds away. He dove in after the teal several times before I was able to start shooting the video.

List for bird walk,

• Gadwall
• Green winged teal
  
• Bufflehead
• Northern Shoveler
• Mallard
  
• American Coot
• Pied billed Grebe
• Common Merganser
• Great Egret
• Great Blue Heron
  
• Bald Eagle
• Canada Geese
• Red tailed hawk
  

My Florida Diary - Part 1: Sandhill Cranes

I thought I would post some of my memories from when I lived in Florida. One of my favorite birds I used to see a lot of was sandhill cranes. I used to see them all around town, at the zoo (in an area where they were free to come and go), by a lake near my friend's house and at my sister's flute teacher's house.

Here is a sandhill crane with her newly hatched baby. We saw them at the Brevard Zoo in an area called Native Florida. This area has a small pond where local wildlife can come and go freely. There was a pair of sandhill cranes that nested there.

This must be one of his first times trying to stand up because he wasn't very strong yet. He only lasted a few seconds on his feet, but he still made it.

This is at my sister's flute teacher's house. While she was having a lesson, I went outside and spotted a pair of cranes. They visited here frequently.

While I was sitting there, one of them decided to start checking out this fake heron. He even pecked it's tail a couple of times ;-)

I followed them to the edge of this pond and sat down next to them before I went back inside the porch.

I've always loved sandhill cranes and I look forward to seeing them again.

Ridgefield NWR!!!!

Hey Everyone!
Saturday we finally went to Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge!!
While we were there we only went around the auto tour but we still had a great time. I was really looking forward to going there and it certainly didn't let us down!

On our way into the refuge, we spotted this coyote foraging for lunch. It looked pretty scraggly and slim.

This was one of the many herons that we saw. We ended up seeing 30 herons by the time we reached the end.

At first I didn't spot this raptor. Then after looking through the binoculars, I could identify that it was a rough-legged hawk. This picture was actually taken through the binoculars.

We saw three bald eagles flying in and out of this tree. There were two immature eagles (like this one) and one mature eagle with a nice white head.

This was the first nutria that we've ever seen. He was virtually ignoring us, just chowing down on something on the ground.

I couldn't even count how many swans there were. You can't see them in this picture, but just swimming along next to the swans was a pair of otters.

When we were near the end of the car loop, we saw a very spectacular show of an eagle taking on both herons and this red-tailed hawk! The herons and the hawk were hunting for the many voles and mice in this field.

Well here we are at the end. It was a really nice sunny day which produced this fantastic photo op.

Here is my list from our drive through the Ridgefield car loop.

1. American crow - 5
2. Bald eagle - 4
3. Rough-legged hawk - 2
4. Great blue heron - 30
5. Northern harrier - 4
6. Snow geese - 100s!
7. Canada geese - 100s!
8. Tundra Swans - too many to count
9. Northern Pintail - 8
10. American coot - 16
11. Northern Shoveler - 4
12. Golden crown sparrow - 3
13. Black capped chickadee - 2
14. Double-crested cormorant - 2
15. Ruddy Duck - 82!
16. Common merganser - 7
17. Mallard - 14
18. Red-tailed hawk - 3

Bonus animals

1. Nutria - 1
2. Mice - lots!
3. Vole - lots!
4. River otter - 2

PFW Week 6

• Black Capped Chickadee 4
  
• Annas Hummingbird 1
• House Finch 7
• Lesser Goldfinch 1
• Yellow Rumped Warbler 2
  
• Dark eyed (Oregon) Junco 11
• Song Sparrow 1
  
• Red Breasted Nuthatch 2
• Western Scrub Jay 1
• Bewick's Wren 1
• Downy Woodpecker 1
• European Starling 2
• Bushtits 14
• American Goldfinch 4
• Spotted Towhee 1
• Townsend's Warbler 1
  

Squirrel Flipping Part 1

Yes! This is the first time I've caught on video the Yankee Flipper in action!

It's not the best quality because it had to be taken with our little snapshot camera but here it is.

PFW Week 5

• House Finch 6
• Black Capped Chickadee 1
• Dark eyed (Oregon) Junco 12
• Annas Hummingbird 1
• Red Breasted Nuthatch 4
• European Starling 3
• Song Sparrow 3
• Spotted Towhee 2
• Lesser Goldfinch 1
• Townsend's Warbler 1
• Bushtits 23
• Downy Woodpecker 1
• Western Scrub Jay 1
• Northern Flicker 1
• American Crow 14
  

Pictures from Greenway park.

Here's some pictures from Greenway Park today.

Just some Mallards hanging out.

Now here's something I've never seen before! Two Flickers at the same time!

It's snowing right now so hopefully that will bring the Varied Thrush again ;-)

Have good birding and stay warm!
Bye.

Greenway flood brings Beaver for new year.

Well, we can say hello to 2009 by welcoming a semi flood in Greenway Park.

Look at that. Geese, Northern Shovelers, Teals, Herons, Egrets, Mallards, and a wide variety of ducks!

Cool! It's an expanded Wetlands!

Sorry for the low quality pictures but they had to be taken by my Dad's cell phone.

On the way back from "The Beaver bridge" we saw something furry swimming.
What could that be? That's a Beaver! No that's a Nutrea. Oh, it could just be a log. But wait! Look! That's a Beaver!
BEAVER!! YAY!!

Thanks for reading!

Yankee Flipper.

This is a House finch and Nuthatch on my new Yankee Flipper I got for Christmas.

Happy New Year!!!