Hummingbirds.

The hummingbirds have been "buzzing" around all of our feeders and flowers!

They are such a thrill!

One of the daily male Rufous.

One of the year-round female Annas.

One of our male Annas.

The first female Rufous of the season!

First of spring Rufous!!

Tuesday I saw my first of season Rufous hummingbird!! Since then two males have become daily visitors to are feeders along with the Annas hummers. The Rufous seem a lot smaller than the Annas. This little guy was really thirsty!

What a pretty little bird.

Lewis and Clark trail.

Today me and my family went to the end of the Lewis and Clark trail and then to Fort Clatsop.

This is the statue of Lewis and Clark at the end of their trail.

Entering Fort Clatsop.

A winter wren! A new life bird! I had hoped that I would get at least one life bird at the coast!

Common loons were abundant here! They are also life birds! There were no shortage of buffleheads either.

A statue inside the visitors center.

A canoe.

When they could, expedition members would relax in the evening with music and dance.

Thanks to Meriwether Lewis' mother, he knew much about herbs and plants. This came in very handy during the journey.

On the left is a stuffed Lewis' woodpecker. On the bottom is a stuffed chickaree, (or Douglas squirrel) and on the right is a stuffed Clark's nutcracker.

The captain's storage.

The Captain's quarters.

And finally, the outside of the fort.

List for birds on the day,

* = life bird.

1. Western canada goose
2. Cackling goose
3. Mallard
4. Common loon*
5. Pied - billed grebe
6. Great blue heron
7. Turkey vulture
8. Bald eagle
9. Red - tailed hawk
10. American kestrel
11. American coot
12. Herring gull*
13. Western gull
14. Glaucous - winged gull
15. Glaucous gull
16. Band - tailed pigeon
17. Rock dove (pigeon)
18. Mourning dove
19. Northern flicker
20. American crow
21. Violet - green swallow
22. Black - capped chickadee
23. White breasted nuthatch (heard)
24. Winter wren*
25. Marsh wren*
26. American robin
27. European starling
28. Brewer's blackbird
    

PFW Week 11

• House finch - 3
  
• Lesser goldfinch - 2
  
• Song sparrow - 3
  
• Sharp shinned hawk - 1
• Western scrub jay - 2
• Dark eyed (Oregon) junco - 3
• American crow - 4
• Bewick's wren - 1
• Glaucous gull - 6
• Glaucous - winged gull - 5
• American Robin - 2
• European Starling - 1
• Western gull - 1
• Spotted towhee - 2
• American goldfinch - 1
• Annas hummingbird - 1
• Mourning dove - 2
• Ruby crowned kinglet - 1
• Black capped chickadee - 3
• Red-breasted nuthatch - 2
• Bushtits - 6
  

Spring brings more life birds!

Yesterday on a trip down to Newberg I had a great birding day, (even if it was only birding from the car). On the way to our destination we saw 1 steller jay, 3 chickadee, 1 robin, 1 western bluebird, 8 red-tailed hawks, 4 kestrels, 8 violet green swallows, 1 starling and 2 mourning dove. On the way back I got two life birds! I spotted a merlin perched on top of a tree! That was a life bird for me! Then, as we were driving past Greenway park, the unexpected happend. A male ring - necked pheasent flew over our car! What a surprise to see so many birds and life birds just from your car! What a day!

New poll.

The results of last weeks poll on which squirrel is the cutest resulted in 2 votes for Kirk, 5 for the winner Stanley, 1 for fuzzy and 1 for the doofus squirrel.

The next poll will be what is your favorite place to bird?

Best day EVER at Koll wetlands!!

The first day of spring brought the best day ever at Koll wetlands!! Upon getting there we saw the most birds that I've ever seen at the wetlands! Everywhere you looked there were ducks, geese, shorebirds, hawks, swallows, coots, warblers, herons, you name it!

These are some of the photos from our visit.

Look at the size of that goose!

A male ruddy duck back in his breeding plumage.

A very friendly killdeer.

Wait, what's that?

I think that's a Wilson's snipe! A life bird!

What are these? Do you know?

A female bufflehead.

A bufflehead party!

Buffleheads and greater scaups.

A pair of ring necked ducks.

One canvasback and three male ring necked ducks.

Lesser scaup and two shovelers.

A gadwall.

Geese.

* = life bird.

• Pied - billed grebe
• Mallard
  
• Green winged teal
• Western Canada goose
• Cackling goose
• Greater scaup
• Lesser scaup
• Bufflehead
• Ruddy duck
• Ring - necked duck
• Red tailed hawk
• Violet - green swallow
• Great egret
  
• Great blue heron
• Wilson's snipe *
  
• Gadwall
• Canvasback
• Killdeer
• Yellow rumped warbler
• Black capped chickadee
• Mourning dove
• Northern shoveler
• Song sparrow
  

Park flooding.

Greenway park is flooded. When it floods here it brings the ducks, geese, herons, etc. closer in. We got a nice surprise when we found a group of violet green swallows flying in the air and catching bugs. Swallows are common in the park but not at this time of year.

Anyway these are some of the birds that came in from the wetlands and maybe some other places.

Western Canada geese.

Cackling goose (left).

More cacklers.

Gadwalls (left) and mallard (right).

Look how high the creek is!

See the little whirl-pools?

Mallards.

Mostly cacklers.

You can't even see the beaver dam!

A pair of American wigeon (left) and a green winged teal (right).

Golden crowned sparrows.

Just some park and yard photos.

The willow trees are starting to blossom!

Some daffodils.

A dandelion flower.

More flowers.

That dot next to the tree is a red tailed hawk.

Mallards.

A black kitty.

A red tailed hawk nest!

A hawk pellet.

I am proud to present a white breasted nuthatch!

A great blue heron.

A spotted towhee.

Song sparrow.

A robin and goldfinch.

A female red-winged blackbird.

The goldfinches are getting their summer plumage back!