Wetlands

On a small birding trip to Koll center wetlands it seemed strange for the water to be so low considering the rain over the last few weeks and the snow melt. Does anybody know why the wetlands are like this?

These are some bald eagles flying around in Greenway park.

Have a good weekend everybody!

Raptor Road Trip!

On Feb. 7 we went to the Raptor Road Trip on Sauvie Island! When we got there we drove past some cormorants near the Sauvie Island bridge. Then we got some information and set out right away to the first viewing spot. Upon arriving at the first place the first thing we saw as soon as we got out of our car was a flock of sandhill cranes!

At the top of the hill we saw two adult bald eagles and their nest, tundra swans and a couple other birds such as jays. Then, on to the second viewing spot. I've never seen so many snow geese in my life! There must have been thousands of them all making a HUGE racket! Between the places there must have been a raptor on every other tree! I've never seen so many eagles, hawks and other raptors!

On our walk up to the third and final viewing spot, we saw more cranes, geese, an eagle, two harriers and some others. When we arrived at the end of the trail we were surprised to see Laura, (aka Birdnerd) from Laura goes birding! She told us that earlier they saw a prairie falcon tear apart a bird :-0! Then we saw another bald eagle, more cranes, a yellow rumped warbler, a downy woodpecker, and some more Canada geese. After a little while we headed back to our car and made our way back to check out the Audubon's Society's education birds.

So that was the story of our trip around the viewing spots. I will tell the rest of the story with some pictures.

Enjoy :-)

This bald eagle was right next to the road.

This was taken through my new binoculars - a bald eagle in its nest.

These were sandhill cranes at viewing spot #3.

Hazel the northern spotted owl - one of Audubon's education birds.

Meet Finnegan the peregrine falcon.

Aristophanes the common raven.


Bird list for the day.

1. Double crested cormorants
2. Sandhill cranes
3. Bald eagle
4. Red tailed hawk
5. American kestrel
6. Snow geese
7. Dark eyed (Oregon) junco
8. Tundra swans
9. Black capped chickadee
10. American coot
11. Western scrub jay
12. Yellow rumped warbler
13. Downy woodpecker
14. Common merganser
15. Northern harrier
16. Canada geese
17. American robin
18. Gull
19. European starling
20. American crow
21. Turkey vulture
    

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
  

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