Backyard - March 10th

A great birding morning outside my window.

Female Wood Duck

Male Wood Duck - Finally got to see a Wood Duck in a tree!  T'was a good morning! 

Yellow-Rumped Warbler - possibly a Myrtle's, possibly too early to tell.

Great Blue Heron

I also saw:
White-Breasted Nuthatch - only have seen that here two other times before.

On the feeders:
Downy Woodpeckers
Red-Breasted Nuthatches
Black-Capped Chickadees
Red-Winged Blackbird
Song Sparrows
House Sparrows
Purple Finches

Sauvie Island - Part two

All the Sparrows got us excited to see more, so it was off to explore the island.

Lots of pairs of American Robins. Love them.

Tundra Swans

Spotted Towhee.  Very curious of Jeff.

Neat little nest.

Golden-Crowned Sparrow

This one came right up to me. :D

While looking at a Chipping Sparrow and wondering where the Harris's Sparrow might be, I turned to my right, to see him looking right at me, closer than ever!  

Harris's Sparrow - Notice quite different than the Harris's in the last post - I think this one is an older juvenile, or maybe an adult.

Female Red-Winged Blackbird

Sandhill Cranes

White-Crowned Sparrow

A fun sequence of a Golden-Crowned Sparrow picking at the Pussy Willow Tree.

Sauvie Island - Part one - More than one Harris's Sparrow

The day started out at my Grandparents-in-law, a happy birthday visit to Grandpa.  Turns out, the birding there cannot be beat.  

This is their back yard.

Oregon Junco and White-Crowned Sparrow

Male Anna's Hummingbird

Female Red-Winged Blackbirds (the first ones I've seen this year!) and Golden-Crowned Sparrow.

Harris's Sparrow

The small, whitish ball toward the middle is him.

He was also seen getting seed from these feeders.

Harris's Sparrow with Red-Winged Blackbirds

The seed that attracted this Harris's Sparrow.

Harris's Sparrow

Ridgefield - drive loop

As almost always, once two or more people in a group get a lifer, there's no stopping them.  So we visited Ridgefield on the way back, thankful to be able to sit and bird at that point.  :) 

Red-Breasted Sapsucker

Albino Nutria.... very strange.

Song Sparrow

Coyote 

A beautiful sight to round off the day.

My beloved Great Horned Owl. :)

Black Phoebe 

Golden-Crowned Kinglet

The infamous Pied-Billed Grebe.

A wave good bye from our friend, the Red-Winged Blackbird.

Steigerwald

My first trip to this refuge and a great one it was.  Good birds, good people.  :)

Great Blue Heron Rookery, with more GBH's I've ever seen in one area!

Then the rookery all flew overhead together - outstanding!!!

Great Blue Heron

American Kestrel - Female

Same American Kestrel

A bird I never thought I would see in the Pacific Northwest - Mute Swan! *A Lifer!

Male Belted Kingfisher.  Just finished eating a frog.  I missed the shot, but I saw the action. 

Could it be?

The bird I've searched for countless times?

The bird I questioned actually existed...

The Barn Owl!!!

Needless to say at this point...
Barn Owl = LIFER!!!

Backyard Bird

The pictures aren't great, but I thought it was worth sharing.  This is a hawk I saw swoop into the trees and slowly devour a squirrel.

In this one you can kind of see the squirrel, down by his feet.

Scappoose Dike

A lot of different species, but most importantly...

Rough-Legged Hawk

A Lifer!!!