Backyard Birds

I've been wanting to do a post all about backyard birds and I figured no better time then now, since we're moving soon and will have all new birds visiting  in an all new location.


Like I've mentioned before, I have always had some interest in birds.  
This is the earliest photographic evidence of that... (haha) 


It's so funny, the random things that come up when you go through old photos.


Hahaha! I almost forgot about this...  
In Dec. of 2006, this male Ringed-Necked Pheasant* literally appeared in our backyard one day out of no where.

April 2008 - this Orange-Crowned Warbler* caught my attention.

In June 2010, a male Downy Woodpecker* would come by for a daily visit to a bird bell I put out on my patio.

I set up my bird feeder around the time I first started really getting into birding.  
(Around March 2011)  Since I set up my feeder at the beginning of my birding "career", many of the birds I saw were lifers.  Seeing and successfully identifying birds on my feeder helped fuel the growing birder within. 


March 2011

House Finch

April 2011

• House Finches*
• Black-Capped Chickadees*
• Song Sparrow
• Yellow-Rumped Warbler* - male

May 2011

• Cooper's Hawk - scoped it from the living room! heehee
• House Sparrow - male
• Red-Winged Blackbird - male
• White-Crowned Sparrow
• Red-Winged Blackbird - female
• Anna's Hummingbird* - male
• Black-Headed Grosbeak*
• Purple Finches - after so many house finches, I started to develop a keen eye.

Red-Winged Blackbird and House Sparrow - weird combo

Young male Red-Winged Blackbird 

Black-Headed Grosbeak

June 2011

• Mourning Doves*
• Great Blue Heron - flying majestically above
• Northern Harrier - perched on the play structure at my apartments!
• Norther Flicker

*Lifers!

July 2011

• Song Sparrow - after being gone for 2+ months.  and even now I rarely see song sparrows at my feeder.
• American Goldfinch

September 2011

• Oregon Juncos - for some reason it took them forever to show up at my feeder, but they basically haven't left since.
• Western Scrub-Jay
• Downy Woodpecker - back for the first time in over a year! only briefly this time :

This Anna's Hummingbird comes by on a daily basis and sits on that branch, chattin' up a storm.

A young House Sparrow sits in a basket of seeds.  I love this one because he almost looks like a tiny hawk staring down at his prey.

The now full grown House Sparrow emerges from the basket of seed.

October 2011

• Lesser Goldfinch
• Steller's Jay

Lesser Goldfinches

An Oregon Junco takes a try at the branch

November 2011

• Spotted Towhee

Thomas loves Black-Capped Chickadees

December 2011

• European Starling - surprisingly they've only visited 1 or 2 times

January 2012

Anna's Humming bird 

Febuary 2012

• Yellow-Rumped Warbler

Yellow-Rumped Warbler, a rare visitor to my feeders

March 2012

• American Goldfinches - first of the season!
• Great Egret - flying above
• Song Sparrow
• Lesser Goldfinches

Guinea Hen - this was at an apartment we looked at - a potential backyard bird if we moved in.  We also saw a Peacock!  Apparently there's a stable near by where a bunch of these birds live.  How weird is that?  

House Sparrow 

House Sparrow - male and House Finch - female

Sauvie's Island

One of the best days ever... so sunny and nice out, got the bird I was looking for plus more and it was just a low key, spur of the moment trip with my newest birding buddy, my husband. The instructee has become the instructor!

• Sandhill Cranes
• Cackling Geese
• Golden-Crowned Sparrows
• Song Sparrows
• Double-Crested Cormorants
• Red-Tailed Hawks
• American Coots
• Northern Harrier
• Ruby-Crowned Kinglets
• White-Crowned Sparrows
• Harris's Sparrow* - counting it as a lifer now because last time he alluded me, and appeared only in photographs.  Jerk... (And btw.. comparing the two photos,doesn't it look like 2 different birds?  I thought there was just the one Harris's... ?)
• Spotted Towhees
• Fox Sparrow
• American Crows
• Golden Eagle - juvenile (it was in the exact same spot my mom, cousin and I saw it almost exactly a year ago, on my first birding trip to Sauvie's Island - a ground breaking day in birding for me - check out the post :))
• Bald Eagle - and juvenile
• Black-Capped Chickadee
• Western Scrub-Jays
• California Quails - at least 8 of them!  The first time I've seen them since I started birding.  The first time I saw them was in New Zealand, of all places to see a California Quail.
• Great Blue Herons
• American Robins
• Northern Shovelers - I was a little excited to see them because I had just mentioned  I hadn't seen them in quite a while.
• Northern Flicker
• Belted Kingfisher - male
• Dusky Canada Geese
• Canada Geese
• Greater Yellowlegs*
• Savannah Sparrows
• Killdeer(s) - I hate that, is the plural of killdeer killdeer or killdeers?  I would like to indicate when I've seen more than one.

*Lifers!

A flurry of Golden-Crowned Sparrows

Harris's Sparrow - compare it to a week ago. Different bird?

A sweet, brave White-Crowned Sparrow

California Quail

Sandhill Cranes and if you look closely, three Greater Yellowlegs!

Commonwealth / Furnhill / Jackson Bottom

A birding marathon extravaganza, if you will, a birding trip many months in the making, sprinting to and fro location after location and collecting lots of birds (and memories!) along the way.  :D


We started at East Commonwealth Lake Park Trail, South Beaverton in the Long Name Division neighborhood. Hahaha!!! JK, but why such a loooong name?  We didn't walk the circle, but we still got the gist.

• House Finch - male
• Red-Tailed Hawk
• American Wigeons
• Mallards
• Song Sparrows
• Bufflehead - male
• House Sparrow - male
• Anna's Hummingbird - call
• American Coot
• Western Scrub-Jay
• Black-Capped Chickadee - call (too bad I only know a few easy calls... need to work on that)
• American Robins
• Western Gulls

Next was Furnhill Wetlands, which was supposed to be the bell of the ball, but instead it was flooded into an unrecognizable blob.  I just hope the water goes down soon and Elvira can come back and see what it's really like.  As for her out of town, visiting folks... well hopefully she can send them pictures of what it was supposed to look like. ;)  What was really cool though, Sue knew all the back roads and we were able to do a convoy tour of the other side of the wetlands.

• Brewer's Blackbirds
• American Coots
• Mourning Doves
• American Robins
• Northern Flickers
• Song Sparrows
• Red-Tailed Hawks
• Downy Woodpecker - male
• European Starlings
• Canada Geese
• Red-Winged Blackbird - call - I seemed to miss it when others finally spotted it.  I may have been talking to a random lady who I thought was part of our group. Ha!
• Anna's Hummingbird
• Tree Swallows
• Western Meadowlarks - at one point of of them landed on a power line, it looked so big and strange up there.
• American Kestrel
• Bushtits - always so much prettier than I expect.  The photo in my Smithsonian book has to be the drabbest Bushtit ever and it's imprinted on my brain. 
• Brown-Headed Cowbird - boo ya!  Just me and my cousin got that one.

As you can see, the water level was WELL past the half way point in the road.

Last stop, Jackson Bottom

• Killdeers - in the parking lot, of course! 
• Lesser Goldfinch - first of the season
• Anna's Hummingbird
• Black-Capped Chickadees
• Chestnut-Backed Chickadees
• Pine Siskins
• Oregon Juncos
• Red-Breasted Nuthatch
• Downy Woodpecker - male
• Golden-Crowned Sparrow
• Spotted Towhee
• Canada Geese
• American Coots
• Tree Swallows
• Red-Winged Blackbird
• American Robins
• Western Scrub-Jay - it's funny how there will be times where you wont see a single robin or scrub-jay the whole day... 

Downy Boy

Somehow it's even more flooded than before!

Does this look familiar?

We wrapped up the day with dinner at Chennai Masala - the best Indian restaurant ever!!!

Scappoose Dike

• Red-Winged Blackbirds
• Canada Geese
• Mallards
• Gadwalls
• Northern Pintail
• Song Sparrows
• American Robins 
• Great Egret 
• Great Blue Herons
• Double-Crested Cormorants - including juveniles
• House Finches
• American Coots
• Northern Harrier
• Green-Winged Teals

Ocean Shores, WA

Boy what a trip...  It took a bit longer than we expected, but the delays made us miss the down pours but not the birds! =D

• American Robins
• Western Gulls
• Surf Scoters
• Red-Breasted Mergansers
• Buffleheads
• Common Loon
• Snowy Owls* - it seemed to know we had a rough day and decided to come to us instead of making us find it :)
• Bald Eagle - and juvenile
• White-Winged Scoters 
• Sanderlings - it was crazy bc the first time we saw them it was a fairly large group and this time it was a single one (at first) then a bit later it was a group of thousands!
• Black Turnstones*
• Common Goldeneye
• Greater Scaups
• Western Sandpipers*
• Horned Grebes
• Northern Harrier
• Western Grebes

*Lifers!

Snowy Owl - female or juvenile?

Black Turnstones

Snowy Owl - not positive if this is the same one or not... it seems like this one has a bit of a widow's peak.

Sanderlings

the Sanderlings took off in waves

thousands of them

Whitaker Ponds

Part two of yesterday, after a call from my cousin to join him and Elvira to try to get the Black Phoebe.  Of course I can't refuse such an offer and I was off to join my fellow birders on the exciting chase of a new bird.  (We didn't see it, but it was still a great trip!)

• American Robins
• Downy Woodpeckers
• Cedar Waxwings
• Canada Geese
• Yellow-Rumped Warblers - in full breeding plumage!
• Mallards
• Green-Winged Teal - male
• Northern Flicker
• American Crows
• Oregon Juncos
• Black-Capped Chickadees
• Red-Winged Blackbird
• Bushtits
• Anna's Hummingbird - call
• Ruby-Crowned Kinglet
• GREAT HORNED OWLS - and owlets! (so ridiculous looking - love them!)
• Spotted Towhee

Great Horned Owl... so very great

By this time no doubt getting annoyed by me

A sequence of events - I watched a pellet fall to the ground...

Owlets - this picture sooo doesn't give it justice...  but you get the idea...  

Sauvie's Island

Yesterday was a two part birding adventure.  Part one was all about enjoying the sun, nature and solitude.  And, in like all outdoor situations, birding.  

• Western Scrub-Jays - shining brilliant blue in the sunlight
• Bald Eagles
• European Starlings
• House Finch
• Song Sparrows
• Red-Tailed Hawks
• Red-Winged Blackbird - call
• Dusky Canada Geese
• Black-Capped Chickadees
• Golden-Crowned Sparrows
• Great Blue Heron
• Double-Crested Cormorant - flying above me, nearly crapping on me!
• American Coots
• Sandhill Cranes
• Northern Harrier
• Snow Geese
• Killdeers
• Oregon Juncos
• Spotted Towhees
• White-Crowned Sparrows - including young ones 
• Fox Sparrow*
• Harris's Sparrow - sneaking into photos

*Lifer!

Golden-Crowned Sparrow

Northern Harrier

Harris's Sparrow to the right... the sneaky bastard

Golden-Crowned Sparrow chowin' down, Harris's Sparrow quickly sneaks a bite - center

apparently there was a bee in the mix.  how my camera caught that, I don't know.  I DO know that had I been trying to get this shot, the bee would be a blob of nothingness.

A nice variety: Golden-Crowned Sparrows, White-Crowned Sparrow and young White-Crowned Sparrow toward center.

White-Crowned Sparrow

Golden-Crowned, flanked by young White-Crowned Sparrows