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!!!

Broughton Beach

11.27.12

After already going to Broughton Beach a previous day and getting the sought after birds, my cousin was kind enough to take me back there with him, to get said birds.  So nice of him! 

Red-Tailed Hawk

Western Meadowlark - the only one, a pleasant surprise. 

After so many Scaup, the Common Goldeneyes stood out to us like crazy! (Pictured about center)

This American Kestrel was hoovering quite close to us.

A fraction of the hundreds and hundreds of Scaup out on the river that day.

 After 4 hours of scoping the distance birds, and walking the beach (I'd say at least 2 miles), we finally saw the Tufted Duck* among the ridiculous amount of Greater and Lesser Scaup.  By then I was so excited to see it, I forgot to try to take a picture of it!!!  I'm sure it would've sucked anyway, it was so far away.

Probably the same Red-Tailed Hawk from before.

A nice view of Mt. Hood.

We also saw:

• Double-Crested Cormorant
• American Pipits*
• Great Blue Heron
• Red-Breasted Merganser - female
• Horned Grebe
• Ring-Necked Duck

*Lifers!!!

Finley Wildlife Refuge

This is my second trip to Finley, I love this place, it has everything.  Bodies of water, fields, lots of different kinds of trees, interpretive center (only open on weekends though), driving loops, walking loops AND a barn with an owl in it!  Of course, I didn't see it.  You have to be an owl person to see owls very often and I'm just not an owl person.  I don't even know what it is that makes an owl person. 

Pretty scenery 

A huge swarm of Red-Winged Blackbirds and European Starlings get scared off by a raptor (to left).

They switched directions...

and headed right toward us.  It was pretty surreal.

A Lewis's Woodpecker. A lifer for me!

Northern Flicker.  There were tons of them, I don't think I've ever seen so many in one day.

Red-Tailed Hawk

Here owl, owl, owl....

More pretty scenery 

A board walk through the woods.

White-Breasted Nuthatch

Wondering what I'm doing.

Acorn Woodpecker

Really weird; acorns stored in the holes of the tree.

Lots of Acorn Woodpeckers! (3 here)

At one point we ended up back on a road and saw this in someone's yard.  Heeheehee so weird!

Western Meadowlark

American Kestrel 

Long-Billed Dowitchers

Black Phoebe 

Marsh Wren to left, Savannah Sparrow on right

I just love these, I wanted to take some with me..

Red-Tailed Hawks

One more stalk of the barn, as the sun was going down.  No owls.

An American Kestrel showed up instead.

 Other birds seen:

• Golden and Ruby-Crowned Kinglets
• Fox Sparrow
• Northern Harriers
• Turkey Vulture
• Hutton's Vireo 
• Pied-Billed Grebes
• Great Blue Herons
• Red-Breasted Sapsucker
• Steller's Jay
• Killdeer
• Mallards
• American Robins
• Mourning Doves
• American Goldfinch
• Black-Capped Chickadees
• Western Scrub-Jay
• Spotted Towhee
• Oregon Junco

Sauvie's Island

On the way to visit family, stopped off at the Sauvie's Island bird blind to count birds for the Great Backyard Bird Count for 25 minutes.

• Double-Crested Cormorants - 5
• Western Scrub-Jays - 3
• Red-Tailed Hawk 
• American Crows - A murder (probably 20)
• American Kestrel
• Red-Winged Blackbird - call
• European Starling (I don't know how it's possible, but I only saw the single one.  So weird!)
• Mallards - 300
• American Coots - 5
• Great Blue Heron
• Canada Geese - 25
• Snow Geese - 300
• Sandhill Cranes - 7
• Oregon Junco
• Bald Eagle
• Great Egret

Snow Geese

Siletz Spit/ Canon Beach

An attempt to catch the Snowy Owl at Siletz Spit.  As we were closing in on the location that it has been reportedly spotted about two weeks before and two weeks before that, a local guy came out of his house, seeing us all geared up to ask if we were birding.  He informed us the Snowy Owl left last week.  We were a bit saddened by that, but the trip was well worth it anyway.  


Since it was a long trip, I'm splitting up what we saw as we traveled.  


Highway 26 Westbound:

• Red-Tailed Hawk
• American Crows
• Mourning Dove
• American Kestrel 
• Northern Flicker
• Western Scrub-Jay
• Mallards
• Buffleheads
• Double-Crested Cormorant
• European Starlings

Canon Beach:

My goodness that place was dead, as far as birds are concerned.  Oh.. actually that would be quite literally too.  We saw less than 10 Western Gulls, no birds on Haystack Rock, that is except 2 dead Cormorants :(.  Although, on the other side of the rock were several male and female Black Scoters and near the parking lot, a few House Sparrows.

Black Scoters - males and female

Western Gull.... I'm pretty sure.  Gulls are a bit difficult to I.D. sometimes. 

Along Highway 101 Southbound:

• Bufflehead
• Pied-Billed Grebe
• Horned Grebe
• Red-Winged Black Bird
• Anna's Hummingbird
• Less Scaups - males
• Ring-Necked Ducks
• Common Loon*
• Black-Capped Chickadee
• "Dusky" Canada Geese*
• Common Raven
• Great Egrets
• Great Blue Heron
• American Robin
• Brewer's Blackbirds

Siletz Spit:

• American Crows
• Kingfisher - male
• Golden-Crowned Sparrows
• Great Blue Heron
• Great Egret
• Buffleheads
• Spotted Towhees
• Northern Pintails
• Anna's Hummingbird
• Song Sparrow
• American Robins
• Golden-Crowned Kinglet
• Yellow-Rumped Warblers
• Bewick's Wren
• Mallards
• Chest-Nut Backed Chickadee
• Northern Flicker
• Gadwalls
• American Coots
• Varied Thrush - male
• Double-Crested Cormorant
• Surf Scoters
• Red-Breasted Mergansers
• Common Loon
• European Starlings
• Common Goldeneyes - males and females
• Barrow's Goldeneyes* - males and females
• Semi-Palmated Plovers

+Rabbits

+Harbor Seal

*Lifers!!

Surf Scoter - juvenile male

Red-Breasted Merganser - male

Semipalmated Plovers

Common Loon