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!!!

Ridgefield - Carty Unit and Drive Loop

9.25.12

Carty Unit:

• American Kestrel - male
• Western Scrub-Jay
• Cedar Waxwings
• Canada Geese
• Bushtits
• Golden-Crowned Sparrows - they sure weren't gone long.  I want to say it's been 4 months since last time I saw one.
• Mallards
• Killdeer - lots!
• Red-Tailed Hawk
• Steller's Jays
• Song Sparrows
• Spotted Towhee
• Great Egrets - 3
• American Robin
• American Crow
• Golden-Crowned Kinglet
• Turkey Vultures
• Northern Flicker - male
• White-Crowned Sparrows
• Red-Breasted Nuthatches
• Black-Capped Chickadee
• Red-Breasted Sapsuckers
• Sandhill Crane - saw one, heard many
• Lesser Yellowlegs

Spotted Towhee

Drive Loop:

• Belted Kingfisher
• Pied-Billed Grebes
• Wood Ducks
• Great Horned Owl!
• Brown Creeper
• Northern Harrier
• American Coots
• Savannah Sparrow

Male Belted Kingfisher

Pied-Billed Grebe

Great Blue Heron

Great Horned Owl

Wood Ducks

Scappoose Dike

• Western Scrub-Jays
• Red-Winged Blackbird
• American Wigeons 
• Mallards
• Great Blue Herons
• Green-Winged Teals
• Black-Capped Chickadees
• Cinnamon Teals - my mom caught these before me (good eye!) then we had to wait for them to come back so I could see them!
• Bushtits
• Canada Geese
• American Robins
• Great Egrets - a field of 19 of them!
• Red-Tailed Hawks
• Belted Kingfisher - male
• American Kestrels

Whitaker Ponds Nature Park

Once again, one birding trip in a day is not enough, especially if one of us gets a lifer in the first one.  Gotta keep that momentum going! 

• American Crows
• Bald Eagle
• Oregon Juncos
• Great Egrets 
• Canada Geese
• Song Sparrows
• Belted Kingfisher - female
• European Starlings
• American Wigeons
• Mallards
• Ring-Necked Ducks - males and females
• Green-Winged Teals - male and female
• Eurasian Wigeon* - male
• Great Blue Herons
• Gadwalls - males and females
• Hooded Mergansers - male and female
• Downy Woodpeckers - male and female
• American Robins
• Black-Capped Chickadees
• Anna's Hummingbirds - call
• Western Scrub-Jay
• House Finches
• Pine Siskins
• Yellow-Rumped Warblers
• Red-Tailed Hawk
• Cinnamon Teals - male and female
• Double-Crested Cormorant

*Lifer!

Great Egret
Never seen at Whitaker Pounds by either of us, and we saw four!

Sharpening it's beak.

Quick, let's get outta here!

Bald Eagle and Great Egret in passing.

It was a strange day at the pond.

Downy Woodpecker - male

Pine Siskin

House Finch pair

Downy Woodpecker - female

American Robin

Knoll Center Wetlands Park

• Northern Shovelers - male and female
• Mallards - male and female
• Northern Flicker - male
• European Starlings 
• American Crow
• Belted Kingfisher - female
• Song Sparrow
• Red-Winged Blackbird - call
• Ruby-Crowned Kinglet
• Green-Winged Teals - male and female
• Oregon Juncos
• Black-Capped Chickadees
• Canada Geese

Northern Flicker - male

Northern Shoveler - male

Commonwealth Lake Park

• Common Merganser
• Mallards
• Canada Geese
• Western Gull
• American Wigeons
• Bufflehead
• Hooded Merganser - female
• American Coots
• Pied-Billed Grebe
• Greater White-Fronted Geese
• American Crow
• Bushtits
• Domesticated Waterfowl
• Great Blue Heron
• American Robin
• Red-Tailed Hawk
• Red-Winged Blackbird
• House Finches
• Belted Kingfisher - female
• Song Sparrow
• Western Scrub-Jay
• Mourning Dove
• Golden-Crowned Sparrow

American Wigeon - male

American Wigeon - female

Goose

Belted Kingfisher - female

Mallard - female

Mallard - male

Mallard searching for food

Common Merganser - female

Whitaker Ponds Nature Park

• Western Scrub-Jay
• American Robins
• Northern Flicker
• Song Sparrow
• Oregon Juncos
• American Crow
• American Wigeon
• Canada Geese
• Mallards
• Hooded Mergansers
• Bufflehead - female
• Ring-Necked Duck
• Gadwalls
• Double-Crested Cormorant
• Belted Kingfisher - female
• Great Blue Heron
• Great Horned Owl!

Way too dark by the time we saw the owl :(

Whitaker Ponds Nature Park

A lot of times birding at just one location doesn't cut it, so we'll head to another location.  Like we did on this day!

• Canada Geese
• Mallards - male and female
• Wood Ducks - male and female
• Belted Kingfisher - female
• House Finches - male and female
• Tree Swallows
• Cedar Waxwing
• American Goldfinches - male and female
• Red-Tailed Hawk
• Turkey Vulture

Weeping Willow Tree

Rhododendron Garden

• Canada Geese
• Mallards - male and female
• Wood Ducks male and female
• Steller's Jay
• Hooded Merganser*
• Green Heron*
• Great Blue Heron
• Red-Winged Blackbirds - male and female
• Belted Kingfisher - female
• Tree Swallows
• Song Sparrows
• Northern Flicker
• Cedar Waxwing
• American Robin
• Black-Capped Chickadee
• Domesticated Waterfowl

*Lifer! 

Great Blue Heron

Canada Goose

Domesticated Goose

Trojan Park

Mainly a place to play frisbee golf, but there's a few lakes, and where there's water, there's birds!

• Mallard - male
• Domesticated waterfowl
• European Starlings (I include them in hopes that one day I'll look back and realize their not so wide spread as they use to be.  Wishful thinking, I know.)
• American Robins
• Great Blue Heron
• Osprey
• Bald Eagle
• Tree Swallows
• Red-Winged Blackbird
• White-Crowned Sparrow
• Violet-Green Swallow
• Turkey Vulture 
• Western Scrub-Jay
• Belted Kingfisher*

*Lifer

Bald Eagle