More birds at my new house

The list of birds continues to grow and astound!  Heehee...

It's funny because we see the less common versions of common birds here.... for example;

Instead of seeing Black-Capped Chickadees all the time, it's Chestnut-Backed Chickadees.  We see White and Golden-Crowned Sparrows instead of House or Song Sparrows, Purple instead of House Finches.  You're more likely to see a Steller's Jay than a Western Scrub-Jays, and Varied Thrush and Spotted Towhee as often as Robins, and so on.  It's pretty cool! :)

• Turkey Vulture
• California Quail - right in the front yard, through the window!  
• Purple Finches - females
• Pine Siskins
• Red-Winged Blackbirds - at first just the female, but finally, this morning one male.
• American Goldfinch
• Golden-Crowned Sparrows
• Common Ravens
• Hairy Woodpecker

Steller's Jays

American Goldfinch and Pine Siskin

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!

New Zealand

My birding obsession started before I realized it, taking pictures of the common birds on a trip to New Zealand.  About a year later, I was fully submersed in the world of birds and remembered I had taken a few pictures of birds in NZ.  I was very surprised to find 45 shots of 13 species of birds.  I eagerly searched the internet to identify the birds.

Surprisingly, New Zealand only has a few speicies of gulls so it was easy enough to identify them.  Here we have the Red-Billed Gull.

Female Blackbird

This Cormorant was difficult to identify.  It seems they are sometimes called "Shags" or "Kawau".  I think this one is a Little-Pied Cormorant, possibly also called "Little Shag" (Kawaupaka).

Having just come across several unidentifiable, domesticated water fowl at the time I started looking through these pictures, I figured I had no chance at identifying these ones.  I couldn't have been more wrong.  I found a picture of these guys that could almost have been my exact photo.  Male and female (white head) Paradise Shelduck. 

Southern Black-Backed Gull

 Pukeko

Australian Magpies

Either a female Grey Duck or Mallard or maybe even a hybrid? 

California Quail

Fantail

Song Thrush

A Grebe of sorts.  Reminds me of a Pie-Billed Grebe, but could never quite figure this one out.  I also saw a little yellow bird, but the only picture I could get of it was a blurry yellow blob.  Maybe a Waxeye?  We shall never know for sure.