Sauvie Island

Back to Sauvie Island to get my cousin the Harris's Sparrow and try to trick my best friend into becoming a birder... It didn't take, but we all had fun anyway. :)

Classic Song Sparrow.

Spotted Towhee

Snow Geese.  Creative control goes to my buddy, his request, for pointing them out. Ha!

Golden-Crowned Sparrow

I think this one is has animatronic eyelids...

Fox Sparrow

And...
Redhead - A Lifer! 

Tillamook Area

12.04.12
Tillamook Bay Wetlands
A new place I look forward to visiting again.

Horned Grebe

Fox Sparrow - notice slight eye ring... I hadn't realized they had that.

Profile view of Fox Sparrow.  Btw, this place was crawling with these guys!

Ahhh!!! White-Tailed Kites!  A lifer!!!  Also, they're a lot cooler looking than I thought they would be.  Not the best photo of them, but I like the set up of it.

A typical example of trying to take pictures of a Ruby-Crowned Kinglet... Always on the move...

The first thing we saw was a group of Red Crossbills (Lifer!) in the very tippy top of a tree.  They quickly flew away, but we saw them again when we were leaving. Yay!

And....

• Northern Harrier 
• Great Blue Herons
• Song Sparrows
• Canada Geese
• Steller's Jays
• Bald Eagle
• Red-Winged Blackbirds - males
• Downy Woodpecker - male
• Black-Capped Chickadees
• Northern Flicker
• Black Phoebes
• Common Mergansers - females
• Common Ravens
• Oregon Juncos
• Spotted Towhee
• Bufflehead - female
• Pine Siskins
• Hairy Woodpecker - male
• American Coots
• Mallards

Barview Jetty

I had been there one other time, this time we visited the opposite side.

• Western Gulls
• California Gulls
• Brown Pelican
• Pelagic Cormorant 
• Varied Thrush
• Common Goldeneye - male

This shot had the potential of killing me.  If you zoom waaay in, at the end of the jetty are several shore birds.  Expected to be either Rock Sandpipers or Surfbirds.  Unfortunately, we never got close enough to find out, as the ocean licked our faces.

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!

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