Showing posts with label Golden Eagle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Golden Eagle. Show all posts

Saturday, March 24, 2012

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!



Sunday, March 27, 2011

Sauvie's Island

This was a ground breaking birding trip for me.  We saw a wide variety of species, several of which I have yet to see since then.  I was into it enough the first trip to buy a bird identification book.  Smithsonian Handbooks Birds of North America Western Region By Fred J. Alsop III.  Not your typical field guide, but I highly recommend it, particularly for beginners.  We bumped into another birder with a scope who said he saw a Golden Eagle up ahead.  My cousin said that can't be.  Well we saw it and took down every detail of it.  During the debrief we explored our books to figure out for sure if this was indeed a Golden Eagle.  It came down to, among several key factors, a detail I found in my book about the flight pattern.  Something clicked with me right then that this is something I liked.


  • Bald Eagles, including juveniles
  • Sandhill Cranes*
  • Ring-Necked Ducks*
  • Lesser Scaups*    
  • Golden Eagle*
  • Northern Harrier*
  • Red-Tailed Hawk
  • Ring-Necked Pheasant* - male 
  • Bufflehead
  • Great Blue Heron
  • American Coots*
  • Mallards*
  • Northern Shovelers*
  • Spotted Sandpipers*
  • Pileated Woodpeckers - male and female

*Lifers


Ring-Necked Pheasant (Digiscope photos)



Golden Eagle




Pileated Woodpecker