Birds, Birds, Everywhere...: Vaux's Swift

Showing posts with label Vaux's Swift. Show all posts

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Summer in closing

This summer has been one heck of a birding adventure.

Multiple coastal birding trips.

Malheur.

Coos Bay shorebird festival and pelagic tour.

Three sisters.

Country livin'/birds galore.

Lifers, lifers, lifers!

After reviewing my list of summer birds I wanted to see, I did better than I expected:

Bulldock's Oriole
Blue-Winged Teal
Virginia Rail
Pigeon Guillemot
Common Nighthawk
Olive-Sided Flycatcher
Western Wood-Pewee
Willow Flycatcher
Hutton's Vireo
Warbling Viero
Bank Swallow
Northern Rough-Winged Swallow
Purple Martin
House Wren
Black-Throated Gray Warbler
Wilson's Warbler - I had seen only one once last summer and hoped to see them again, and boy did I ever! Lots-o-Wilson's!
Chipping Sparrow - Again, one I had already seen, a while back and wanted to see again.
Lazuli Bunting
Eared Grebe
Black-Crowned Night-Heron
Swainson's Hawk
Black-Necked Stilt
American Avocet
Wilson's Phalarope
Williamson's Sapsucker
Say's Phoebe
Western Kingbird
Loggerhead Shrike
Lark Sparrow
Brewer's Sparrow

I even saw some birds left over from my winter's list:

Pacific Loon
Clark's Grebe
White-Faced Ibis

The birds left on my summer list, I have yet to see:

Sora
Cassin's Vireo
Long-Billed Curlew
Common Poorwill
Black-Chinned Hummingbird
Calliope Hummingbird
Red-Naped Sapsucker
Dusky Flycatcher
Gray Flycatcher

Maybe next Summer?
Next I need to work on a new winter list, can't wait!

In other developments, at the end of August we moved out of the country Manning house and back into an apartment in Beaverton. It's for the better, despite all the cool birds and wildlife there, but I would like to finish this post with one last look at the end of my summer in Manning.

Pine Siskins

The always present, White-Crowned Sparrow

Pretty purple flowers

Odd bark of a birch tree

Weeds are pretty too

Lots of pretty purple flowers

A juvenile White-Crowned Sparrow

Handsome American Robin

Eating worms

Spotted Towhee

The resident ground hog. I was glad to see him make new holes all summer, despite the land lord's talk of 'gassing him'. :(

My indoor cat, Thomas, got to walk around the yard with me and pretend to hunt for mice.

The bird bath visited by many of the birds. The jays liked to drink from it.

Lots of feathers, mostly Steller's Jay feathers.

I will not soon forget the Swifts living in the chimney and this one that was down in the fire place.

MacGillivray's Warbler. One of 3 lifers I got at the Manning house. The first was Evening Grosbeaks.

Black-Headed Grosbeak - male

A frequent visitor, the Red-Breasted Sapsucker in his favorite tree.

So cute.

Never a shortage of White-Crowned Sparrows.

This little guy and one other W.C. Sparrow had no tail. It was strange, but he could still fly.

Crow flight

A petrified tree frog, found in my living room and became a mascot of sorts.

Moth 1

Moth 2

Willow Flycatcher. Note no eye ring. My third Manning lifer.

Yikes, run for it!

Great Summer, but now it's time to bring on the Winter birding! :D

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Chapman School Swifts

What a crazy sight that was to see! I didn't realize how long the whole process is to get into the chimney every night. First a few come to check out the surroundings. They do this off and on for a bit. Then they finally start gathering up and every few minutes you think ok, so this is about it then, and before you know it thousands of swifts are circling the chimney. And even then they don't go right in. They gather in a tightly packed circle like a giant tornado, and just like a tornado, they eventually spin themselves into a tiny funnel that leads into the chimney. They swirl around and around until it's dark and everyone made it in safely. Some even come back out and in again, probably trying to find a good spot among all of the other birds.