Beaverton Creek - Spring is in the air!

• Black-Capped Chickadee - call
• Pied-Billed Grebe
• Mallards - males and females
• Great Blue Heron
• Hooded Mergansers - male and female (the female was by herself at first and when the male came over to her she went after him, seeming to scold him)
• Yellow-Rumped Warblers
• Anna's Hummingbird
• Red-Winged Blackbirds 
• Red-Tailed Hawks
• Common Mergansers - male and female (I had never seen these at Beaverton Creek before!)
• Northern Shovelers - males and females
• Wilson's Snipe - researched the call and saw it again in the same spot, so I'm sure my previous guess was correct.  Also we could hear a pair, but only saw one. 
• Green-Winged Teals - males and females
• Buffleheads - males and females
• Northern Flickers - male and female
• Oregon Junco
• European Starling - again only seeing one... so weird! 
• Ruby-Crowned Kinglet 

Early Spring?!

 Red-Tailed Hawk 

Northern Flicker pair

American Robin pair

02.21

• Great Blue Herons
• Canada Geese
• Hooded Mergansers
• Green-Winged Teals
• Pied-Billed Grebe
• Mallards
• Red-Winged Blackbirds
• Oregon Juncos 
• Buffleheads

The birds and the bees...

Great Blue Heron

Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge

An added bonus to this trip:  we took a wrong turn and saw a garage sale where a retired man was selling bird houses he makes with licence plate roofs.  Very cool!

• Barn Swallows
• Tree Swallows
• Great Blue Heron
• American Goldfinch
• Red-Winged Blackbird
• Mallards - male and female
• Yellow-Headed Blackbird* - male
• Wood Duck
• American Robin
• Song Sparrow (feeding a juvenile Brown-Headed Cowbird that was larger than the sparrow.  The sparrow was frantically jumping/flying back and forth between food sources and the large chick, the chick seeming to have an endless appetite and the poor song sparrow quickly running out of steam.  It was quite the sight to see.  Cowbirds are infamous for dumping their eggs in other species' nests, but to see the strain it caused on the mother bird was pretty amazing and a little sad.)
• Wilson's Snipe*
• Gadwalls
• Common Yellowthroat
• Black-Capped Chickadees
• Bewick's Wren
• American Bittern 
• Cedar Waxwing
• Brown-Headed Cowbird
• Red-Breasted Sapsucker*
• American Coot and chicks (I was first to see the little, brightly colored red chicks, just for a second.  I knew my cousin was going to think I was crazy, but I had to admit I saw some sort of little red bird.  As I expected, an expression of disbelief spread across his face.  Soon they made another appearance, this time with the parents and it all made sense.  It was the first time either of us had seen a Coot chick.  We had no idea they turn from red to black!)
• Brewer's Blackbird
• Northern Flicker (Rolling around, dust bathing.  Another odd sight of the day.)
• Cinnamon Teal*
• American Kestrel
• Turkey Volture
• Red-Tailed Hawk

*Lifer

Great Blue Heron

We also saw Red Painted Turtles

Walking trail portion of the refuge.

Jackson Bottom Wetland Preserve

Another very influential trip.  This time it was just my cousin and I, so I was really able to pay attention and listen.  I learned a lot that day.

• Rufous Hummingbird*
• White-Crowned Sparrow*
• Golden-Crowned Sparrow*
• Black-Capped Chickadee
• Red-Winged Blackbird* - male and female
• Ring-Necked Duck
• Red-Tailed Hawk
• Bufflehead - male and female
• House Finch
• American Coot
• Canada Geese
• Common Yellowthroat* - male (what a delight that was to see such an exotic looking, beautiful bird!)
• American Robin - male and female
• Tree Swallows* (there were so many swooping all around us, almost grazing my head at one point.)
• European Starlings* (I learned what a terror these guys are, but couldn't help but to be amused at their weird squishing sounds.)
• Wilson's Snipe*
• Northern Pintail*
• Marsh Wren*
• Great Blue Heron
• Double-Crested Cormorant

*Lifer 

Marsh Wren nest