Furnhill Wetlands

• Great Blue Heron
• Great Egret
• Short-Billed Dowitchers*
• Mallards - male and female
• Domesticated waterfowl
• Northern Pintail
• Bufflehead 
• Common Merganser* - male and female
• American Coot
• American Kestrel
• Western Scrub-Jay
• Western Gull
• Bonaparte's Gull*
• American Robins - male and female
• Canada Geese
• Cackling Geese*
• Brewer's Blackbirds
• Red-Winged Blackbird - male
• Mourning Dove
• Red-Tailed Hawk
• Western Grebe
• Horned Grebe*
• European Starlings
• Northern Shovelers
• Double-Crested Cormorant
• Green-Winged Teal*
• Ruby-Crowned Kinglet*
• Northern Flicker
• Oregon Juncos
• Black-Capped Chickadees
• Cooper's Hawk - juvenile
• Song Sparrow
• Rock Dove

*Lifer!

Short-Billed Dowitchers

Great Blue Heron

Lincoln City/ Depoe Bay/ Newport

The most epic trip to date. 

Places visited
-Josephine Young Memorial Park in Lincoln City 
-Fogarty Creek State Park North of Depoe Bay
-Boiler Bay Viewpoint in Depoe Bay 
-Yaquina Head Bay in Newport

• Great Blue Heron
• Song Sparrows
• Common Raven
• Western Gulls
• American Crows
• Double-Crested Cormorants
• House Sparrows
• Mourning Doves
• Great Egrets
• Red-Winged Blackbird
• Golden-Crown Kinglets*
• Surf Scoters - male and female 
• Black Oystercatchers
• Brown Pelicans
• Pelagic Cormorants
• Brandt's Cormorants
• Savannah Sparrow*
• Belted Kingfisher
• American Wigeons*
• Western Grebe*
• Common Murre
• Western Sandpipers*
• Black Scoter
• European Starlings
• Semipalmated Plovers*

+Grey Whales!


*Lifers!

Great Blue Heron and Great Egret
(Notice the blue heron has a fish.  Watch the progression as he eats it!)

Sudden large bulge in neck. Ha!

Black-Bellied Plover (Winter plumage)

Semipalmated Plover

Black Oystercatchers

Brown Pelican

Surf Scoter - male

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.

• Vaux's Swifts
• Cooper's Hawk

At the beginning this Cooper's Hawk came by looking for a snack.

Tornado of Swifts

Scappoose Bay Marina

• Steller's Jay
• Western Scrub-Jay
• Western Gulls
• Mallard - male
• Great Blue Heron
• Brewer's Blackbirds
• American Crow
• Turkey Vulture 

heehee!

Sauvie's Island

• White-Breasted Nuthatch*
• Barn Swallows
• Tree Swallows
• Ospreys
• European Starlings
• Western Scrub-Jay
• American Goldfinch
• Anna's Hummingbirds
• Oregon Junco
• House Finch

*Lifer

Audubon Society

• Steller's Jay
• Black-Capped Chickadees
• Chestnut-Backed Chickadee
• Red-Breasted Nuthatch
• Bushtits
• Oregon Juncos

Tualatin Hills Nature Park

This trip was more to test out my father-in-law's fancy digital SLR with the telephoto lens attached, but then again, I don't really leave the house and NOT bird, especially while in nature.  :)

• American Robins
• Anna's Hummingbird
• Western Scrub-Jay
• Steller's Jay
• Red-Tailed Hawk

American Robin

"Have you ever observed a humming-bird moving about in an aerial dance among the flowers - a living prismatic gem.... it is a creature of such fairy-like loveliness as to mock all description."     ~W.H. Hudson, Green Mansions

Anna's Hummingbird

Anna's Hummingbird

Red-Tailed Hawk

Rough-Skinned Newt

Garter Snake

Lincoln City

• Turkey Vulture 
• Pelagic Cormorant
• Brandt's Cormorant
• Common Murre
• Western Gulls
• Brown Pelicans
• Great Egret

Tualatin Hills Nature Park

• Lesser Goldfinch
• Northern Flicker
• European Starlings
• Western Scrub-Jay
• American Robin
• Mourning Doves
• Black-Capped Chickadees
• White-Crowned Sparrow
• Steller's Jay
• Cedar Waxwing
• Red-Breasted Nuthatch*
• Pied-Billed Grebe

*Lifer!

Whitaker Ponds Nature Park

A lot of times birding at just one location doesn't cut it, so we'll head to another location.  Like we did on this day!

• Canada Geese
• Mallards - male and female
• Wood Ducks - male and female
• Belted Kingfisher - female
• House Finches - male and female
• Tree Swallows
• Cedar Waxwing
• American Goldfinches - male and female
• Red-Tailed Hawk
• Turkey Vulture

Weeping Willow Tree

Rhododendron Garden

• Canada Geese
• Mallards - male and female
• Wood Ducks male and female
• Steller's Jay
• Hooded Merganser*
• Green Heron*
• Great Blue Heron
• Red-Winged Blackbirds - male and female
• Belted Kingfisher - female
• Tree Swallows
• Song Sparrows
• Northern Flicker
• Cedar Waxwing
• American Robin
• Black-Capped Chickadee
• Domesticated Waterfowl

*Lifer! 

Great Blue Heron

Canada Goose

Domesticated Goose

Sauvie's Island

• Red-Winged Blackbirds
• Tree Swallows
• Barn Swallows
• Cliff Swallows
• American Goldfinches
• Turkey Vultures 
• Western Scrub-Jay
• House Sparrows
• Red-Tailed Hawk
• Osprey
• Song Sparrows
• Brown-Headed Cowbird
• Brewer's Blackbird
• Cedar Waxwing
• American Robin
• White-Crowned Sparrow
• American Coot
• Pied-Billed Grebe*
• Northern Flicker
• Lesser Scaup
• Mallards
• Albino Finch?* (It was the weirdest thing, it looked finch-like or even sparrow, but almost completely white.  During our debrief we considered the possibility of it being a McKay's or Snow Bunting, but quickly dismissed that because their not around here, especially in the summer months.  Later we would reconsider this.  Also, months later a report to OBOL said someone else saw this bird in the same place.)

Young Barn Swallows

*Lifer

Trojan Park

Mainly a place to play frisbee golf, but there's a few lakes, and where there's water, there's birds!

• Mallard - male
• Domesticated waterfowl
• European Starlings (I include them in hopes that one day I'll look back and realize their not so wide spread as they use to be.  Wishful thinking, I know.)
• American Robins
• Great Blue Heron
• Osprey
• Bald Eagle
• Tree Swallows
• Red-Winged Blackbird
• White-Crowned Sparrow
• Violet-Green Swallow
• Turkey Vulture 
• Western Scrub-Jay
• Belted Kingfisher*

*Lifer

Bald Eagle

Tualatin Hills Nature Park

A day I will never forget!  I so wish I had my camera.

• Marsh Wren
• Red-Winged Blackbird
• Mourning Doves
• Tree Swallows
• Bewick's Wren
• Spotted Towhee
• Great Blue Heron
• American Robin
• Chestnut-Backed Chickadee*
• Great Horned Owl!!!*
• Western Scrub-Jay
• Lesser Goldfinch

*Lifer

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.

Scappoose Field

Just a place near my parent's house I use to go to while I was growing up.  A quiet stroll through the woods and up to the field.

• House Finch
• Spotted Towhee
• American Robin
• Wilson's Warbler*
• Barn Swallows
• Black-Capped Chickadees
• Hermit Warbler*
• Black-Headed Grosbeaks - male and female
• Oregon Junco
• Bewick's Wren

*Lifer

Black-Headed Grosbeak - female
OK, I admit this was after I got back from the field, but their house boarders the woods :)

A sad, but noble attempt to capture the Hermit Warbler.

Even if I didn't see any birds, the field has much to offer.

Beaverton Creek Nature Trail

Another stroll through Beaverton Creek.  Nothing ground breaking, but I like to keep track of what I see each visit.

6.21.11

• Cedar Waxwing
• Mallards
• Red-Winged Blackbirds - male and female
• American Robin
• Barn Swallows
• Tree Swallows
• Mourning Doves
• White-Crowned Sparrow
• Bushtits

6.22.11

• Mallards
• Wood Duck
• Killdeer

Newport

Not a birding trip per say, but I was on the constant lookout.


6.16.11

• Western Gulls
• Barn Swallows
• Great Blue Heron
• Rock Dove
• White-Crowned Sparrow
• Brant
• Swainson's Thrush - call
• American Kestrel
• Surf Scoters* - male and female

6.17.11

• Osprey - hoovering and diving
• Great Blue Heron
• Common Murre
• Paligic Cormorants
• Brandt's Cormorant*  (Clearly identifying itself with it's bright blue gular patch glimmering in the sun)
• Song Sparrow
• White-Crowned Sparrow (perched on a fence next to me without me noticing it and startled me when it sang loudly so close to me)
• Western Gull and juvenile
• Barn Swallows
• Turkey Vultures (close enough to see their red heads)
• House Sparrows - male and female

6.18.11

• Barn Swallows
• Tree Swallows
• Yellow Warbler* - male
• Surf Scoter
• Black Scoter* 

6.19.11

• Gull - chick
• Common Murre
• Black Oystercatcher
• Western Gulls
• Glaucous-Winged Gull*
• Paligic Cormorant
• Brandt's Cormorant
• Song Sparrow
• White-Crowned Sparrow
• Turkey Vulture

*Lifer

Low tide at Cobble Beach

Yaquina Lighthouse - lots of huge rocks here, filled with Common Murre, Gulls, and various Cormorant.

Sometimes there's even Harbor Seals!

Jewell Meadows

The same day as the Fort Stevens/ South Jetty trip, on the way home.

• Black-Capped Chickadees
• Steller's Jay
• Ruffed Grouse* (That was a strange sight, like nothing I had ever seen before. Just standing on the side of the road.  I was a little baffled by it.  I exclaimed, "Did you see that?! Looked like a chicken... yet not...")
• Band-Tailed Pigeons* -male and female
• Tree Swallows
• Turkey Vulture 

*Lifer

Elk at Jewell Meadows

Fort Stevens, South Jetty, Astoria area

A great trip!

• Caspian Terns*
• Brown Pelicans
• Western Gulls
• Brants*
• Canada Geese
• Barn Swallows
• Cliff Swallows*
• Tree Swallows
• White-Crowned Sparrow
• Pelagic Cormorants*
• Gadwalls* - male and female
• Song Sparrows
• Brown-Headed Cowbird*
• Great Blue Heron
• American Robin
• Turkey Vultures
• Cedar Waxwing*
• Mourning Doves
• Common Raven
• Western Scrub-Jay
• Northern Flicker
• Rufus Hummingbird
• Red-Winged Blackbird
• Bald Eagle
• Osprey
• Nashville Warbler*
• Swainson's Thrush*
• Red-Tailed Hawk

*Lifer

South Jetty, Brown Pelican

Pacific Tree Frog

Sauvie's Island

Just a short, impromptu drive around the island.

• Barn Swallows
• Red-Tailed Hawk
• American Goldfinches 
• Osprey
• Great Blue Heron
• Tree Swallows
• Bald Eagle

Cannon Beach

An awesome trip to the beach just to do some birding.  The first of what would turn into several beach birding trips.

• Brown Pelicans*
• Pelagic Cormorants*
• Red-Breasted Merganser* - female
• Harlequin Ducks* - male and female
• Tufted Puffins* (high atop Haystack Rock, only visible through the scope, saw 3)
• Mallards
• Common Murre* (by the hundreds)
• Western Gulls
• Common Tern*
• Barn Swallows
• Killdeer*
• Northern Flicker
• American Goldfinch
• House Sparrows - male and female
• Black Oystercatchers*
• Common Raven* (Surprisingly impressive!)
• American Crows

* Lifer

Haystack Rock

Tualatin Hills Nature Park

• Spotted Towhee
• Song Sparrow
• Barn Swallows
• Violet-Green Swallows
• White-Crowned Sparrow
• Northern Flicker
• American Robin
• Western Tanager
• Bushtits
• Brown Creeper
• Steller's Jay*
• Western Scrub-Jay*
• Bald Eagle
• Cooper's Hawk
• Black-Headed Grosbeak
• Mallard - female
• Red-Winged Blackbird
• House Finch
• House Sparrow
• Black-Capped Chickadee
• Downy Woodpecker
• Oregon Junco
• Anna's Hummingbird
• Bewick's Wren
• Brewer's Blackbird* - male and female

*Lifer

Beaverton Creek Nature Trail

5.15.11

• Mallards - males, females and ducklings
• Canada Geese - and goslings
• Red-Winged Blackbirds - males and females
• Western Scrub-Jay
• Violet-Green Swallows*
• American Robin
• Chipping Sparrow*

5.16.11

• American Goldfinch
• Barn Swallows
• Tree Swallows

*Lifer

Fanno Creek Nature Trail

We were surprised at the amount we saw here, being that it's a short stretch near a highway.

• Oregon Junco*
• Tree Swallow
• Red-Winged Blackbird
• Song Sparrow
• Mallards w/ ducklings
• Canada Geese
• Cooper's Hawk*
• Western Tanager*
• Spotted Towhee
• Northern Flicker
• American Goldfinches* - male and female
• House Finch
• Bushtits
• Wood Ducks - males and female
• American Robins
• Bewick's Wren*
• Great Blue Heron

*Lifer

Multnomah Channel - Scappoose Dike

The first two were with my mom, also a novice at the time.


On 3.19.11 we saw:

• Double-Crested Cormorants* including juveniles
• Bald Eagle

On 4.2.11 we saw:

• Double-Crested Cormorants
• Great Blue Heron
• Great Egret
• Osprey* - juvenile

On 4.24.11 with my cousin in attendance, and me with a developing eye to spot birds, we saw:

• Osprey - hoovering and their nest
• Double-Crested Cormorants
• Bald Eagle
• Great Blue Heron - rookery
• Norther Flicker* - male
• Common Yellowthroat - male
• Rufous Hummingbird
• American Robin
• American Kestrel*
• Barn Swallow*
• Song Sparrow
• Red-Winged Blackbird
• Turkey Vulture*
• Mallard - male
• Vaux's Swift*

*Lifer

Double-Crested Cormorant

Double-Crested Cormorant - drying wings

Turkey Vulture

Misc. things of interest 

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