Sunday, January 27, 2008

A quick trip





























We had an errand to run in Beaverton yesterday. We stopped at the duck pond just off of Murray and Scholls. We were only there for a few minutes but we were able to see Canada Goose, Mallards, Canvasbacks and Wigeons, both American and Eurasian! We hadn't been able to add any of these to this years list, so it was very exciting. This was our first attempt to identify waterfowl of any kind. We were able to identify some of them from our books and the photos we took but others weren't in any of the books nor could we find a good site online. If anyone has a link to a good site for identifying waterfowl, it would be greatly appreciated. Here are some of the photos from yesterday. What types do you see?


Then, on the drive back to Portland, we took the back roads and were able to spot an American Kestrel and at least 3 unidentified hawks. Not too bad for just running an errand.

Let us know what you think. Thanks and good birding.

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2 comments:

NW Nature Nut said...

I'm still learning waterfowl, but I bet Laura will know what they are.

Laura W. said...

What you saw today is a large variety of domestic waterfowl, probably escaped or released deliberately at the pond. I found a nice website that shows many breed of domestic ducks and several of your ducks were pictured. One of them looks like a Blue Swedish. Here it is if you'd like to look: http://www.domestic-waterfowl.co.uk/
There are often flocks of these ducks on urban ponds so I have learned to overlook them....but when I read about them on this website I got a bit more friendly about them :)
An excellent place to see a dozen or so species of native waterfowl up close and personal is Crystal Springs Rhododendron Gardens near Reed College in SE. You can get really confident in your duck ID skills there.
Laura