Michelle and I went on an Audubon birding trip to Sauvie Island on Sunday. The trip was led by Mike Houck, who is always a blast to bird with. If you haven't done so, check out the Audubon sponsored trips here. Here are some of the many photos we took. It was overcast most of the time, so lighting wasn't that good. Enjoy!
p.s. at the bottom of this post is our entire list of birds seen on the trip.
Here is a flock of Sandhill Cranes in the distance. We were fortunate enough to see hundreds of Sandhills all over the island.
A couple of Sandhill Cranes getting a little closer to our group.
Another flock of Sandhill Cranes.
Not a great photo, but in the distance is a Bald Eagle swooping in on a Green-Winged Teal. He swooped on it many times, but it would dive under the water when he got close. The Eagle eventually was successful, though.
One of the dozens of Bald Eagles we saw on the trip. This was the greatest number of Bald Eagles that we have ever seen in such a short amount of time. We saw somewhere between 25-30 Eagles in 3 hours.
Here is the Eagle that was chasing the Teal. He flew to a tree about 50 feet away from our group and proceeded to eat his meal.
He was very mindful of all the other Eagles in the area.
We saw one lone Great Egret on the trip.
One of the many flocks of Northern Pintails we saw.
An American Kestrel on their usual perch. We only saw a hand full of Kestrels on Sunday. Usually, they are more plentiful. I guess the Bald Eagles took their place.
A mixed flock of thousands of Snow and Canada Goose. It was an amazing sight to see. This flock brought a collective gasp from the group.
Another raptor that was seen in good numbers was the Red-Tailed Hawk.
A Scrub-Jay checking out our group to make sure no one had any peanuts. We didn't.
A small flock of Snow Goose flying above us.
A few Tundra Swan. We saw quite a few of them on the trip.
1 comment:
Wow, what a great birding trip! I love all the Sandhill Cranes!
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