BirdLife International

We just learned of another wonderful birding organization that we wanted to let everyone know about. BirdLife International is a great group of people that are devoted to birds on a global scale. As their website states: "BirdLife is the world’s largest global alliance of conservation organizations that share a mission: to conserve wild birds, their habitats and global biodiversity".
We read through their website and they do some amazing work. They have great stories, wonderful photos, and up-to-date news stories all concerning birds and conservation. They have started a new area on their website called BirdLife Community. They also have a new Flickr group that you can view and join and submit your own photos!

They have blogs, pictures, videos, and news stories all about birds! When you have a few minutes, you should really check them out.

We just joined their Flickr group and will be posting some of our backyard photos.

Take care and good birding,
Seth and Michelle

Source: www.birdlife.org/community

Koll Wetlands

Yesterday, Michelle and I went to Koll Wetlands in SW Portland. It was a great day of birding with a couple of nice surprises. If you have never been to Koll, it’s definitely worth the trip. Here are some photos from our day. We hope you enjoy them!

A male Wood Duck let us get pretty close to him. Amazing looking birds!


It doesn't get much cuter than this. A female Wood Duck with her babies.


A couple of different sets of Wood Ducks with a male in the middle. He must be very busy...


Another female Wood Duck with her brood. The Wood Ducks were all over the wetland area.

A male Wood Duck with a lone duckling.

This Red-Winged Blackbird obviously had a nest close by. He told us in no uncertain terms that we were not welcome near this shrub.

Great Blue Herons atop one of the many conifers surrounding the wetlands. Koll Wetlands actually has a Heron rookery in the SE edge of the park.

Another Great Blue Heron flying back to the nest.

Herons, Herons everywhere!

This guy just looked picture perfect.

See that head and neck in the center of the photo? That would be a nestling Great Blue Heron! What a fuzz ball!

Here is another...

...and another. We think all of the nests had young ones in them. It was great fun to watch them!

This Black-Capped Chickadee landed right above us. He/She was obviously heading back to the nest with some food. We tried to follow it, but it flew away too fast.

This was a surprise for us. We found 2 Bald Eagles at Koll. One was this 2nd year and the other was a full adult.

Here are the 2 Eagles in mid air.

These Canada Goose were either fighting or trying to mate. They were really going at each other and making one heck of a ruckus. But, we did get a good look at Goose tongue.

A pair of Red-Tailed Hawks near the water's edge. We scanned for a nest but didn't see one.

A fledgling Junco below the tree the Herons are nesting in. Juncos definitely grow into their beauty.

A pair of Sharp-Shinned Hawks were circling above us for quite a while.

A lone Spotted Sandpiper finding some food.

This Common Yellowthroat was going to town with his vocalizations!

This last photo is from the yard. The Coopers Hawk is actually sitting on a Starling that it just took down.

Sandy River Delta

Michelle and I went out to the Sandy River Delta this morning and spent about 6 hours there. It was our first time to bird this area and what a trip it was! We saw four Life List birds and 46 species total! It was a great time and we hope you enjoy the photos.

Lewis's Woodpecker! The sky was a drab gray, so we had to lighten the photo for you to be able to see any detail. Not a good photo, but you can definitely see what it is!


Another of the Lewis's.


One more just because we were so excited to see it! A Life List bird for us!


Bullock's Oriole! They were everywhere. Every path we took we ran into more Orioles. It was great! Another Life List bird.

A Yellow-Breasted Chat! This was another wonderful Life Lister for us!

Singing away just off one of the many paths.

A Green Heron trying to hide.

Then he decided to come out for a little photo op.

A Hermit Thrush let us get pretty close.

A gorgeous Yellow-Rumped Warbler.

Festival of the Birds and NePo Suet

This coming Saturday, the 8th, at Sellwood Park (Oaks Bottom) from 9am-3pm, join U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the City of Portland and Portland Audubon for a celebration of migratory birds! It's the Festival of the Birds!!

There will be guided bird walks, family activities, bird education, and booths for you to enjoy. The Portland Parks & Recreation Dept. has been kind enough to invite NePo Suet to have a booth at the festival. We are very excited to participate and to get the word out, to Portlanders, about our suet. Please come join the festivities, enjoy the fantastic birding, and learn about birds in our area. It will be great fun (and, hopefully, good weather)!

Please feel free to stop by our booth and say hi!

Hope to see you there,
Seth and Michelle
NePo Suet Company