Merlin and Flicker

Looking through our photos that we took of the Merlin in our neighborhood 2 days ago, we discovered that a Northern Flicker was flying by at one point. We thought it was kind of a cool photo.

Merlin

We just saw a Merlin in NE Portland! This is the first time that we have seen this bird in our part of town. What a great treat!

Ridgefield

Michelle and I went on our annual New Year's Day birding trip. This time (as usual) we went to Ridgefield NWR. It was a bone chilling day but skies were mostly clear and there was some great birding going on. We have never seen so many Red-Tailed Hawks, Northern Harriers, Blue Herons, or Bald Eagles all at the same time. They were everywhere.

We also added a bird to our Life List! A Black Phoebe! It's a rare bird for Ridgefield and we felt very lucky to have seen it! Here are some other photos from the trip. We hope you enjoy!

We identified 39 species. Species list is at the end of the post. Great start to the New Year!

One of the many Red-Tailed Hawks we saw during the trip.


Tundra Swans resting on the icy ponds.


The Blue Herons were as thick as fog. We found several of the just standing in the road not seeming to have a care in the world!


They all seemed quite willing to pose for some photos.



We came upon this Heron just as it nailed the ground with fury. He then pulled out a Vole (we think anyway).

He made quick work of the rodent.

A couple of seconds later and down it went!

Here is the Black Phoebe! At first, we thought it was a Slate-Colored Junco, but after watching it for a few minutes through the bins and hearing it's very distinctive call, we determined that it was in fact a Black Phoebe.

5 juvenile Bald Eagles surveying the land for their next meal.

A smattering of Tundra Swans with hundreds and hundreds of Northern Pintail.

Here are 2 photos of an unidentified Hawk. It was slightly larger than a Kestrel. It's wings seemed to be rounded in flight. We only got this one back shot before it took off. We didn't recognize the pattern on the back.

Here is a blown up version. The tip of it's beak seems to be light colored (yellow?). Any ideas?

Species:

Canada Goose

Cackling Goose

Tundra Swan

Wood Duck

Mallard

Shoveler

Pintail

Ring-Necked Duck

Greater Scaup

Bufflehead

Ruddy Duck

Pied-Billed Grebe

Cormorant

Blue Heron

Bald Eagle

Northern Harrier

Red-Tailed Hawk

Kestrel

Coot

Red-Breasted Sapsucker

Downy Woodpecker

Flicker

Black Phoebe

Steller's Jay

Scrub Jay

Crow

Black-Capped Chickadee

White-Breasted Nuthatch

Brown Creeper

Marsh Wren

Ruby-Crowned Kinglet

Robin

Starling

Spotted Towhee

Song Sparrow

Golden-Crowned Sparrow

House Finch

Lesser Goldfinch

House Sparrow