More pics from the yard

It's been a really busy week for us, but we still managed to snap a few photos. We have been seeing a few bright yellow American Goldfinches lately. We also had our first of the year Rufous Hummingbird, but he flew off before we could get a photo (don't they always?). We saw our first of the year White-Crowned Sparrow (pics below). We usually have White-Crowned all winter long, but not this year.

We hope you enjoy these pics.

A Bewick's Wren grabbing some bugs under our office window.


2 Townsend's Warblers trying out a new blend of NePo Suet.


A Downy Woodpecker dining on some suet.


A Junco, a White-Crowned Sparrow, and a Golden-Crowned Sparrow grabbing some seed spread out on the ground.

A Flicker feeding on the ground.

A male Northern Flicker eating some NePo Suet, taken through our bathroom window.

An American and Lesser Goldfinch using a thistle sock.

An adult Golden-Crowned Sparrows (left) with 2 juveniles.

Another juvenile Golden-Crowned Sparrow.

Take care and good birding!

Our yard

The yard has been a little quieter this winter than in past years. We're not sure exactly why. It has been a very mild winter here in Portland, so that may be part of the cause. Don't get me wrong, our yard is still pretty busy, just not quite as busy as the last few years.

We have been missing the Pine Siskins and White-Crowned Sparrows. We have seen a total of 4 Pine Siskins this whole season. Usually, we have 100's of them.

But, it's still been a great season and we always enjoy our backyard friends, whether it's 1 bird or a thousand. Here are a few photos from the last few days.

Here are a couple of the Red-Shafted Flickers grabbing some of their favorite suet. We have 6-8 Flickers that hang around on a regular basis.


Earlier this year, we had a Pink-Sided Junco in the yard. Now, we have a Slate-Colored Junco hanging around!


One of the beautiful Lesser Goldfinches eating some Nyjer seed. We are lucky enough to have these guys all year long.

A Robin checking one of our flower beds for some tasty worms!

Pics from the last few weeks

Here we go again, being bad bloggers. We haven't posted much this last month, except for a couple of new arrivals to the yard. We have been quite busy with our community organization We've Got Time to Help, that we don't post enough. So, here are some photos from our travels around Portland over the last few weeks and, as always, we hope you enjoy them!


A Killdeer behind Michelle's office in Beaverton.


A female Lesser Goldfinch eating some thistle.


A male American Goldfinch waiting his turn for some thistle.


A pair of Gadwalls at Oaks Bottom this past weekend.

A Bald Eagle surveying Lake Oswego.

A Bald Eagle at Oaks Bottom.

Another angle of the Oaks Bottom Eagle.

A Chestnut-Backed Chickadee gathering some nesting material.

Another photo of him (or her) getting some fluff.

One of our resident Golden-Crowned Sparrows.

A pair of Evening Grosbeaks in the backyard.

The male Evening Grosbeak in the apple tree.

An Osprey attacking a Bald Eagle at Oaks Bottom on Sunday.

A female Common Merganser scratching her head.

A Greater Yellowlegs in a pond behind Michelle's office in Beaverton.

A Ring-Necked Duck at Oaks Bottom.

A Red-Tailed Hawk above the house.

A male Red-Winged Blackbird at a pond near Vanport Wetlands in North Portland.

A male Wood Duck at Oaks Bottom.

A male Northern-Shafted Flicker in the backyard.

A male House Finch in the backyard.

An Osprey at Oaks Bottom last weekend.

Another Osprey at Camassia Wetlands in West Linn.

A female Anna's Hummingbird.

A Hutton's Vireo gathering nesting material at Camassia.

Another shot of the Hutton's with nesting material.

A Cooper's Hawk nest at Camassia a couple of weeks ago. Paul Sullivan led the walk around the area and we spotted this towards the end of the trail.

An Orange-Crowned Warbler at Camassia.

A rare Purple Finch in the backyard.