
We went to Commonwealth Park in Beaverton yesterday for a quick bird walk. The weather was pretty miserable, but the birding was awesome! We saw First of Year Osprey and Hutton's Vireo, as well as a ton of other birds. This is a great place to bird and is easy on the feet.
Hope you enjoy!
An Osprey takes a fish in the lake, scaring the you know what out of a flock of American Wigeons.
The Osprey then flew right over our heads, carrying the fish.
A Yellow-Rumped Warbler, Myrtle variety.
This Cedar Waxwing flew into the tree we were standing under. It was great to see it so close up.
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.
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.