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.

Salish Ponds

This Sunday evening, Michelle and I decided to run up to Salish Ponds in Gresham to see if the Osprey that nest nearby were back for the Summer. No such luck, but Salish Ponds are always nice and it's a great little hike around them. Sometimes, the birding is great, other times, not so much. This time wasn't too bad. We didn't see many songbirds but there was a lot of waterfowl out and about.

Here's how the city describes the ponds "Located between Halsey and Glisan streets at the site of an old rock quarry, the 70-acre Salish Ponds Wetlands Park opened in October 1999 and is Fairview's largest city park.
Visitors can see hawks, geese, ducks, rabbits, coyotes and other wildlife. The Salish Ponds Trail connects to the Reynolds Middle School Campus and the Gresham-Fairview Regional Trail to the west. TriMet bus 77 serves Salish Ponds Wetlands Park. Get off at 207th Avenue and walk south two blocks to the Salish Ponds Trailhead."

You can actually see quite a few more birds than they list, if you go at the right time. Anyway, here are a few photos from our walk. Good birding!

This was a nice surprise, there are still some Ring-Necked (we still think they should be called Ring-Billed, but that's our opinion) Ducks hanging around. Usually, they are gone by late March, early April.


This is a photo of 2 silhouetted Robins. We really like how this one turned out.

There was a lot of Mourning Dove activity at the ponds. Here is just one of the many we saw.

Here is a pair of Mourning Doves in a distant tree.

Canvasbacks are also usually gone by now. Everything seems to be a little off schedule this year. We have our assumptions that it was that nasty winter we had.

A female American Wigeon. There was also a single male swimming around.

.

I could resist throwing a photo of the female Rufous Hummingbird in the mix. Can you blame me?