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.

Fern Ridge and Koll Wetland photos

Michelle and I went to Koll Wetlands a couple of weeks ago and then to Fern Ridge Wildlife Area about a week ago. She took me to Fern Ridge for one of my birthday presents! We had an awesome time and on the Fern Ridge trip we added 6 new Life List birds!! It was phenomenal birding and we can't wait to go again!

We haven't had a chance to post until now. So, without further ado, here are the photos from our trips and a few miscellaneous pics.

Common Yellowthroats were everywhere at Fern Ridge. 100's of them all over the place.


We have never seen so many at one time. Flying right in front of us and over our heads!


A female Wood Duck at Koll Wetlands.


A female Wood Duck with little babies in tow! How cute is that?

A Violet-Green Swallow at Koll.

One of the many turtles at Fern Ridge. This one was kind enough to pose before slipping back into the water.

Black-Necked Stilts at Fern Ridge. A Life List bird! They were gorgeous.

Another Stilt.

And yet another Stilt.

An Osprey nest (with an Osprey in it) overlooking a farm at Fern Ridge.

A Spotted Sandpiper behind Michelle's office building in Beaverton.

Red-Tailed Hawks were all over Koll Wetland area. Flying pretty low, too.

Such beautiful, majestic birds.

Here was another Red-Tailed Hawk at Koll. I don't know if he had some food he was protecting or if he was just sunning himself.

The Crows thought that keeping an eye on the Hawk might be a good thing.

A Purple Martin at Fern Ridge. Another Life List bird!

A Pine Siskin bathing in our backyard.

American White Pelicans at Fern Ridge. They are awe inspiring birds.

There was probably 30 Pelicans there. The Pelicans with the large bump on their bill are breeding males. The are such large birds, especially, up close

An Osprey fishing at Fern Ridge.

A Canada Goose family behind Michelle's office. Notice the adult on the right? It has a white forehead. Strange.

A Marsh Wren letting the world know that he's available! Like the Common Yellowthroat, the Marsh Wrens were everywhere. 100's and 100's of them!

We just liked this photo because it contains White Pelicans, Coots, a Blue Heron, a Bald Eagle, a Canada Goose and a Galdwall. Can you find them all?

A male Red-Winged Blackbird doin' his thang!

On our way out of the Fisher Butte unit, at the corner of Royal Ave and Fisher Rd, we found this nesting Western Kingbird.

Not exactly the best photos, but it was still really cool to find!

3 Killdeer making a lot of noise at Koll.

This Killdeer let me get quite a bit closer.

At Koll Wetlands, we found a Blue Heron colony right off the road. Here is one of the Herons in the nest.

This one shows (kind of) a juvenile Blue Heron in the nest and another nest above it. Sort of hard to see the baby, but it's there!

Here are 5 of the nests. There were 8 that we could find in the tree.

A Greater-White Fronted Goose at Fern Ridge.

A big Canada Goose family behind Michelle's office.

This little Gosling at Koll looks like he's injured. He's not. I actually watched him walk over to this spot, lie down and and then stretch itself out. He seemed to be enjoying the sunshine!

Here's another one, stretching after getting up.

A pair of Gadwall at Koll.

A female Red-Winged Blackbird blending into her surroundings.

A trio of Cinnamon Teals in flight at Fern Ridge. There were Cinnamon Teals everywhere you looked.

A Chipping Sparrow at Fern Ridge Lake.

A couple of Canada Geese under a bridge in Downtown Portland.