Northern Pygmy Owl!

Yesterday, Michelle and I went out for our last training hike before climbing Mt. St. Helens next week. We chose to do the Elk Mountain/King's Mountain loop in the Tillamook National Forest. After we left the summit of Elk Mountain, about 500 feet down the trail towards King's Mountain, we came across a Northern Pygmy Owl just sitting on a tree stump! It was awesome to see and a Life List bird for us! Below are a couple of photos.

When we first was him (from about 100 yards away), we actually thought it was a Swainson's Thrush. But after walking a little closer, we could tell that it was an owl!


It was great to have him/her just sit there and pose for us. We rarely ever find owls, let a lone such a tiny little guy!

A few backyard photos

The yard has definitely been getting busier over the last few weeks. Most of our regulars are in and the food is going quickly! Here are some photos from the last week. Hope you enjoy!

A female Anna's Hummingbird making herself pretty.

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She lets us get pretty close to her.

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The Anna's and the Rufous both enjoy all the flowers coming up.

A juvenile White-Crowned Sparrow on our roof.

This juvie White-Crowned Sparrow seems to have been adopted by our resident Song Sparrows. The juvie follows them around and seems to be begging from them. The Song Sparrows don't seem to mind a bit.

Here is the White-Crowned Sparrow asking for some food from the Song.

A male and female American Goldfinch with a House Finch sitting between them.

A Red-Breasted Nuthatch enjoying some suet.

We haven't seen very many Black-Headed Grosbeaks this year, but this female Grosbeak visits almost everyday. Here she is grabbing a drink from the drip line.

Here she is grabbing some black-oil from underneath a feeder.

This photo was taken from our Birdcam. The Flicker has just recently started using the birdbath.

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Long time, no post

Sorry it took us so long to get a post up here. As some of you know, we are training to climb Mt. St. Helens in August. We spend almost all of our free time hiking and climbing or making suet for our company. We have hiked/climbed 5 mountains in the last 30 days. Most of the photos below are shots from our hikes, but to start things off, here are a couple from the yard.

We hope everyone is having a great summer and we will try to get posts up more frequently.

A fledgling Downy Woodpecker being taught where to eat by momma.


Shortly after this photo was taken, a Sharp-Shinned Hawk came through the yard and we suspect the mom was taken by him. We haven't seen her since, but the juvie still visits everyday.


A Towhee on the top of Angel's Rest in the Gorge.


A Swainson's Thrush on our way to the top of Nesmith Point.

A Cedar Waxwing the the top of Angel's Rest.

A Flicker at Powell Butte.

An Orange-Crowned Warbler on Angel's Rest.

A Red-Breasted Sapsucker feeding babies at Powell Butte. We found 3 different Sapsucker nests at Powell Butte.

A Violet-Green Swallow at the top of a very foggy Saddle Mountain.

Another VG Swallow let us get pretty close.

It's hard to see, but this is a White-Crowned Sparrow and a Violet-Green Swallow, also on Saddle Mountain.

Another, closer, White-Crowned Sparrow.

A Lazuli Bunting at Powell Butte.

A Dipper on the trail at Wahkeena Falls.

A Gray Jay on the trail to Nesmith Point.

A group of 4 Gray Jays. We saw six at this spot, at least 3 were fledglings.

A Hairy Woodpecker at the same spot as the Jays.

A Raven saying hello at Wahkeena Falls.

BirdLife International

We just learned of another wonderful birding organization that we wanted to let everyone know about. BirdLife International is a great group of people that are devoted to birds on a global scale. As their website states: "BirdLife is the world’s largest global alliance of conservation organizations that share a mission: to conserve wild birds, their habitats and global biodiversity".
We read through their website and they do some amazing work. They have great stories, wonderful photos, and up-to-date news stories all concerning birds and conservation. They have started a new area on their website called BirdLife Community. They also have a new Flickr group that you can view and join and submit your own photos!

They have blogs, pictures, videos, and news stories all about birds! When you have a few minutes, you should really check them out.

We just joined their Flickr group and will be posting some of our backyard photos.

Take care and good birding,
Seth and Michelle

Source: www.birdlife.org/community

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.