Nature has a beautiful way of letting me know spring has arrived. The trilliums are the first to bloom and the Violet-green Swallows are the first migrating birds to arrive. They usually show up with about 30 of their friends and spend their days darting around catching insects.
Another year, another Great Backyard Bird Count. Typically I do a combination of counting birds in public areas, as well as around our home. This year I only counted birds near our house. Everyday I pretty much saw the same species of birds. A number of them were the same birds that have been around awhile. But, the Golden-crowned Kinglet, Black-capped Chickadees, and Hairy Woodpecker
The bird I picked for March is the Gray Jay. They have a bit of a nasty reputation for being food thieves, but I like them anyway. I’m not going to lie, the majority of the reason I like them is because they aren’t too frightened of me. I can get close-ish for photos. They don’t pay much attention to me and continue with whatever
This month I am highlighting the Spotted Towhee. Their bold color pattern is a lovely contrast to our mostly even toned birds.
It’s no secret that I love birds. Since getting a decent camera I have enjoyed trying to take photos of these mostly shy creatures. To help me sort through photos of individual species, and learn along the way, I’m going to highlight one bird species we see at our house each month through 2017. This first highlighted bird is a common one ’round here: the
I’ve spent the last 2 weeks searching hard for 4 more birds. I would browse ebird looking for posts from others that listed birds I haven’t yet seen. Then, I’d go see if I could find them. I never did identify the sparrows or hawks I was really focusing on. But, I did find other newbies.
There are a number of birds hanging around our house eating at our feeders & picking in the seed heads of summer’s flowers. I enjoy seeing the birds. But unfortunately, none of them are new for my list & the end of the year is coming very quickly. I am so close to my goal, yet haven’t reached it yet.
One chilly morning I walked around one of my favorite birding places. Much of the water was ice, but there were plenty of birds hanging around. It was a good walk for seeing large birds. I saw a bald eagle, blue heron, one red-tailed hawk catch breakfast & another one getting pestered by a kestrel.
Over Thanksgiving we went camping near Newport. One day we took the kids to the Oregon Coast Aquarium. While there, I snuck a peek at Yaquina Bay to look for birds. I know there was much more to see than what I saw, but I still managed to add 2 new birds to my list.
I have nearly nothing to report bird-wise from the last couple weeks. I haven’t had the chance lately to visit my favorite birding spots. I haven’t even stepped outside my house lately to look for birds. Thankfully, one of my kid’s is crafty & likes birds as well. He made two feeders for the birds. One is a plastic cup filled with birdseed. The other
