Band-tailed update

 The Band-tailed Pigeon pair is still hard at work nesting in our backyard.

 

One adult is always on the nest and, when it's time to change, the other flies into our birch tree and glares at us until we pick up our drinks and retreat into our house.

Assured that the coast is clear, he or she flies from the birch on the right into the pyrocantha on the left. The switch occurs, and the relieved bird flies off to do its thing.

Birdathon 2013

 

On Saturday, Sarah and I led our seventh Birdathon fundraising trip for the Audubon Society of Portland. Our route took us from Hillsboro to Cannon Beach to Tillamook Bay and back.

One of our best stops was at the Nehalem Bay Sewage ponds, which always turns up good birds. We found an interesting flock of geese that had been reported earlier in the week. The flock contained many Greater White Fronted Geese, a few Cackling Geese, one Ross's Goose, and seven Snow Geese.

It doesn't get much better than this during the month of May!

We also found a flock of American Pipits mingling with Western and Least Sandpipers on the rocks surrounding the ponds.

Another great spot was Bayocean Spit on Tillamook Bay. Here we found an American Avocet and four Red Knots. The Red Knots were life birds for most of the participants, so the trip ended on a very high note.

Thanks to perfect weather and very sharp birders, we ended the day with 121 species, a new record for our group. I'm not sure how we'll top that next year.

Northern New Mexico

Last week I visited New Mexico for a little field work. On Tuesday, I made an epic drive from Albuquerque north to Abiquiu and back. Along the way I saw some cool things.

I made a quick stop at Valles Caldera, a beautiful grassland that was once the interior of a massive volcano.

The Los Conchas wildfire burned much of the forest surrounding Valles Caldera.

This one was a scorcher and it may be centuries before woody vegetation returns to these hillsides.

Among the things I love about the Southwest are roadside shrines like the one above. I don't have a particular religious reason to enjoy them, I just think they look cozy. When I stopped to check out this shrine near the Chama River, I noticed another cozy nook on the cliff in the background.

A Common Raven on a nest. It was a religious experience after all!

There was a second raven nest on a utility pole outside of Abiquiu. This one had downy nestlings begging inside.

My final stop before returning to Albuquerque was the tiny village of Chimayo.

I found some ancient churches with more nooks and bought some red chile, a local specialty, to bring home.

Now that my New Mexico fieldwork is complete, I plan to spend much of May birding around Oregon. Stay tuned!

Band-taileds building

About three years ago, I started this blog to document the natural history of my neighborhood, but lately I tend to post about trips that Sarah and I take well away from our house. Well, I finally have something to write about in our own backyard: a Band-tailed Pigeon nest!

During the last few weeks, we noticed the big purple pigeons perching and singing near our house.

 

On the 16th, I noticed a pair perched on a wire just outside of the yard.

A few minutes later, I watched one fly into our pyrocantha tree (which we have been planning to remove) with a twig in its bill. This was probably a male delivering nesting material for the female to put it in place. For the next six days, the male continued to bring her sticks. Today I looked into the pyrocantha  from a respectful distance and saw one of the adults (they take turns incubating) on the nest.

We put off some work in the backyard so as not to disturb the pair during the nest-building. Funny how birders can be held captive their own house by a couple of pigeons!

Birding, Blues, and Herps

Last week we took a trip to the beach for the Pacific City Birding and Blues Festival.
On the way, we visited our old Hillsboro neighborhood to look for a wayward Loggerhead Shrike. We had no problem finding the bird perched on fence post near a corporate parking lot. A few minutes later, the shrike dove to the ground and returned to the post with an eight-inch garter snake that it gulped down like a fat piece of spaghetti before we could get our camera ready.

  Our loggerheaded friend spent the next ten minutes basking in the sun with a belly full of snake.

During the weekend, we helped lead two walks through the soggy forests of Nestucca Bay Wildlife Refuge. The highlight of both days' walks was the thump-thump-thumping of a Ruffed Grouse drumming somewhere in the forest.

The walks also produced some great amphibian encounters, such as this chorus frog posing alongside some tiny mushrooms. It rained pretty hard during the walk on Sunday, so we are looking forward to what should be a dry field trip this Sunday at Dawson Creek Park.
Stay tuned!

Tryon Creek

 Wednesday was the last dry day of the week, so Sarah and I took a walk through Tryon Creek State Park.

We had hoped to find some Barred Owls, but we settled for dozens of singing Pacific Wrens, mats of waterleaf, and a few tiny mushrooms. Plenty of birds were active high in the trees, but the most memorable sighting was on the ground. Sarah found a dead shrew on the trail and it appeared to be moving. Either it was a tiny zombie or something under it was was trying to carry it away.

I rolled the carcass and found a burying beetle, the first one we've ever seen in Oregon. We moved the body to the side of the trail where the beetle can cover it with leaves and store it for the next generation.

Birthday birds

 On Thursday Sarah and I celebrated the completion of my 35th year with a trip to southeast Portland. We started by visiting Reed Canyon. The sun was out and the canyon was full of plant and animal activity.

Wrens were singing, skunk cabbage was blooming, and a Canada Goose was excavating a nest site in an old stump.

I expect that, when she is satisfied with the dimensions of the depression, she will line it with her down feathers and lay some eggs.

Our next stop was Westmoreland Park, where we found the best bird of the day.

This large, pale Peregrine Falcon was ripping into the carcass of a female American Wigeon, inches away from the walking trail.

We found it funny that dozens of ducks and geese casually went about their business while while the falcon was dining on a fellow waterfowl.

Among the surviving ducks was this male Eurasian Wigeon who was nice enough to swim toward us for a decent picture. Thanks to great birds, weather, and company, I could not ask for a better way to spend a birthday afternoon.