When Bad Photos Happen To Good Birds

It's been a terribly long time since I've made a blog entry......much has happened and many birds have been seen by me and my Birding Associate but photos of the birds in question weren't often captured and, frankly, I got lazy. I don't know how much I'll be blogging in the future but I really want to get back into a groove. It'll help when I finally get the external hard drive set up and ready to hold the photo library. Currently my machine cannot hold everything I want to load onto it so I must expand.

Anyways......I was scrolling through photos and I thought I'd share some not so great ones with you at least to show you that I really was out there birding! If you know the identities of my subjects please take a guess in the comments section. I won't enable comment moderation so make your guesses before clicking to the comment page and use Scout's Honor. Hee hee!

Hiding a Nest

On your average walk through most natural areas around Portland a birder will see and hear probably 20-30 species of bird. Songbirds, birds of prey, waterbirds and the like. Each species has different needs for building a nest, gathering food and successfully raising chicks. Ospreys nest right out in the open....if you're top of the food chain you don't need to worry much about predation. Barn and Cliff Swallows build fairly obvious nests under bridges or rooflines and their height above ground and colonial tendencies help protect them from predators. Great Blue Herons nest in colonies above ground and away from most predators.

Anyway, you get the picture.

But of those 20-30 species you've seen on your walk most are smaller songbirds that go to great lengths to conceal their nests from predators. Building and incubating are probably the easiest time. Once chicks are hatched and hungry the parents are actively feeding and much more activity goes on around the nest. You are more likely to find a nest during the nestling phase if you keep your ears open for the frantic begging calls of the nestlings.

So here's what happened to us at the Sandy River Delta on Saturday. We'd had great looks at all kinds of songbirds and had been serenaded by Thrushes and Chats. Walked by this tree......

No big deal, right? A tree. But heard begging and noticed a lump......See it?

Got the scope on it and here they were!!

Four Cedar Waxing nestlings well concealed on the branch! Parent had just fed them and left so they were lolling about in the heat. Waited for parent to come back and shot this video:



Why are they so noisy when the parent has been so careful to conceal the nest? We take it for granted that baby birds make noise or that any baby makes noise, for that matter. Does the struggle to get the most food and leave the nest simply outweigh the possibility of being found and eaten? Anyone out there have information on that subject?

Keep your ears open and maybe you'll find some babies, too!

North Portland Canoeing and Coffee

The St John's neighborhood of North Portland is somewhere I don't get to all that often. I used to take my Honda up there for service, Ms Nut used to live near-ish and I hear there's a McMenamin's Pub up there, but mostly I see it from the west side of the Willamette as I motor up Hwy 30 to Sauvie Island and pass the St John's Bridge. Boy, is that a picturesque bridge. Yesterday, my canoeing associate and I put in right underneath it and paddled south a ways. Afterwards, we rewarded ourselves with a cuppa and a cookie at the Ladybug Organic Coffeehouse on Lombard in the heart of the charming neighborhood. This isn't really a birding post....more of a photo post. Enjoy!

Ridgefield NWR Kiwa Trail

My mother and stepdad visited last week and I took them up to Ridgefield to walk the Kiwa Trail. Located within the River S Auto Tour route, the trail is closed for winter and has only been open a few weeks now. What a treasure!! I'd been there just once before and am most often up there in winter. We saw over 40 species of birds including Yellow-headed Blackbird (unusual west of the Cascades), Sora, Virginia Rail, Wilson's Snipe, Blue-winged Teal, Yellow Warbler and on and on and on. I highly recommend a trip to the refuge in spring.

My favorite Oak in Spring and in Winter

Powell Butte and Bushtit nests

Every year we sell a boatload of packaged nesting materials at the Backyard Bird Shop and every year customers report it being taken by many species of birds. I, on the other hand, have watched many a wad of ideal material go green with algae in the spring rains never destined to line the nest of a chickadee or bushtit.
Last fall I bought a cat grooming tool called The Furminator (actually I bought the $12 version of that $50 tool) and groomed my cats. I could have built a whole new cat out of what I combed from Ruby but instead I packed it into a suet cage with some moss and hung it out for birds. Just the other day my first customer came along and pulled tuft after tuft from the cage and flew off into the trees with it. I've got to get the BirdCam on it but these came out just fine for the moment.

Busy Bushtits

Sunday, Mark and I went to Powell Butte in search of anything birdy but especially in search of Lazuli Buntings. We were rewarded with a bunting in the parking lot and several more throughout our walk. We saw this unusual Savannah Sparrow singing and defending territory against intruders. It has a white head with some yellow showing at the lores. Nifty!



In the woods that surround the open meadows of the butte we saw this wonderfully worked over snag with fresh Pileated Woodpecker work. Look how far down the tree it all goes! Surprisingly with all the woodpecker sign we saw we never heard a one.



Powell Butte (SE 162nd and Powell Blvd)is a great destination for a spring walk. On a clear day you can see many of the Cascades and the birdlife abounds. Pack a lunch and go!

Birdathon and other adventures

Last weekend (or maybe longer?!?) my birding associate and I went canoeing at Smith and Bybee Lakes. Lovely sunny day and we spied on these eagles.






Today was Birdathon and my team, Whittemore's What-zits, scampered around Oaks Bottom and came up with about 40 species. Hooray for us and $$ for Audubon!


Here we spied on a preening Osprey.




Excellent feet.


Picturesque Heron.....


I hope to bring you more bloggable adventures soon!!

Birdcam and Ankeny NWR

Just a coupla shots from the Wingscapes BirdCam of a Townsend's Warbler and a Yellow-rumped Warbler on the suet feeder....boy, that Townsend's looks a little ragged.....

Yes, I do too have a yellow rump.

And a cute yellow bit on my head

Saturday I took my Beginning Birding 2 group to Ankeny National Wildlife Refuge south of Salem. Lovely day, no rain (that's how we judge 'em here) and about 55 species of birds. BEST bird of the trip was a Long-billed Curlew, a bird rarely found in the Willamette Valley. A very nice birder clued us in to its location and we all saw it easily. A new bird for much of the group!


Lots of pishing for a Common Yellowthroat.....first of the season for me.

Then we got to the spot where a Merlin entertained the group last year......and a Peregrine was perched there instead! Nice tradeoff!



The other benefit we received from the kindness of strangers was the news that Ospreys were just down the road at the river. I'd not been down that road so we went in search and were instantly rewarded with a pair on a nest right next to the road.




Good day at the refuge! Spring migrants are slowly coming in......and maybe my trees will bloom soon, too!