Towheeblog

Ashland Pond, on a perfect spring morning.

The good news: Wood Ducklings once again accompanied by their mom.  Last evening she must have been catching a nap and the little fuzz balls escaped through the nursery window.

The great news: Evening Grosbeaks.  “Grosbeak” can roughly be translated “great schnoz.”  There was a quartet eating the flourescence off the top of an old oak next to the pond.  I watched a few minutes and then they did what finch flocks often do…suddenly ripped off to another outdoor cafe.

Singing birds today included: White-throated Sparrow, Bewick’s Wren, Western Meadowlark, Red-winged Blackbird.  The Black-capped Chickadees have been taking advantage of the early insect bloom.   Today I saw two fledglings nagging their parents for bites of bug as the family of four foraged through the small trees.

Jackson County must’ve gotten a big shipment of House Wrens from the south recently. I had one out at Emigrant Lake yesterday This morning there was one lurking in the thicket at the pond while not far off his aggressive cousin, Mr. Bewick,  was up in the treetops out-singing the Red-winged Blackbird on the next limb.

This Barn Swallow picture was from late yesterday when there were at least two among the swirling Tree Swallows. The White-throated Sparrow sang from cover, but the lingering Golden-crowns all climbed up into the bush tops to listen, it appeared.  Doesn;t this bird look wistful?  Maybe he misses Mt. Rainier and hankers to head north.   Passer domesticus, being domestic. Through the limbs: “myrtle” warbler.  And then the Family Wood Duck.

Ashland Pond, Jackson, US-OR
Apr 18, 2015 10:30 AM – 11:30 AM. 28 species

Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)  X
Wood Duck (Aix sponsa)  4     mother with young
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)  5
Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis)  1     fly over
Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)  2
Anna’s Hummingbird (Calypte anna)  1
Acorn Woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus)  3
Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens)  1
Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus)  2
Steller’s Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri)  3     unusual fly over
Western Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma californica)  6
American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos)  3
Common Raven (Corvus corax)  1
Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor)  40
Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus)  4     adults with two fledglings
House Wren (Troglodytes aedon)  1
Bewick’s Wren (Thryomanes bewickii)  2     singing
European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)  X
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata)  15     at least one Myrtle
Spotted Towhee (Pipilo maculatus)  3
White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis)  1     singing
White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys)  4
Golden-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia atricapilla)  6
Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus)  X
Western Meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta)  1
Brewer’s Blackbird (Euphagus cyanocephalus)  6
Evening Grosbeak (Coccothraustes vespertinus)  4
House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)  X     nesting in nest box

View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S22927614