The dog insisted on a walk this afternoon and she led me over to Joe Dancer Park, we birded the west end of the park then crossed under the river bridge to the open space west of Three Mile Lane viaduct. The Pac Wrens and Varied Thrush were back under the conifers though they liked the spots where the snow was gone, or never fell. Out in the open west of the bridge there were Bewick’s Wrens hunting in sunlight, and then my first Lincoln’s Sparrow of the year showed himself…sorta.
I saw more Varied Thrush in two hours today than I have altogether since Labor Day. Judging from the chatter on OBOL this current snow and cold have brought the Varied Thrush down from the north or down from the mountains, or into town from the forest floor. Today they were in all the right places. One passed through our garden–first this year. Then there were more feeding on snowless patches at Joe Dancer.
My third thrush of the day was unseen…except by my camera…as I was trying to catch a nervous little hummer. When I went through my images later, throwing out the majority that were worthless, there sits a Hermit Thrush watching me watch the hummer.
And I did finally get a shot of the hummer, whom we should call “molt face.”
WREN COLLECTION
Two wren species on one walk…Pacific in the forested areas, Bewick’s out in the more open area. One even posed on the side of the bridge despite constant traffic noise.
Above is Pac Wren stopping in full sun in the tangle of flood detritus along the riverbank. Below is one shot of the more typical view of the little tyke as he hopped around in the piles of trunks, limbs, leaves and brambles.
Here is Bewick on the bridge.
HILLSIDE SKULKER
I got a good short glimpse of this little guy, feeding in the tall grass on a south-facing slope…all alone. But a picture?
I cropped this first one way down so you could at least see parts of the bird.
In this shot below he’s looking right at the camera…see him?
Here he is, Mr. Lincoln:
DEER PRINT:
And Dancer is a city park which makes for the usual manmade weirdness. You gotta admit my dog knows how to dress for the season. And she knows art when she smells it.
We call this fellow “Stumpy.”
Joe Dancer Park, Yamhill, Oregon, US
Jan 14, 2017 1:20 PM – 2:05 PM. Comments: includes open space east of Three Mile Lane bridge over South Yamhill River
11 species
Anna’s Hummingbird (Calypte anna) 1 male in molt
Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus) 1
Pacific Wren (Troglodytes pacificus) 2
Bewick’s Wren (Thryomanes bewickii) 3
Hermit Thrush (Catharus guttatus) 1
American Robin (Turdus migratorius) 4
Varied Thrush (Ixoreus naevius) 6
Fox Sparrow (Passerella iliaca) 4
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) 7
Lincoln’s Sparrow 1
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