Towheeblog

I’ve been trying to bird a little every day before the next blizzard.Flock of pipits in short grass along Shelton Road west of Westside Road.Ruby-crowned Kinglet at Wennerberg Park.At the feeders–a pair of Downys showed up,  both adults instead of the immature one that’s been coming daily.  Often pairs that mated and reared young in the area the previous summer will reunited in winter on the old breeding territory though they’ve been separated since late summer.  They may drift apart again bef0re spring so it’s a way of just checking in, it seems.Below: one of our House Finches.  On sunny days this past week I’ve heard them sing.  A couple o of the males have put their carotene to good use, sporting yellow-orange forehead and bib.  Spring must be coming in Finchland.  And this morning I heard a Flicker calling, not the single sharp note but the undulating long call that denotes territorial interests.
This afternoon, before the rain resumed, there were plenty of ducks to  be seen at Yemhill Sewer Ponds.  Nothing unexpected:
Yamhill Sewage Ponds (restricted access), Yamhill, Oregon, US
Jan 25, 2017. 15 species

Cackling Goose (Branta hutchinsii)  1
Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)  25
American Wigeon (Anas americana)  2
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)  2
Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata)  150
Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis)  25
Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola)  12
Ruddy Duck (Oxyura jamaicensis)  2
Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)  1
Cooper’s Hawk (Accipiter cooperii)  1
Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus)  1
American Kestrel (Falco sparverius)  1
California Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma californica)  2
Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus)  6
Brewer’s Blackbird (Euphagus cyanocephalus)  30

This spring I will be teaching a four-week class on the Birds of Willamette Valley for McMinnville Park & Rec. Click here for link. Class includes four weekend field trips.