Towheeblog

Birds come and birds go, especially here in the month of April, just above the 45th Parallel.  After the rain fell off late yesterday, 6pm or so, there was a loose flock of Ruby-crowned Kinglets passing by.  Some in our back garden, some in front of the house in deciduous trees just beginning to leaf out.  At one point two little specks rested on an overhead power line.

Then this morning there was a small gaggle of aggressive Yellow-rumps, both color variations, chasing one another and bullying the hungry Bushtit couple that is nesting nearby.  Reports say I should see my first Vaux’s Swift any day now, and hear a singing grosbeak before the end of this month.  Meanwhile juncos are a memory, wintering sparrows soon to follow.

Today I saw a crow above one of our suburban streets, carrying a stick off to its nest site.

At Joe Dancer Park a certain male Anna’s Hummingbird has a select twig on one side of his favorite tree, and when I see him, there he sits.  This species does spend most of its time sitting, after all, they fly so fast and burn some much petrol, they need plenty of rest to recuperate between sorties.

In recent days both Purple and House Finches have been singing.

MALHEUR FIELD STATION 2019 NATURAL HISTORY PROGRAMS:

*BIRDING MALHEUR *  May 22-27 & June 7-12  * 5 Nights * Leader :  Harry Fuller *  $900 / $850 RV *

BIRDING MALHEUR & STEENS MT *  Sept  16-22 * 6 Nights * Leader :  Harry Fuller * $1000 / $940 RV

Cost includes all meals and accommodations at Malheur Field Station on the wildlife refuge.

About Harry Fuller:  Harry has lived in Oregon since 2007.  He has been leading bird trips and teaching bird classes since the 1990s.  He annually leads birding trips in Oregon and Washington for Klamath Bird Observatory, Road Scholar and Golden Gate Audubon.   See more at: http://www.atowhee.blog.
To register contact the Malheur Field Station at 541-493-2629

Spring: Trumpeter Swan, Cinnamon Teal, Black-chinned Hummingbird, White Pelicans, Franklin’s Gulls, Black Terns, Wilson’s Phalarope, Wilson’s Snipe, Long-billed Curlew, Sora, Sandhill Crane, Ferruginous Hawk, Swainson’s Hawk, Golden Eagle, Great Horned Owl, Short-eared Owl, Burrowing Owl, Eastern and Western Kingbirds, Say’s Phoebe, Gray Flycatcher,  Loggerhead Shrike, Prairie Falcon, Horned Lark, Sage Thrasher, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Sagebrush Sparrow, Brewer’s Sparrow,

Mammals: pronghorn, mule deer, badger, kit fox, coyote, long-tailed weasel, river otter, Belding’s ground squirrel, Nuttall’s cottontail, black-tailed jackrabbit, yellow-bellied marmot.

Fall: Trumpeter Swan, migrant ducks, migrant shorebirds, Sora, Sandhill Crane,  Golden Eagle, Ferruginous Hawk, Great Horned Owl, White Pelican, Common Nighthawk, Prairie Falcon, migrant woodpeckers (Lewis’s, et al.), Say’s Phoebe, Horned Lark, Sage Thrasher, Brewer’s Sparrow, Western Tanager, Yellow-headed Blackbird, migrant warblers.

Mammals: wild mustangs, pronghorn, mule deer, kit fox, coyote, long-tailed weasel, river otter, Nuttall’s cottontail, black-tailed jackrabbit.