The rainy season seems to have started. And just before the rains resumed, a neighbor moved into our garden. Precisely he took over the pool. He is only about three inches long, when his legs are folded up, but he is bigger by far than the water boatmen who patrol the pool for fallen prey that can’t swim.
LITTLE BIRDS, BIG AS LIFE
Bushtits in willow, XCB Chuckadee at suet, first Spotted Towhee in or garden since…mid-April. Towhews and Yellow-rumped Warblers both disappeared after tax day, but now a towhee is back. The warblers go much further away to breed but I should one or more during migration.
BENTON BIRDS
I was back and forth on Corvallis on Hwy99W on Thursday, stopping at the state Fish & Wildlife office in Adair. Each time they saw me, the pair of Wood Ducks would whistle in alarm and then fly a few circles before they settle back down on the pond.
TV IN THE AIR
As I watched the vulture teeter on the edge of the chimney then depart i told myself I knew who would like that chimney…left over from a long defunct lumber mill and just uphill from ODFW office. Asking the clerk inside I was informed that nobody stayed around after 5pm to see if swifts use the tall stack. Any Corvallis birders know?
820 NW 19th Street, McMinnville, Yamhill, Oregon, US
Sep 15, 2019
8 species
Eurasian Collared-Dove 7
California Scrub-Jay 1
Black-capped Chickadee 2
Chestnut-backed Chickadee 4
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1
House Finch 1
American Goldfinch 14
Spotted Towhee 1
 |
|||
11 species
Wood Duck 2
Great Blue Heron 1
Great Egret 1
Turkey Vulture 4
Downy Woodpecker 1
California Scrub-Jay 2
Violet-green Swallow 1
Barn Swallow 30
American Robin X
Cedar Waxwing 40
Dark-eyed Junco 1
My spotted towhees never left, BUT the Ca. towhee, who I think nested late in summer has yet to return……… Like their cousins, they are usually here all year.
By: marieannette@q.com on September 16, 2019
at 3:07 pm