Towheeblog

Birded Baskett Slough this morning.  Pintails and rain.  Wigeon and more rain.  Red-winged Blackbirds and a bit of rain.  Two thousand Cacklers in a meadow, under rain.  Bald Eagle, kestrels, coots a-hootin’, one heron, five egrets, harriers (at least two adult males), shovelers, all rained-in.  Nothing unusual.  At the last chance we got our Peregrine, haunting and hunting a hillside meadow full of robins and starlings at the northeast end of Smithfield Road.

Male harrier…flock of robins and starlings in air after peregrine raid…peregrine high in sky, unmistakable shape and speed:

Baskett Slough NWR, Polk, Oregon, US
Feb 5, 2020
23 species

Cackling Goose  2000
Northern Shoveler  X
Gadwall  X
American Wigeon  X
Mallard  X
Northern Pintail  X
Green-winged Teal  X
Bufflehead  10
American Coot  X
Great Blue Heron  1
Great Egret  5
Northern Harrier  5
Bald Eagle  2
Red-tailed Hawk  2
Northern Flicker  2
American Kestrel  6
European Starling  X
American Robin  X
Golden-crowned Sparrow  40
Song Sparrow  1
Spotted Towhee  4
Western Meadowlark  X
Red-winged Blackbird  X

Baskett Slough NWR–Smithfield Rd., Polk, Oregon, US
Feb 5, 2020
15 species

Northern Shoveler  X
Mallard  X
Northern Pintail  X
Green-winged Teal  X
Ring-necked Duck  2
Lesser Scaup  8
Northern Harrier  X
Bald Eagle  1
Peregrine Falcon  1
European Starling  500
American Robin  200
Golden-crowned Sparrow  X
Song Sparrow  X
Spotted Towhee  X
Red-winged Blackbird  X

Patty Ln., Yamhill, Oregon, US
Feb 5, 2020
11 species

Eurasian Collared-Dove  1
Red-tailed Hawk  1
Northern Flicker  2
California Scrub-Jay  1
European Starling  X
Varied Thrush  1
American Robin  X
Dark-eyed Junco  300     large flocks in blueberry fields
White-crowned Sparrow  X
Golden-crowned Sparrow  X
Spotted Towhee  X