Towheeblog

Birders and waste management personnel are the only people who willingly hang out at sewer ponds.  Today at Yamhill town ponds there were two workers on the pond levees and this one birder…and lotsa birds from Bald Eagle down to Anna’s Hummingbird.
First, I stopped by to pay my respects to the wintering Mockingbird at the Main Street yellow Victorian.  He was overseeing his domain as usual.

I first noticed the adult Bald Eagle in a bare oak tree at least two hundred yards west of the sewer ponds.  I have seen eagles there before this month.  Could there be a pair nesting in that vicinity?
When the workmen drove their trucks along the levees the ducks moved away…swimming to the opposite end of the ponds or even flying low across a levee to the next pool.  But then the eagle launched into the sky, circling and climbing higher.  At that most of the ducks began flying in swerving formations high above the ponds, and moving at their top speed.  Eventually the eagle moved away and the ducks began to splashdown.

Yamhill Sewage Ponds (restricted access), Yamhill, Oregon, US
Feb 12, 2020
21 species
Canada Goose  12
Northern Shoveler  75
Mallard  8
Lesser Scaup  60
Bufflehead  27
Ruddy Duck  1
Eurasian Collared-Dove  1
Mourning Dove  7
Anna’s Hummingbird  1
Killdeer  4
Bald Eagle  1
Red-tailed Hawk  1
American Kestrel  1
California Scrub-Jay  1
American Crow  8
Common Raven  1
Black-capped Chickadee  2
European Starling  X
American Robin  20
Dark-eyed Junco  5
Song Sparrow  1