Towheeblog

This past week two Purple Finch youngsters showed up in our garden.  First this year. Driving rural roads in Yamhill County now you can now see stark white and rich pink of feral plum trees declaring February is really spring.
Songs can now be heard from House and Lesser Gold-finch, Song Sparrows, the mating call of flickers.  Those are species that will nest here.  The wintering migrants like Fox and Golden-crowned Sparrow, Varied Thrush–they are not likely to sing just yet.

The Joe Dancer wetlands are drying out with lack of recent rains, but I recently raised a snipe still there.  On Wednesday two orange butterflies chased one another at Hagg Lake.  And on sunny days I see the small pale flies that feed on moldy plant matter. And a single bee sped past me during the mid-day sun yesterday!Al these  birds were seen here in McMinnville.  The Brown Creeper, above, was on some city-owned forest land along Cozine Creek.  He zipped past my head and landed right in front of me–I could have sworn he nodded as he passed.  “Hey, I’m photogenic…”

820 NW 19th Street, McMinnville, Yamhill, Oregon, US

Feb 21, 2020
16 species

Canada Goose  X
Eurasian Collared-Dove  X
California Scrub-Jay  X
Chestnut-backed Chickadee  3
Bushtit  30
European Starling  X
American Robin  X
House Sparrow  X
House Finch  X
Purple Finch  2
Pine Siskin  2
Lesser Goldfinch  8
Dark-eyed Junco  35
Golden-crowned Sparrow  X
Spotted Towhee  X
Yellow-rumped Warbler  5

820 NW 19th Street, McMinnville, Yamhill, Oregon, US
Feb 22, 2020
16 species

Northern Flicker  1
California Scrub-Jay  2
Chestnut-backed Chickadee  3
Bushtit  30
White-breasted Nuthatch  1
European Starling  X
American Robin  X
House Sparrow  X
House Finch  2
Purple Finch  2
Pine Siskin  2
Lesser Goldfinch  4
Dark-eyed Junco  35
Golden-crowned Sparrow  2
Spotted Towhee  1
Yellow-rumped Warbler  5–four myrtle, one Audubon’s

Joe Dancer Park, Yamhill, Oregon, US
Feb 21, 2020
17 species

Anna’s Hummingbird  1
Wilson’s Snipe  1
Red-breasted Sapsucker  1
Downy Woodpecker  1
Northern Flicker  5
American Kestrel  1
American Crow  X
Black-capped Chickadee  1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet  1
European Starling  X
American Robin  120
House Finch  4
Lesser Goldfinch  8
Fox Sparrow  2
Dark-eyed Junco  80
Song Sparrow  6
Spotted Towhee  4