Towheeblog

The rain’s made another appointment…for tomorrow. So this afternoon fair skies and fairly good birding at Fairview. When the Cacklling Geese are there in the hundreds it can be hard to notice anybody else. But the lawns at ODFW had both bluebirds and yellow-rumps. The abundance of GW Teal in the marsh itself was the highest I’ve ever seen there–maybe 250? They rarely want to be close enough ti photograph–they are eagerly hunted almost everywhere they go. And snipe in marshy grasses next to Jordan Crossing Building.

In that one slender image with plenty of blue sky in it, there is a snipe speeding away from me…but you have to click on the image and enlarge it.
In some of the gaggle shots you can clearly see the pronounced white necklace on one or two of the Cacklers.

Fairview Wetlands, Marion, Oregon, US
Dec 17, 2021
14 species

Cackling Goose  300
Northern Shoveler  50
Gadwall  6
Mallard  X
Northern Pintail  7
Green-winged Teal  250
American Coot  15
Wilson’s Snipe  2
Northern Flicker  1
European Starling  X
Western Bluebird  3
Song Sparrow  1
Lincoln’s Sparrow  1
Yellow-rumped Warbler  6