2-22-22 here in US; 22-2-22 in Britain. Five of a kind no matter how it’s dealt.
Bewick’s singing in one of our roses.THe yellowlegs and meadowlark were at Mill Creek Wetlands. Red-tail nest by sewer plant southwest of Salem airport. Cacklers could be anywhere with lawn and quiet parking lot–this happens to Oregeon DFW on Fairview Industrial.
Philippe Pessereau went to see the Gyrfalcon. His images:
Philippe posted these to OBOL with a brief description: “Thanks to those who have posted about the Gyrfalcon lately, we were able to spot it this morning (around 10am and between rain and sunshine) and we were able to observe it twice hunting and resting in between. It favored the long and tall irrigation rigs and also the power poles. Here are some pics from our morning excitement. We did not witness any catch at the time we were there. But the majestic and powerful flying made up for it as this was our first time seeing such magnificent bird.”This falcon is a bird of the Northern Hemisphere, adept at hunting the frigid exspanses of Arctic landscape. Nearly as large as the caracara, it has a four-foot wingspan and is bigger than our region’s Peregrine or Prairie Falcons. One only occasionally winters this far south.
Here is range map for the species:
Turkey round-up in our garden:
The turkys come once, sometimes, twice daily. Two of the younger toms have formed their own fraternity while the largest tom dominates a flock of a dozen, mostly harem members. Caught a few coming over our neighbor’s six-foot high fence.
California’s latest social media celebrity should be in hibernation, but his video tour continues. Hank the Tank, click here.
Co-operation is clearly a significant activity among social creatrures (including trees) that can aid survival. We could learn from the natural world, if mour species is to survive we must co-operate and not overheat the planet. Recently Australian scientists were humbled by a community of magpies, click here to read about it.
Another birder found another Willamette Valley Northern Shrike, too. “Here’s one I got on Bond Rd. here in Eugene a few weeks back – Jim Hardman”.
I find those faint wavy lines on the chest to be a subtle bit of finery.
A gallery from Mill Creek Wetlands:
THe Bald Eagle drove the cacklers into aerial panic seen above. The red-tail was half of mated pair circling the marsh.
Mill Creek snipe hunt. Can you find one not flying?
In bottom picture a tiny black dot is above the snipe face. This is marked duplicate of top image–knowing where to look can you find the snipe?
Black Phoebe hunts his part of the marsh:
Want to see the world’s tiniest “peacock” then click here for video:
I especially enjoyed reading the story about the Australian magpies helping each other remove their backpack harness. We saw these clever magpies on our birding trip to Australia.
By: Kathy Patterson on February 26, 2022 at 10:33 am
Towheeblog 
I especially enjoyed reading the story about the Australian magpies helping each other remove their backpack harness. We saw these clever magpies on our birding trip to Australia.
By: Kathy Patterson on February 26, 2022
at 10:33 am