It was a fine spring morning for the Salem Audubon field trip at Fairview Wetlands. Spring evidence abounding–blooming currant, a bumblebee, red-wings singing and chasing one another, most had teal departed while many swallows have arrived, nesting red-tails, three-foot garter snake in motion, Bushtits paired, songs from Song Sparrow and Bewick’s Wren, Canada Geese challenging and chasing one another. Last spring only a single pair ended up “owning” the main marsh across from Carrier.
MITE IS MIGHTY IMPRESSIVE
Color is variable depnding on light conditions because his gorget is iridescent.
Also at Fairview:
About that woolly bear, who survived our winter. Here’s what one website says: “Mature woolly bears search for overwintering sites under bark or inside cavities of rocks or logs. (That’s why you see so many of them crossing roads and sidewalks in the fall.)”
When spring arrives, woolly bears spin fuzzy cocoons and transform inside them into full-grown moths.
CAPITOL LAKE…note the black mask on this myrtle warbler, stronger facial pattern than an Audubon’s can muster:
Fairview Wetlands, Marion, Oregon, US
Mar 22, 2022 8:50 AM – 11:05 AM–fine date…3-22-22; in UK it’s 22-3-22, a palindrome.
29 species
Cackling Goose 60
Canada Goose 10
Northern Shoveler 25
Gadwall 6
Mallard X
Northern Pintail 20
Green-winged Teal 8
Ring-necked Duck 4
Bufflehead 6
Mourning Dove 1
Anna’s Hummingbird 4
American Coot 15
Killdeer 3
Cooper’s Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 2 nesting in Doug-firs behind Carrier building
Downy Woodpecker 1
California Scrub-Jay 1
American Crow 1
Tree Swallow X
Violet-green Swallow X
Bushtit 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 3
Bewick’s Wren 1
American Robin 8
White-crowned Sparrow 3
Golden-crowned Sparrow 20
Song Sparrow 7
Spotted Towhee 2
Red-winged Blackbird 40
Lake Capitol, Marion, Oregon, US
Mar 22, 2022
10 species
Cackling Goose 8 fly over
Mallard 4
Lesser Scaup 3
Bufflehead 3
Common Merganser 1
Pied-billed Grebe 4
American Coot 4
Double-crested Cormorant 1
Great Blue Heron 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler 1
Towheeblog 
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