Towheeblog

At Wilco on South Cemmercial in Salem yesterday I sdaw crows carrying nesting material, perhaps into a Doug-fir…and an Osprey checking out the neighboring cell phone tower:

Click here for a summary saga of a flicker nest hole, the the squirrel intruder. I continue to watch, but hope the flickers don’t try to use it because the hole is large enough to allow squirrels in to the eggs. There was a flicker at the hole yesterday:

BIRDS OUT OUR WINDOW

That tom turkey was almost as colorful as the azalea behind him. The Lincoln’s Sparrow looked me in the eye from a few feet away. A new study–click here to read about it–says turkeys are #1 bullies in the bird feeder peeking order. I knew that just lookin’ out our window!

I will be doing bird walks this spring at Cornerstone Preserve, 87-acres managed by the Polk Soil and Water Conservation District. If has rich habitat. Click here for my power point talk on the habitat and birds there.

A court decision this week judged that it is legal for Oregon state giovernment to judge the wisdom of logging based on how that might affects water quality, wildlife, etc. A dozen counties had sued the stater for damages and won a first level judgement over a billion dollars because the state had the effrontery to stop some logging on state-owned lands. Click here for summary of the latest decision.

Presumably the tree-cutters will take their case to the state supreme court and then maybe federal courts after that.

PREPARE FOR GROSBEAK RETURN–Here’s email sent today by my friend, John Bullock, in Ashland: “You know that Spring migration is on when SEVEN Black-headed Grosbeaks show up at your suet feeders! In the rain no less.” That’s less than 300 straight flying miles from Portland.

954 Ratcliff Drive SE, Marion, Oregon, US
Apr 27, 2022
19 species

Wild Turkey  1
Mourning Dove  6
Downy Woodpecker  1
Northern Flicker  1
California Scrub-Jay  X
American Crow  X
Chestnut-backed Chickadee  X
White-breasted Nuthatch  1
Bewick’s Wren  1
European Starling  4
House Sparrow  2     mated pair
House Finch  1
Pine Siskin  4
Fox Sparrow  1
Dark-eyed Junco  1
Golden-crowned Sparrow  2
Song Sparrow  1
Lincoln’s Sparrow  1
Spotted Towhee  2