Towheeblog

How much wood
Would a wood duck duck
If a wood duck could duck wood?

Today at Oxbow Slough at the south end of Minto Brown Island there was a flock of Wood Ducks, at least eight. There were several other species as well, but I was surprised as I rarely see woodies in a group. Here is a shot of Oxbow Slough and some of the Buffleheads. There was no photo access to the other ducks. Even the buffies are blurred beings, sorry.

At dawn this morning, it was drizzling, light was low, and the Townsend’s Warbler showed up and ordered breakfast:

Around 8AM a coop flew through our garden and landed just down the street. The crows took offense and sat atop the hawk’s tree for some time. And stayed nearby. There were announcements made, then the crows got bored and went to breakfast, the hawk stayed another half hour or so.

Below: a full rainbow, captured by my wife, Kate, earlier this week. Then two images from Peter Thiemann’s forest in the Applegate Valley. Gray fox and raven pair dining on turkey, it seems. Then predators are native species, the turkey introduced for hunting…and hunted it was.

Turkeys are in full color now.|

The turkeys drop their colored markers around our garden. And deposit little mounds of fertilizer to repay us for all the sunflower chips they eat, and free grass. They seem to like yarrow so I have tried to fence them off of those sprouts.

The Energy Information Administration is out with its latest survey of corporate or agency generation of sustainable energy. Windy Texas is #1, while sunny California is second. Windy prairie states fill our the top six: Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas, Illinois.
Two of the big wind states are severe oil addicts so that may portend some serious future political conflicts. Will Texas try to limit sales of electric vehicles to protect Big Oil?

THE PLASTIC ECONOMY
From Break Free From Plastic (BFFP): “Join us in wishing Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Nestlé, Unilever, and Mondelez International a Happy Trashiversary for being the worst polluters of the last FIVE YEARS!” Click here for BFFP’s latest report on the plastic purveyors trashing our planet.

Minto-Brown Island Park, Marion, Oregon, US
Mar 10, 2023
Checklist Comments:     south end of the park only, along Oxbow Slough
19 species

Cackling Goose  2
Canada Goose  2
Wood Duck  8     in a single flock
Northern Shoveler  12
American Wigeon  10
Mallard  4
Green-winged Teal  2
Ring-necked Duck  8
Bufflehead  12
Pied-billed Grebe  2
Double-crested Cormorant  1
Great Egret  1
Black Phoebe  1
California Scrub-Jay  1
American Crow  3
European Starling  10
American Robin  50
Song Sparrow  2
Spotted Towhee  2

954 Ratcliff Drive SE, Marion, Oregon, US
Mar 10, 2023
17 species

Wild Turkey  17
Mourning Dove  14
Cooper’s Hawk  1
Downy Woodpecker  1
Steller’s Jay  1
California Scrub-Jay  X
American Crow  X
Black-capped Chickadee  2
Chestnut-backed Chickadee  2
Bushtit  20
Red-breasted Nuthatch  1
Varied Thrush  2
House Finch  X
Lesser Goldfinch  X
American Goldfinch  X
Dark-eyed Junco  30
Townsend’s Warbler  1