May Second–Three new birds added to my year’s list today. Male Western Tanager was first spotted by my wife. He was on a suet block just outside our kitchen window. Later Lexi and I were at Minto-Brown dog park, and a walk through some forest brought us face-to-face with 2 Wilson’s Warblers and a Swainson’s Thrush. Last evening around sunset I had seen three wet Vaux’s Swifts dive into a friendly chimney in northeast Salem. The chimney owner keeps threatening to put a cap on it.
Also at Minto-Brown, there was a robin carrying food back to a nest, likely a male carrying food to his brooding mate. All but one of the Wood Ducks (9 altogether) were males in Oxbow Slough. The females are likely up in the trees, sitting on eggs. The Wood Duck males don’t deign to muss their plumage by dealing with nest, eggs, or ducklings.
Our first tanager, through a dirty window:
Minto-Brown Island Park, Marion, Oregon, US
May 2, 2024
16 species
Canada Goose 3
Wood Duck 9
Mallard 6
California Quail 6
Northern Flicker 1
California Scrub-Jay 1
Black-capped Chickadee 2
Bushtit X
European Starling X
Swainson’s Thrush 1
American Robin 14
White-crowned Sparrow 2
Song Sparrow 9
Red-winged Blackbird X
Wilson’s Warbler 2
Black-headed Grosbeak X
For those of us going to Malheur soon, some happy news. We can be almost as happy as the pelicans, cranes and phalarope. This from Friends of Malheur:
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| The image above was taken on April 23rd and shows Malheur Lake to the right and Harney Lake on the left. At this point the lake was measuring approximately 40,000 acres and as April ended, we were hearing it is now over 43,000 acres! This is a substantial increase from 30,795 acres on March 19th. There is also water in Harney Lake visible from high vantage points, but not necessarily visible as you drive past on Double O Rd. As one might imagine, this is creating a rather busy spring for our Wildlife Biologist, Alexa Martinez. We are grateful to her for sharing this image and information. |
Towheeblog 
The Western Tanagers are here in southern New Mexico the last several days as well. We’re at 4,300′ elevation im the Chihuahuan Desert so they are just here briefly before they move on into our nearby mountains up to 10,000’+ or to places further north. I love seeing them, one of my favorite birds, along with the Swainson’s hawks who come from the south as well.
By: Linda Barker on May 2, 2024
at 10:35 am