Nesting Report

I spend the day yesterday scouting Collier Memorial State Park and the nearby Wood River Wetland for birds in preparation for leading bird hikes for a group of Chemeketans. It was great fun to check out nesting sites that were in use last summer when we here.  The Black-backed Woodpeckers did not return to their tree they used last year right in the campground, nor did I see any activity of the Western Bluebirds at the snag they used in the meadow. But the Northern Flickers are possibly using their tree on Spring Creek, and a mother Common Merganser had 8 chicks in tow swimming up Spring Creek. There was no sign of the Osprey on their nest site towering over the creek.  Cliff Swallows were very active with nest sites under the bridge of Highway 97.  I head an exchange between two Pileated Woodpeckers at the same junction on the Williamson River Trail that I saw and photographed two juveniles last summer. On this day, they kept calling back and forth and then the one on the right flew in close enough to see and photograph.  It was a female and my guess is the exchange was between her and a juvenile expressing a warning.  The biggest news is that the Bald Eagles nest on the Williamson is being used this year. I spotted two young birds on the nest with an Adult standing guard. The young ones hid as I approached and reappeared when I left. And then there was this nest in the above photo.  I didn’t have a clue, but luckily when I e-mailed my friend Matt Hunter, he knew exactly, a Warbling Vireo.