Thursday's Bird Watch

This is an American Goldfinch photographed on August 30th in the Dallas Retirement Village community garden. Gone are the bright yellow colors of their breeding season and replaced with the dull winter plumage they will wear until Spring.  This American Goldfinch is feeding on a Sunflower plant. This season has been a fantastic one for Sunflowers in our community garden and now is the perfect time to visit the garden and observe a flock of American Goldfinches feeding on the Sunflower seeds.
 

Thursday's Bird Watch

This is a Great Heron, photographed in nearby Baskett Slough National Wildlife Refuge on August 29th. Great Egrets are about the same size as our more common Great Blue Heron. In the last several decades the range of the Great Egret has moved north, and they can now be seen year-round here in Western Oregon. They can easily be seen from Coville Road at what is known as The Narrows. This year their numbers are the highest I can remember with as many as two dozen at a time. Of course, early morning is the best time to see the most birds there. 

Honeybees and Sunflowers

This is a great time of year to visit our community gardens at Dallas Retirement Village.  This year in particular we seem to have an outstanding collection of sunflowers. And the honeybees are now busy doing their thing of pollinating the flowers while collecting their nectar. Next will come the flocks of American Goldfinches to feed on the sunflower seeds. 
 

Silver Falls State Park

South Falls

On Tuesday, August 26, Jeanette and I joined the Dallas Retirement Village bus for an outing to Silver Falls State Park. The park is filled with memories for us.  My first visit was 80 years ago to a plumber's picnic. We arrived in my dad's 1940 GMC panel truck. My next visit to the park was seven years later for a week at church camp in the old CCC barracks. Jeanette attended Girl Scouts Camp there in the 50's and then again to work as a camp counselor. In an amazing coincidence, Jeanette and I got married here on May 9th of 1993. 

On this trip, I got to hike down under the South Falls with four of DRV's lovely's, LaVerda Gallager, Jeanette Scott, Ginny Wyman, and Mavis Cloutier.

This shows the complete group just after finishing a delightful lunch, after a fun time of hiking and exploring the South Falls area. Thanks go to Wellness Director Francy Stoyer, Bus Driver Lane Sewell, and their helpers Nat and Robin for a very memorable day.

Thursday's Bird Watch

In order to escape the extreme heat of last week, Jeanette and I traveled to the coast for an overnight trip in our van. The most eye-catching bird that we saw was this Black Oystercatcher, on the rocky cliffs of Boiler Bay State Wayside, just north of Depot Bay.  Black Oystercatcher are one of the easiest birds to identify with their plump black body, long sturdy orange bill, bright red eyes, and bubblegum-pink legs. 
 

Thursday's Bird Watch

This is juvenile White-crowned Sparrow that was photographed here at Dallas Retirement Village last Friday, August 15th. This White-crowned Sparrow is recognizable as a juvenile by the brown crown stripes in place of the adult's strikingly contrasting white and black crown stripes. The nesting season appears to be ending, marked by the absence of the bright singing of the adult males.  On this day of the photograph, a dozen birds were traveling in a mixed flock of adults and juveniles, busy feeding on bugs and seeds in the water collection basin in the South-East corner of DRV.

Happy Birthday Jeanette!

Jeanette got her wish, and gave me a kiss

August 18th is Jeanette's birthday and the plan was that she would get to do whatever she wanted! First thing in the morning her hubby drove her and two of our friends, Dan and Karen Sewell, to the coast for breakfast at the Otis Cafe, where Dan treated us all to breakfast. 

Next, we went birding at one of Jeanette's favorite locations, Alder Island in the Siletz National Wildlife Refuge. We had great fun with all four of us using the Merlin phone app to identify birds by sound. We made an impressive checklist, which you can see here.

In the evening Jeanette's brother Bill Dye joined us, our daughter Lisa Borja, and our sister-in-law Mary Sites, for dinner at The Grill in The Lodge here at Dallas Retirment Village.

The grand finale was birthday cake in our apartment. Bill provided his home-made traditional Dye family chocolate cake.