Birding at Fern Ridge Wildlife Area

Today was a forced furlough day for state workers in order to save money.  I’m not sure how much money they saved by not having volunteers work, but oh well, we took the day off and went birding at Fern Ridge Wildlife Area west of Eugene.  We spent a couple hours birding from the Royale Ave. Trailhead.  We saw an unbelievable amount of birds.  Noisy Marsh Wrens caught our attention the minute we got out of the car and continued the first half of a mile.  At the second pond the Red-winged Blackbirds were the dominate bird, perhaps as many as fifty.  We were also treated to a dozen White Pelicans flying overhead. In all we identified 25 different species of birds, which included a first time spotting of a Black Tern. We topped of the day with lunch and a visit with son Michael and his wife Robin.    

Jim's Work

A good percentage of my work time is spent removing blackberry vines from the landscaped vegetation around ODFW’s District Office.  Buster would like to ride the tractor with me, it’s not really what happens, but it makes a cute photo.

Badlands Birding

On Sunday, Dan put together a birding trip to two ponds located in the Oregon Badlands Wilderness, located just East of Bend.  For more photos and information check out the Trip Journal or click here.

Weekend in Bend

We spent the weekend in Bend with our friends Dan and Charlene Lawry.  Jeanette, Charlene and Dan are shown here on a hike we did Saturday on the Deschutes River Trail.  More photos and details to follow soon, maybe even a Trip Journal.

Nesting Material

Swallows are busy building nests now.  We have been watching a pair of Barn Swallows thru our dinning window gather mud from a mud puddle to daub a nest together up under the porch at the office.  Today I caught this Tree Swallow with nesting material headed for her nest box. She and I were both in sight of the nest box, but she would not give it away by going there until I had left.  Although I wanted to get a photo of her at the nest box, I finally took pity on her and walked on.

Raccoon Nest

While birding at Nesmith County Park in Rickreall the other day Jeanette spotted two raccoons climbing up a tree.  Here they are shown settled in a fork of the tree for their day time nap I assume.  Not sure about the plastic bag, imagine the wind blew it there, might be handy for their garbage.

Red-Eared Slider Update

Last week on May 1^st, I posted a blog on some turtles enjoying the sun at Delta Ponds in Eugene.  I mistakenly assumed they were Western Pond Turtles until my sister-in-law Patty commented and asked if they were natives.  This caused me to take a closer look and I was surprised to discover that they were non-native Red-eared Sliders.  Now, many of you who follow closely already know all this, but here is the next chapter---- this morning I talked to some people at the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife District Office where we volunteer and I learn ironically enough that this week ODFW will start trapping turtles at Delta Ponds, removing the non-native Red-Eared Siders, and tagging the native Western Pond Turtles.