Shelter From The Rain

This male Brewer's Blackbird seems to be doing the smart thing on this rainy afternoon ---seeking shelter from the rain.  Despite the rain, in about an hour of observing we had eleven different species in our back yard.  Most seemed oblivious to the rain, but this bird appeared to be the wisest,  taking advantage of the roof on the seed feeder to stay out of the rain.

Identification by Sound

Bewick's Wren

Jeanette and I are relatively new to serious birding, just a few years now. For many years we were dependent on a visual sightings to make a positive identification, but in the last couple of years the list of birds that we can identify by their own unique song or call has been growing,  and now a good number of birds we can identify just by their sound. It really adds to the enjoyment of the experience to be to be able to instantly recognize an old friend hidden away in the bushes, or completely out of sight high in a tree. Plus it really saves a lot of time when we make up a list on a bird walk not to have to find and see every pesky bird that we hear. This Bewick's Wren in a good case in point.  We are only this year starting to recognize it by its song.  We heard this bird today while birding at Luckiamute Landing State Natural Area.  It was buried deep in the blackberry bushes, but as it continued to sing I became fairly sure it was a Bewick's Wren.  Thanks to an App on our iPhones we confirmed it was the right sound for a Bewick's Wren, and as we played the song the wren came out to have a look. Since we are able to have a clue on this bird just by it's sound it is amazing that this bird we rarely could count before, we now find on almost every trip. As I right this I am surprised to discover when I look back at today's list that of the 23 species we identified today, 19 we can identify by sound alone.

Violet-green Swallows have Arrived!

Today we had our FOY (first of the year) Violet-green Swallows show up.  We have had Tree Swallows for a few weeks, and I have been eagerly anticipating the first of the Violet-greens. This afternoon I saw the first one in our neighbors tree, which is the one in the above photo, and later I took the lower photo of him inspecting  one of our nesting boxes. This morning we had four Tree Swallows checking out the other nesting box.  Up to this point a pair of Black-capped Chickadees seemed to be the only ones showing interest in either of the boxes, and this afternoon I noticed one very upset chickadee, visibly shaking with his crown sticking straight up. It will be interesting to see how this all shapes up with four interested couples and only two nesting boxes available. 

Osprey Courtship Behavior

Yesterday I reported seeing our first Osprey of the season at Wallace Marine Park.  Today, while I was volunteering at the Audubon Nature Reserve, Jeanette called to report seeing a pair of Osprey cleaning the grass out of a nest site on Murlark Ave. NW.  Later I went by to check and took the following series of photos of their courtship behavior.  They can't have been in the Salem area for long, but they seem pretty serious about their intentions, or at least HE is!

Wallace Marine Park

Red-breasted Sapsucker

Wallace Marine Park is one of the big positives on the list of reasons we love living in West Salem.  It's a mere two miles down Wallace Road from our home in Salemtowne.  Although it is well know for it's baseball field complex, the 115 acre park contains a good network of trails that are perfect for birding.  Its location along the Willamette River also provides the opportunity to see waterfowl. Today's bird walk was a good example of the diversity to be found.  In an hour and twenty minute walk we identified twenty four different species.  The best photo of the day was the Red-breasted Sapsucker as shown above.  The most interesting bird to watch was a Brown Creeper working its way up a Maple tree.  But the real highlight of the walk were three Osprey.  Exciting for us as it was our FOY (first of the year) sighting of an Osprey for us in Oregon. The three Osprey were making a good amount of noise circling over the the softball complex where the remains of their previous years nest is located. They were probably working out the details of this years mating and nesting arrangements.

Returning Tree Swallows

Beaver Creek Nature Center - March 18th 

It's that time of year when the swallows are returning from their winter sojourn in the south.  Their numbers are just beginning to trickle in, but will grow in the coming weeks. Tree Swallows as this pair shown in this photo, are typically the first of the swallows to arrive, and with their presence it signals the important time to make sure your nesting boxes are in place and ready. I've already had Black-caped Chickadees checking out one of my boxes. Violet-green Swallows will also be coming soon and it will be an interesting show to watch and see which birds win the competition for the nesting boxes. It's important for your nesting box to have a entrance hole smaller than an inch and a half to be able to exclude the pesky House Sparrows from using it. It's beneficial to help the swallows with nesting sites because we have destroyed much of their natural habitat of standing snags to nest in.  It's a win-win situation for us because as we provide nesting opportunity for them they will in turn help keep the mosquito population down.

A Walk On Rickreall Creek Trail

A fellow blogger posted recently about the importance of getting outside for her.  She likes to get outside "a lot" was how she described it.  It's been a life long habit for me as well.  It is with out a doubt the healthiest thing I do for myself.  To get outside and exercise, to breath in fresh air, to take in nature's beauty.  Those are life saving events for me.  With my age now close to three quarters of a century, the toll of aches and pains of the body, confusion and forgetfulness of the brain, all get to be quite depressing. Fortunately when I get out to walk and bird, my mind clears and I feel young and energized once again. Yesterday I escaped for an hour to walk and bird and photograph on the Rickreall Creek Trail in Dallas.  Here are a few things the made my day.

A Band-tailed Pigeon, once numerous, now a real treat to find.

Flowering Currant, one that I helped volunteers plant a month ago.

Giant Trilliums, a rare native starting to bloom in good numbers.