Birds of the Backwater

Our favorite trail to bird here in the Siltcoos Area is turning out to the Lagoon Loop Trail. It's a one mile trail that makes a loop around the Lagoon Campground along the shoreline of Siltcoos Lagoon.  The Siltcoos Lagoon was cut off from the main river years ago when the road was built and is a quiet backwater supporting a nice variety of bird life.  So far we have identified 35 different species of birds here. We bird here about every other day.  It's a short walk from our campsite in the Waxmyrtle Campground just across the road.

One of the most consistent birds we have seen and photograph here through the years is the Great Blue Heron.  A good supply of Bullfrogs probably make this a good place for them to hunt.  Yesterday we saw two of these herons.  This one caught my attention in it's stretched out posture ready to strike.

Another consistent bird here is the Rufus Hummingbird.  We saw a record six here yesterday morning.  This is a female I was able to photograph.  What you don't see or hear here in this photo that was a part of our experience is the dive bombing of a male hoping to impress this female.