Yesterday afternoon we experienced the advantages of what I will call a "bird sit" as apposed to a "bird walk". Actually, in the birding world this is known as a stationary count. So what we did was sit in our lawn chairs in the Dallas City Park and counted the birds we could hear or see from that location. We had had a busy morning, and just needed to sit and rest, which we could justify by doing a stationary bird count. The amazing think is that we learned some things we probably would not have learned while moving along on a bird walk. Sitting stationary for some time I noticed an Acorn Woodpecker high on a perch. As a watched I realized it was leaving the perch and returning repeatedly, and I came to conclude that it was leaving the perch to catch an insect, and then returning, and then repeating. In birding terms this is knows a "hawking". I observed this action for some time and then it left the perch going lower down the tree and as I later learned from studying the photos, was there to harvest sap oozing out of the previously drilled holes. The harvesting of sap we learned about the day before, but catching insects was a new insight in their behavior.
Thursday, April 29, 2021
Wednesday, April 28, 2021
Dallas City Park
Jeanette is shown here with her binoculars checking out some birds with a background of flowering red currant. This is in the Delbert Hunter Arboretum in the Dallas City Park, which is an amazing natural area of native trees and plants, and of course birds.
This colorful female Acorn Woodpecker caught our eye. A close look reveals sap is oozing out of bore holes in the bark of this tree. Acorn Woodpeckers are supposed to eat acorns, right. Doing some research I learned that they also eat insects and sap.
Monday, April 19, 2021
Bluebird Nest Building
Yesterday morning I did a check on the nesting boxes here at the Dallas Retirement Village. There seemed to be a lot of uncertainty as to who is going to use which nesting box. House Sparrows have claimed one box that I was sure a pair of Violet-green Swallows were going to use. At another location, House Sparrows were not following through with a nest they had started. Two more nesting boxes continue to not have any activity. And then, the nesting box at the Community Garden was a confusion of activity. Two Violet-green Swallows appeared at the box, and suddenly the pair of Western Bluebirds that had been shown interest in the box, but not present, showed up and chased the offenders away.
Sunday, April 4, 2021
Osprey Meet-Up
If you enlarge the photo, and look closely at her face, I think you will note the disappointment, and perhaps even disgust in her eye at his poor performance.
Thursday, April 1, 2021
Coastal Getaway
We took advantage of forecasted warmth and sunshine for an overnight getaway to the Oregon Coast. Our camping destination was Alder Dune Campground in the Siuslaw National Forest, five miles north of Florence. Ironically, this same campground was the last place we camped in October. And much to our delight we were able to camp in the same site, #29 right next to the restroom.
After lunch, a stop at Lincoln City Outlets netted Jeanette a new warm coat for birding and for me a new vest for birding. Tired, our next stop was East Devil's Lake State Park to fold out the bed and stretch out for some down time, (a daily necessity now-days), before driving on home to Dallas Retirement Village.