Return of the Osprey!

March 19, 2023

 Osprey are seasonal visitors to Oregon, arriving here mid-March to breed and nest and raise their young.  Come September they head back to Southern California, Mexico, and Central America. I got hooked on paying attention to their comings and goings 10 years ago while volunteering at Salem Audubon Nature Reserve in West Salem. Another volunteer, and personal friend of mine, John West, noticed that an Osprey nest on Murlark Ave had Osprey before the Reserve. I started paying closer attention and documenting with photographs, and the Murlark site always has the first birds. I've added more nests to track through the years, and now monitor over 10 nest sites in Polk County, 6 of which are located in West Salem. My wife and I start making the rounds of the nesting sites mid-March checking for Osprey.  On Sunday March 19th, we checked the Murlark site, normally the first nest to be occupied, but no Osprey.  Next we checked the nest on Bartell Dr., we had our first Osprey of the year the female in the above photo. Checking the records in eBird, I found that the first bird there last year was the female in the photo below. I believe because of the markings, that it is the same bird, which unfortunately was unable to attract a male last year.  We will be keeping close watch this year hoping for many successful nests.

March 20, 2022

Visit to Fort Yamhill

 We took advantage of the spring like weather this morning to visit Ft Yamhill.  We brought along friend Debby Kliever and her dog Max. It was 35 degrees when we started walking, but the sun made it feel much warmer. New interpretive signs have been put up along the trail. Bird activity was kind of quiet, but we did get our "first of the year" swallows, both Tree Swallows, and Violet-green Swallows.

Because we happened to just walk down the hill to this point, it was kind of a case of "you don't know what you don't know". Here is our eBird observation list

 

Three Days - Two Nights at The Coast

Dinner at Three Rivers Casino

We have sort of perfected a package that works out well for us to escape for a few days from Dallas Retirement Village where we live and get in some exploring and birding in a very economical way.  That is to say, a way to not spend any money on over-night accommodations or food. Our food is prepaid in our monthly fee, so the day before we leave, Jeanette orders and picks up the meals we will need for our trip.  These are loaded into the van along with the clothing we will need and our birding gear. Our night-time parking spots are places we know that we can park for free.

 We left late afternoon Friday the 10th on this trip, taking the Kings Valley Highway south. Our first stop was at Ritner Bridge for a quick bird walk and lunch.  

We continued on down Kings Valley Highway, joining up with Highway 20 to our next stop at Toledo to bird on the Depot Slough Path, one of our favorite birding locations.  You can see our bird list here. From there we returned to Highway 20 into Newport, and then down Highway 101 to the town of Yachats to check out the Yachats Commons Park and walk the Wetland Park Trail. You can see our bird list here.  Back on Highway 101 we drove over the scenic Heceta Headlands to Florence and to our overnight parking spot at Three Rivers Casino where we enjoyed our dinner as shown in the top photo. RVers are allowed one night of parking for free.

Saturday morning after breakfast we drove on south to Tahkenitch Landing Campground to pick-up our friend Glenn Reubon who volunteers there as Host.  Together we traveled on to our first bird stop for the day at the Stables Rd. eBird Hotspot. Here is that list.  Next was on to Winchester Bay to bird at the Salmon Harbor Marina and an exciting find of a Yellow-billed Loon.

Yellow-billed Loon

Glenn made our whole trip an outstanding event by putting us onto this rare, Yellow-billed Loon.  This is an artic species that is only occasionally seen along the Oregon Coast.  This was a first for us, so another Life Bird to add to our Life List. Here is our list for this stop. 

Glenn bought us lunch in Reedsport, and after dropping him of at his trailer we continued back north over Heceta Head to our quiet parking spot for the night at Yachats Commons.

On our route home on Sunday, we made stops to bird in Waldport at Eckman Lake, Campbell Park and Mill Creek Park along the Alsea River, and Jackson-Frazier Wetland in Corvallis.

 

 

Best Bird Walk

Townsend's Warbler

Jeanette and I have a moto we often repeat to ourselves, "the best bird walks are the ones we go on". Meaning, in order to have a great bird walk, you have to actually go on one. This was the case yesterday.  When I went outside early in the morning to check on the van (I run the furnace at night to keep the water system from freezing) I was surprised to discover bright warm sunshine without the bitter cold wind we have been experiencing daily.  Back inside our apartment I announced to Jeanette great weather conditions and suggested that we get out and go for a bird walk! I would cancel my plans to attend my 9:00 Tai Chi class. It turned out to be the right decision and we enjoyed the warm sunshine and busy bird activity despite the 30 some degree temperature. You can see our bird list here.  

One of the highlights of our morning was getting this photo of a female Townsends Warbler. The bright contrasting yellow and black coloring of this winter migrant always brings a smile to our faces. We only get to see this warble about one a year here and Dallas Retirement Village, and this was actually the first time for a photo.     

New Life Bird!

Jeanette this morning in our car, bundled up against the freezing cold, binoculars in hand, searching the fields of Baskett Slough National Wildlife Refuge for a rare bird, a Ruff. To our great good fortune, our birding friend Brandon Wagoner was already parked along the road busy, searching with his spotting scope. A little later, as he worked his way further down the road, he called on his cell phone to say he had found the Ruff! It was a new Life Bird for us.

Serious birders keep a "Life List".  This is a list of bird species they identify for the very first time.  It starts out quite easy and builds fast as you add one bird after another.  But the longer you keep at it the more difficult it becomes to find a brand-new species you have never seen before. Years ago, it was a daunting task, usually with a paper list, to keep track of what you had seen, or what was new.  But now with e-Bird.org, it's simple, and your list is saved for you and available via the Internet and you know automatically when you find a new bird that it is a Life Bird.

This year has been amazing year for us here in little rural Polk County. On January 27th we were shown by some other birders a Field Sparrow, a bird normally seen on the Eastside of the Rockies.  This sparrow was first found by Brandon Wagner and was a first for the State of Oregon. On February 10th we again profited by the experience of other birders, and Rick Bennett pointed out a Black-and-white Warbler, a first for Polk County.  Today we excitedly added a Ruff, not a record for Oregon, or Polk County, but a new addition to our Life List, which now stands at 328 species.

Black and White Warbler

This turned out to be an exciting morning as we went in search of another record bird.  This is a Black and White Warbler, a record first for Polk County.  It was found a couple of days ago in the Independence Riverfront Park area. When we arrived at 8:49, two other birders were already on the bird, just across the Ash Creek Bridge along the Willamette River Trail. 

  

Here us our complete eBird Observation List.

House Finch

House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus)

 While looking for birds in the Inspiration Garden at Mt. Fir Park in Independence on Thursday, Jeanette and I were stunned by the brilliant red of this male House Finch. I can only guess that he is putting on his brightest best for the upcoming breeding season. House Finches, although very common now in our urban areas, are actually rather late arrivals, not appearing in the Willamette Valley region until the 1940's. Thier species name "mexicanus" is probably a hint to the original geographic location. It is now February, and I was glad to be reminded that the wonderful Spring season is due to begin with all the attractive plumage of males on display in an effort to coax females into pairing up.