Sarah, Andie, and I took a walk at Dawson Creek park today and found some great birds, including the first nesting behavior I’ve seen all year. As I’ve mentioned before, I am a huge nest junkie and I’ve looked forward to the spring nesting season since last September when the last of the barn swallow nestling fledged. The first nester was a great blue heron staking out it’s nest site in a tall Doug fir next to the New Hillsboro Library. At least one pair of herons nested in this tree during the previous two years that I’ve lived in Oregon. The old nests have fallen out of the tree, so I expect the adults will start bringing branches to the site soon.
The second nest was a very serendipitous find. Sarah spotted a pair of common ravens,(which we have never seen here before!) and I noticed that they were harassing a raptor-like bird. When we were closer to their spot, I realized the raptor was a great-horned owl perched on a branch of a snag. Below this owl, another was wedged into the top of a trunk, sitting on a nest.
I will be leading a Portland Audubon field trip at the park next Saturday and it will be nice to show the participants this nesting activity.
I hope to post photos of these nests at later dates.
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1 comment:
It is hard to believe that birds are nesting already! But then again even up north our Great Horned Owls and Bald Eagles could be sitting any time now! Thanks for keeping us updated! Nice site you have here!
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