Cold Snap Waterfowl

Thanks to El Nino, the Portland area is seeing its lowest temperatures in ten years. The cold, clear weather makes for great sunrises and sunsets.


Most of the local ponds are iced over, so small areas of open water were popular places for waterfowl at Dawson Creek Park.

This hole in the ice was surrounded by at least 40 Green-winged Teal, the most we have ever seen at the park. A few Wood Ducks and Mallards were mixed in as well. A pair of Pied-billed Grebes, a fixture of this pond, were floating in the center.

Closer to the library, a huge flock of white-cheeked geese (Cackling and Canada Geese) occupied the grass, ice, and water.

They kept busy by commuting from the field to the pond and back again.

The white bird in the center is a juvenile Snow Goose, a new Dawson Creek species for us.

In addition to the waterfowl, a nutria strutted atop the ice. There is plenty of beaver sign at the park, but we only see their introduced cousins during the day.
We expect to return to normal temperatures and rain next week, so I will enjoy the Rockies-like weather while I can.

Distractions

During the last few weeks, a few distractions have made it difficult to focus on work. The first is the Oregon Duck football team, which won the PAC 10 championship on Thursday night.


The Ducks beat their rivals Oregon State in one of the best football games I can recall. Like many other Duck or Beaver fans, I had been thinking about little more than this game since November 21, when it became clear that the winner would go on to the Rose Bowl. The Rose Bowl is almost a month away, so hopefully I can regain some focus until then.

The other distraction began when Sarah and I started the process of buying a house. Nothing is official yet, but we have set our sights on a small home in a great neighborhood.


The property has a lot of garden space and plenty of exotic vegetation in need of serious management. I can’t wait to get out there to pull some English ivy, cut blackberry, and plant native shrubs.


I have managed to get some work done during the last month, including a paper on Black-chinned Hummingbirds, which was published in a major bird journal. I have another stack of papers I am trying to finish, but it has not been easy. Luckily, my out-of-state employer is not expecting any products until February.

Thursday Walk

The sun has returned to western Oregon after what seems to have been a month-long absence.

I took the dog on a walk to the field south of us and we took in some views we had not seen in a while.

Last month's snow has melted down here but it still visible in the clearcuts of the the Coast Range to the west.


A large flock of cackling geese was grazing the field and an adult California gull had joined the group.


A few mallards and northern shovelers swam in the pond, but the usual buffleheads were absent.



Two large black cottonwoods stand guard over the southeast corner of the field.


These and a few other big trees, such as the broccoli-shaped white oak were lucky to survive the surrounding developments and I always look forward to seeing them on my walks.


This doug-fir is the largest tree in the neighborhood. It's bark is covered with lichens, moss, and old English Ivy vines that were girdled to save the tree.

Still a Winter Wonderland

The ground is still covered in snow here in western Oregon, and it is the snowiest December in 40 years.

We did not get much snow the last three years here, so Sarah and I have enjoyed playing with ice chunks and snowballs during our walks.

Today, ducks and geese had congregated in and around some open water at the park.
More snow is expected tomorrow, so we should get our second White Christmas in a row.

Good Gull Day

Today I took a quick trip to Hillsboro Stadium and its surrounding wetlands to look for gulls and geese.

I found group of 14 gulls on one of the baseball fields. Although they are small and out of focus, the gulls above can be identified as glaucous-winged gulls due to their gray wingtips. Three ring-billed gulls were also in the field.

As I approached the fence, they flew to the other side of the field. Apparently they did not trust my intentions. Glaucous-wings nest on the coast of Washington north to Alaska, while the ring-bills nest inland to the east and north of us. Gulls are another great example of how birds converge on Oregon from different directions each winter.

There are several ponds near the stadium.

This one had a flock of Canada geese,


The larger ponds were empty, but this small one was crowded with ducks.

I spotted mallards, green-winged teal, gadwalls, and hooded mergansers.

Later in the day, I returned to the field south of the apartment.
I did not get any pictures, but I found some California gulls, juvenile glaucous-wings, a juvenile mew gull, and a potential juvenile Thayer's gull. A great day for gulls and waterfowl!