Tuesday at the Park

Today I took Andie on another walk at Dawson Creek Park

The bicolored bird on the island is a juvenile double-crested cormorant.

The bushtits are due to start nest building any day now. I checked out one of their usual haunts, but did not hear or see any of the tiny birds. Maybe the cold weather is slowing their motivation.

Despite the gloomy weather, the cherry trees were beginning to bloom.


Andie and I found a goose kill site in a field.

The bones and feathers were chewed, which makes me think a coyote was the culprit. Nicer weather is expected for the rest of the week, so I will be back to look for nests!

Friday Sun

After a cloudy week, Friday started out nice and bright.

A pair of kestrels took in the sun on the peak of a roof.

I took a walk at Dawson Creek Park to soak up some sun before the snow arrives tomorrow.

A pair of Canada geese swam near an island where they will probably be nesting soon.

A huge flock of cackling geese was lounging in another pond.

A cooper's hawk high in a snag watched over the park.

Saturday Morning Nests

Our dog has made it clear that she no longer enjoys walking around our neighborhood due to the nonstop construction noise, so we took a walk at Dawson Creek Park. We checked on the great horned owl nest and were pleased to see an adult in place.

We walked east of the owl to check on a red-tailed hawk nest in a large oak.

The nest is still up there and the adults were flying around, but they did not go to the nest.

Back at the apartment, I found a "new" old nest in a Japanese maple.

Based on the size of the nest and the material, I think it was constructed by our resident scrub jays. These little maples collect a lot of nests from a variety of bird species, so they are nice to have around.

Weekend Trips

Today I led a birding field trip and Dawson Creek Park for the Audubon Society of Portland. About eight birders, a perfect sized group, came out and the rain stopped just in time for the walk. The highlights, as usual were the acorn woodpeckers, wood ducks, and the nesting great horned owl. Unfortunately, the hooded mergansers and red-breasted sapsuckers I saw last week did not show up. Maybe next time.

Dawson Creek Field Trip Birds:
Great blue heron
Canada goose
Cackling goose
Gadwall
Mallard
American wigeon
Green-winged teal
Lesser scaup
Ring-necked duck
Bufflehead
Wood duck
American coot
Mourning dove
Great horned owl
Anna's hummingbird
Acorn woodpecker
Northern flicker
Scrub jay
Black-capped chickadee
American robin
Yellow-rumped warbler
Spotted towhee
Dark-eyed junco
Song sparrow
Red-winged blackbird
Brewer's blackbird
House finch



Yesterday, we visited the confluence of the Willamette River and the Columbia at Kelly Point Park. Lately, I like to view the natural and human worlds coexisting on the lower Columbia and Willamette Rivers.

The Willamette is on the left side of the pilings and the Columbia is on the right.

Up the Columbia, Mount Hood could faintly be seen behind the noisy industrial area.

A tug boat cruised down the Willamette.

We saw three bald eagles, several double-crested cormorants, and a pair of mew gulls before our fraidy-cat dog demanded we return to the car because the noises were alarming her.

Dawson Creek Birds

I took a break from work today to scout Dawson Creek Park. I am leading a birding trip there on Sunday and if the birds I saw today stick around, it will be a great day.

A pair of red-breasted sapsuckers followed me around and sipped from their wells in the park's many maples.

Above, one of the sapsuckers works on a trunk while a robin watches from a branch.

At one of the maples, honeybees were taking advantage of the sweet sap provided by the birds.

I checked on the snag that held a great horned owl nest last year. It was tough to tell with binoculars, but I'm pretty sure I saw an adult in the tree. This weekend, we will have scopes to check for certain.

Sunday Outings

I woke up early on Sunday morning to lead another Audubon Field Trip and Dawson Creek Park.


Despite the steady drizzle, the ten of us enjoyed some great views of the park's birds and blazing foliage. As usual, many of the participants came to see the acorn woodpeckers, which did not disappoint. As we rounded a corner, an outgoing acorn woodpecker clung to the trunk of a tree a few feet in front of us long enough for everyone to get a great look.


We climbed the hill that offers the best views of the woodpecker colony so everyone could watch the industrious birds harvest acorns and store them in their granaries, putting up food for the winter just like the rest of us.


The other highlight encountered was a pond full of wood ducks. A few participants had never seen this species before, so they were delighted to see them swimming in the pond among mallards and perched in the willows.

Our most unusual bird was a female summer tanager, a species that is usually south of here by now. I was hoping to find some diving ducks and songbirds that should be arriving for the winter, but the wood ducks and acorn woodpeckers kept everyone pleased.

Here is a list of the birds we found:

Pie-billed grebe
Canada goose
Cackling goose
Mallard
Wood duck
Red-tailed hawk
American kestrel
Mourning dove
Anna's hummingbird
Acorn woodpecker
Red-breasted sapsucker
Northern flicker
Steller's Jay
Scrub jay
American crow
Black-capped chickadee
American robin
Cedar waxwing
Western tanager
Spotted towhee
Oregon junco
Red-winged blackbird
Lesser goldfinch


After the field trip, Sarah and I drove up to New Earth farm to help Farmer Steve dig potatoes.

It's been at least 20 years since I've dug potatoes, but the smell of the soil brought me back to our old house on Pine Street, where my brother and I grabbed the potatoes my father turned over with a shovel.

Our technique was the same as back then, but there were more people shoveling, grabbing, and filling buckets.

We ended up harvesting 1,200 pounds of purple majesty and always golden potatoes.


Sarah and I brought home a few potatoes that were inadvertently sliced with shovels. I cooked them into a great potato-leek soup, ushering in the start of soup season.

Indoor and Outdoor Nest Work

I have been establishing a new work routine for the spring and summer. I spend most hours indoor writing papers and crunching data on nests sent to me from the Forest Service in New Mexico. Three days out of the week, however, I ride down to one of three parks to look for nests for a couple of hours. Since I don't get out much for fieldwork anymore, this allows me to stay in practice watching birds and collecting field data. The three parks I am monitoring are Noble Woods to the south, Dawson Creek Park to the North, and Orchard Park to the east. These parks are fairly different from one another and all support a variety of nesting birds.

Today, I checked out the nests and other birds at Dawson Creek. Yellow-rumped warbler males are still all over the place and brighter than ever. Orange-crowned warblers have returned and are stirring in the underbrush, perhaps prospecting for nest sites.

If you look closely you can see a mallard family and a great egret in there.

Some of the bushtits have completed their nests and are probably incubating. A few others are still under construction.

Can you see the bushtit nest among the branches?

The great-horned owl nest is now occupied by two large, fluffy nestlings and Mother Goose is still incubating on her island.



Three great blue heron nests are active in the big Doug fir by the library. Nearby, I spotted an American robin, a pair of bushtits, and a black-capped chickadee building nests in adjacent trees. With all this great nesting behavior going on, the Great Blue Heron Week event I am planning here in June should be a great success.

On the way out of the park, I checked out a large nest that I have suspected belongs to a pair of red-tailed hawks. Sure enough, I spotted an adults head peeking over the edge.

Speaking of red-tails, I the eggs visible on the KGW Raptor Cam hatched today! At 1:00 pm, I spotted one white, downy chick and one wet, pink chick. At 5:20 pm, they had footage of all three on KGW.