Friday Happenings

During the last few days the temperatures in western Oregon have dropped and we are flirting with frost each morning. The sun now rises from the southeast, lighting up the view from my window.

This time of year, the light and shadows on the building remind me of an Edward Hopper painting.


With one day to go until the big Oklahoma-Texas football game, I wear my OU visor in unity with my fellow Sooners. Though I moved from Oklahoma three years ago, I still officially work for the University (long story) and my Sooner Pride has not faded.


To get my mind off of the game, I took Andie for a walk through the cloverfield south of the apartment.

The usual winter inhabitants have returned to the field to resume their typical behaviors.

American wigeons were whistling in the pond.


And a heron was stalking rodents in the stubble. Last year I watched one gulp down a wriggling gray-tailed vole just a few feet away from me.

Last year, a red-tailed hawk and an American kestrel continuously battled for Clover Field hunting rights. The kestrel was usually the aggressor and it appears to be at it again.

The female kestrel chased the red-tail until it perched on the corner of this elementary school.


A few minutes later, I heard the kestrel calling loudly as she passed overhead. I looked up and saw two tiny feet dangling from her belly, it appeared she was carrying a rodent and warning everyone to stay away.

She perched on this street light and began to pick apart the rodent. I did not want to get too close and scare her off, since no one likes to be interrupted during lunch.

Great Blue Heron Walk

After two years of watching herons nest near the Hillsboro Library, I decided to organize a Great Blue Heron Week event to show people these and other great birds. Great Blue Heron week is a metro area-wide celebration of urban and suburban wildlife.

I planned a walk around the rookery tree and through the very birdy Dawson Creek Corporate Park. As the event approached, the herons were not at their nests. I hoped that the participants would not be too disappointed if the nests had failed.

On Sunday morning, at least twenty people arrived for the walk. As I feared, we did not see any activity at the nests. Instead, I showed everyone the nests and discussed heron breeding biology.


We walked around the park and spotted a couple of flying herons, as well as Canada geese and mallards tending their fuzzy little young.



We found many more great birds such as American kestrels, black-headed grosbeaks, and cedar waxwings, and everyone was able to get a great view of them in the spotting scope. We stopped by the acorn woodpecker colony, which turned out to be a crowd-pleaser as usual.

We moved on to a nice willow grove, were we found singing Wilson’s warblers, calling willow flycatchers, a begging song sparrow fledgling, and an Anna’s hummingbird on her nest.

At the end of the walk I heard no complaints about lack of heron nesting activity and everyone appeared to have had a great time.

A few minutes later, Sarah, her sister Greta, and Andie the dog met me at the library. We repeated the walk so I could show them all of the cool things I found. We saw the same birds as before plus a blazing male Bullock’s oriole and a female kestrel that carried something to a perch. When we put the scope on it, we could see that she had caught a vole and was starting to eat it from the head down while the unfortunate rodent continued to kick at the air with its hind legs. This was too much for Sarah and Greta to watch, but, being non-eaters of red meat, I feel they are exempt from watching one animal dismantle another.

With one more commitment out of the way, I am now ready to move on to other projects. More on those to come...