Crows in Trees and Ducks Out of Water

Last week, I spotted a crow in the bare branches of an oak tree silhouetted against the clouded sky. It inspired the watercolor below, which is the first I've found worthy of a frame. I trimmed the paper and fitted it into an old frame that Sarah bought from Goodwill and painted black.

Today I checked on some nests at Dawson Creek and spotted a group of squeaking wood ducks walking around under some oak trees. My guess is that they were looking for acorns.


A group of wigeons were foraging like small cows below the lichen trees that house a bushit nest. I have not seen the parents for a while, but the nest is growing.

I found a new bushtit nest in a branch hanging above the Library parking lot and noticed that the great horned owl and great blue heron nests are still active. I am organizing a Great Blue Heron Week event at the library in June, so I am praying that the heron rookery survives the spring!

Dawson Creek Visit

The landscapers at my apartment seemed to have turned their leaf blowers up to super-loud yesterday, so I took a walk around Dawson Creek Corporate Park. One year ago to the day, Sarah and watched a pair of bushtits begin construction on a nest in a grove of lichen-crusted, ornamental cherryish trees.


I did not hear the bushtit pair when I arrived, so I moved on to a patch of maples and found a red-breasted sapsucker hard at work bleeding the trees.


The sap is sweet to the taste and attracts hummingbirds and insects. The park sapsuckers, adapted to drinking from native trees, must be riding a great sugar high.


Down the trail, I found about 250 cackling geese loudly floating in a pond.


I checked on the great horned owl nest and spotted the adult in usual position. The nest is in the broken tree with large branches.



I returned to the lichen trees and this time heard the quiet calls of the bushtit pair. Each was carrying tiny bit of lichen to their future nest site, a few meters away from last year’s nest!


The nest is above the trunk and to the right. The Birder's Handbook reports that, if their nests are disturbed, bushtit pairs will abandon the nest, divorce, and re-pair. It is therefore important to view nests from a safe distance to prevent domestic strife!

Nest updates

This weekend, we checked in on our winter nesting friends at Dawson Creek Park. One heron was standing on its platform nest in the large Doug fir while another was watching over its space on a higher branch. If the nests are a success, these birds will be in the tree well into July.

The other nest at the park belongs to a pair of great horned owls.


The nest was still active as evidenced by a dark form in the break of a large trunk. The nest is so far away that the only development we've noticed is that the female has changed position since last week.

I have not found any other nests yet, but I expect to see the apartment house finches building any day now.