I took a short walk through the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden in sw Portland yesterday afternoon and found a single scrawny looking Osprey hunting over the lake. My theory is that the high running rivers are making it difficult for it to find prey.  I was encouraged, however, by the successful foraging activity of a nearby Belted Kingfisher, and I hope the Osprey will eventually achieve the same results.  

Christmas Bird Counts (CBCs) in Oregon prior to 1970 recorded only two records of the species. From 1990 to 2000, an average of 2.5 birds per year where found, and since then the average was 6.46 per year for the state - with a high of ten recorded in 2002:

A FEW PICTURES OF THE GARDEN AND OTHER BIRDS:

Glaucous-winged Gull:

Bufflehead:

American Wigeon:

Merry Christmas

Marshall, D.B., M.G. Hunter, and A.L. Contreras, Eds. 2003,2006. Birds of Oregon: A General Reference. Oregon State University Press, Corvallis, OR 768 Pg.

Poole, Alan F., Rob O. Bierregaard and Mark S. Martell. 2002. Osprey (Pandion haliaetus), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/683 doi:10.2173/bna.683

Audubon Christmas Bird Count. Audubon, n.d. Web. 25 Dec. 2014.