Cedar Waxwing Bonanza
October 15, 2014
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Since reading Paul Lehman's commentary in the March-April edition of Birding titled Active Field Birders, the Process of Exploring, and the Importance of Status and Distribution, I've been telling myself to get out and find new areas to explore near my home in West Linn.
This post is about birds found in and around the (not often reported on) cove...
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Lost Lake off Hwy 20
October 04, 2014
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We birded Lost Lake off Hwy 20 (3 miles west of the summit of the cascade range) this morning. The weather was spectacular and the birds were interesting. Seven GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE, close views of two cooperative GREATER YELLOWLEGS, more RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS than we could count, one GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET, loads of VARIED THRUSH and DARK-E...
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Little North Santiam River
September 13, 2014
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After dragging Jill through rough terrain last week, I thought a walk-in-the-park would renew our energy for forest birding. Fortunately, we received a tip from another birder right when we needed one. The result was a spectacular day spent in the cool shade of big trees along the scenic Little Santiam River. After our five mile walk through the tr...
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Spotted Owl Adventure - Going Back to the Books
September 06, 2014
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Day 3 - Time to Sharpen the Focus
Ninety-two miles by car, three and half miles by foot, five hours of really tough work.
Last night I convinced Jill to accompany me into the hinterlands this morning to look for the Northern Spotted Owl (strix occidentalis caurina). The terrain that she graciously allowed me to guide her through turned out to be...
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Seeing What You Want to See
September 02, 2014
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If you know anyone more guilty of regularly trying to turn an ordinary bird into something fantastic please introduce us.
I have received an opinion from someone that I consider a good authority that the bird I identified as a juvenile Northern Goshawk in my last post is actually a juvenile Sharp Shinned Hawk.
Jill and I birded upstream from Camp...
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Mt. Washington Wilderness
August 31, 2014
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We spent a few hours this morning looking for birds at 5,000 ft. elevation east of Mt. Washington. Our off-trail, outdoor exploration began with cold, windy, and eerily quiet conditions. We were sure that we were going to strike out on birds. That is until we were startled by the alarm call of a NORTHERN GOSHAWK. Our first such experience in the fi...
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Spotted Owl Adventure - Off to a slow start
August 24, 2014
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Day 1 - The day from hell...
One hundred-thirteen miles by car, none by foot, three and a half hours of frustration.
As I was evaluating my options while standing in front of a gate across (what I thought was) a public road, two log trucks pulled up to the gate. The driver of the first truck kindly gave me directions to my destination that was fr...
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Spotted Owl Adventure - Introduction
August 20, 2014
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This is the first of a series of posts related to our quest to locate and photograph Spotted Owls (strix occidentalis) in Oregon. Given the Spotted Owl is one of the most well-studied species of birds on earth, you would think this effort would amount to not much more than reading, driving, hiking, filming, and finally posting. To which we say - we...
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Siltcoos Estuary Snowy Plover August 2014
August 15, 2014
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We enjoyed two fabulous hours watching the Snowy Plover from the edge of their protected nesting habitat along the north spit of the Siltcoos River, south of Florence, Oregon. All twenty-one of the plover we observed were found, at low tide, along the wrack line. Jill and I had the place to ourselves which was great because we're able to sit and ph...
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Eagle Rock - Crook County Oregon
July 26, 2014
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We drove to Eagle Rock in Crook County today to look for the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher and, powered by the suggestion of someone who knows the area well, the White-throated Swift. Both showed up (seemingly) on cue. Two life-birds in twenty minutes - thank you Charles!
Click here to be directed to the East Cascades Audubon Society Webpage about the a...
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In Search of the Black Rosy-Finch
July 12, 2014
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In need of a road-trip, we headed to the east rim of Steens Mountain where Noah Strycker reported finding three Black Rosy-Finch on 19 July 2012. Not the best use of our limited birding time - but a great excuse to get out of town and enjoy the cool 69-degree temperature on the summit. Our only disappointment of the trip was to find the Meat Hook r...
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Whiskey Springs July 2014
July 08, 2014
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Try as I might, I can't find a place I would rather bird in July, in central Oregon, than Whiskey Springs. This low-flow natural spring, located at an elevation of 4,100 ft. approximately 11 miles n.e. of Black Butte, is a place where the spectacle of birds refreshing themselves is best observed from a lawn chair. Stunning views of secretive specie...
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A Backyard Bald Eagle
July 02, 2014
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In May of this year, we had the good fortune to be introduced to a wonderful couple whose 110 acre backyard (farm) has been host to a pair of nesting bald eagles for five of the past six years. The nest tree, a 200 year-old ponderosa pine, looks like it will stand for many years to come.
In spite of the many helpful calls from the property owners,...
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Backyard Chickadee
June 26, 2014
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It was our third season of successfully hosting nesting Black-capped Chickadee, but it was the first time we've (potentially) witnessed a "replacement brood". All I know about the failure of the first brood is that one day in late May I woke up and realized the frenzied activity at the nest had suddenly stopped. As a matter of practice, I opened th...
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Leach Botanical Garden - Avifauna & lots of Flora
June 15, 2014
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Things are keeping me close to home this season so I am wringing what I can out of the local patches. If you've not been, Leach Botanical Garden can be very enchanting. While I have enjoyed familiarizing myself with the grounds, and getting acquainted with the friendly staff, I have also been very disappointed by the failure/abandonment of three ne...
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