Upper Tygh Creek and young birds

I took a look at weather radar at 5 am today and decided I would be dry if I went on a bird hike in the Badger Creek Wilderness.  I have birded the lower section of Tygh Creek up into the wilderness, I wanted to avoid a repeat of the brutal hike up the steep trail. so I drove up FR 2720 to the Jordan Cutoff Trail which gives you access to the upper sections of Tygh Creek and avoids the steep climb.  While this upper  trail goes up and down in spots, it is really rather flat and is an easy bird hike.  It is the purple section on my often posted map of the area (see below) the access trail is in red and starts at the red star.  My map is getting rather cluttered, you might need to zoom in to see the trails.

Early July is a great time to bird in these areas, the woods are full of birds. With all the recently fledged birds, I would say it is the busiest time of the year.

This clearing was right before you cross Tygh Creek on the trail.  I estimated over 50 birds were in the surrounding trees. It was birding madness trying to track them all.  Dark-eyed Juncos, Pine Siskins, Red-breasted Nuthatch,  Cassin's FInch. MacGillivray's Warbler and Yellow-rumped Warbler were the main varieties.

There was a young MacGillivray's hanging out in the brush. I could not get a photo, so I settled on what I thought was mom, no black lores.

Young Dark-eyed Juncos were the most common hatch-year (HY) birds I saw.

All along the trail adult juncos let me know I was an intruder. Lots of noisy complaints were filed.

Hatch-year Chipping Sparrow.

Thankfully there are volunteers that go out into these wilderness areas and clear the trails.

A good portion of the trail passes through old blow-down.  With all the flowers out, it is really very beautiful. I saw 9 Rufous Hummingbirds, most were in habitat like this.

A family of House Wrens were making a huge racket in this clearing.   Juveniles are supposed to not have strong barring on flanks, I figured this one was the best bet for a juvenile.

Another MacGillivray's was a nice treat.

Lots of young Yellow-rumps were in the trees, note heavily streaked below.

This one was also heavily streaked below, but had a yellow throat, so I went with hatch-year male.

Juvenile Western Tanagers have streaks to the underparts, so I do not think this is a hatch-year bird. I did see a few juveniles.  But they were very secretive.

Not a hatch-year tanager. Hatch-year birds have no red. A classic image from the western mountains.

Down at the crossing of Tygh Creek a juvenile Pacific Wren was in the dark brush.

Juvenile Townsend's Solitaires should still have scaly underparts, so this is not a hatch-year bird.

Groups of Evening Grosbeak were up in the dark tree tops.  I could not tell if this was a juvenile or not.  It seemed to be following an adult around.

Lots of birding activity, it took me almost seven hours to bird seven miles. I would urge folks to try this very nice birding area, or just get out in your local woods and enjoy all the youngsters!

Turkey Vulture  5
Rufous Hummingbird  9
Williamson's Sapsucker  1
Western Wood-Pewee  5
Hammond's Flycatcher  3
Dusky Flycatcher  7
Cassin's Vireo  1
Warbling Vireo  2
Mountain Chickadee  2
Chestnut-backed Chickadee  9
Red-breasted Nuthatch  13
Brown Creeper  9
House Wren  11
Pacific Wren  2
Golden-crowned Kinglet  17
Townsend's Solitaire  1
Hermit Thrush  7
MacGillivray's Warbler  5
Yellow-rumped Warbler  23
Hermit Warbler  2
Chipping Sparrow  26
Dark-eyed Junco  43
Western Tanager  15
Cassin's Finch  13
Red Crossbill  3
Pine Siskin  32
Evening Grosbeak  9

After a long, exciting hike, Huck was eager to get in the car and rest. Once he senses he is getting near the car, he races ahead and waits.

Thanks for the visit.