Warrior Rock Trail at Sauvie Is

With most of Sauvie Island being shut down for the winter, on the 4th of October I went out to my favorite hike on the island, the always open Warrior Rock Lighthouse Trail.  They did some work on a few of the ponds near the trail.  Not sure what they were trying to do, but the result is a few marshy areas to check for shorebirds.

From the parking lot at the very end of Reeder Rd, walk out along the trail, You will see the ponds through the trees.  I take one of the short roads over to the ponds edge.

Mudflats with a few Killdeer and a Northern Flicker.

This Savannah Sparrow refused to turn its head towards me, nice flocks of sparrows were working the small newly planted trees in between the ponds.

I thought this was a Lesser Yellowlegs when I first saw it, but decided bill was too long and head too big.  Seemed in between as to bill length.  Breast was streakier rather than plain, size was hard to judge. More obvious eye-ring. So Greater Yellowlegs.

Wilson's Snipe. As far as I can tell, the best way to tell this bird from a Common Snipe is that Wilson's have darker underwings and a narrower white trailing edge to the secondaries.  Wilson's Snipe have two narrow outer tail feathers and Common Snipe have two fewer tail feathers and the outer feathers are broader, so its winnowing sound is lower. Pin-tailed Snipe are more round, paler, less obvious back streaks with a smaller bill.  Jack Snipe have streaks on the side rather than bars and are smaller with shorter bill.

Sandhill Crane mate for life and the young follow the parents south.  Sandhills take 2.5 years to gain full adult plumage aspect and may not breed until 7 years old.  They live well into their twenties.   So, it is kind of fun to see this new family of Sandhill Cranes arrive on their wintering grounds (or will they keep going south?).

The red on a Sandhill Crane are not feathers but a skin patch.  This is a parent standing next to its feeding non-redheaded  youngsters.  The brown on adult is from mud they use to clean the feathers.  I am not sure if the youngsters are brown from mud or plumage.

The trail has numerous trees with these webs in them.  Are these spiders or moths?  Always hoping to find a cuckoo spot.

Thanks for the visit.

Sauvie Island CBC

My second Christmas Bird Count (CBC) of the year was the Sauvie Island count in Columbia county Oregon on December 21, 2014. . The atmospheric river (What is that?) that has been over Oregon was supposed to dump more rain on me during the count.  The weather turned out overcast and threatened rain but I made it through the count without any raindrops.  

The idea of a CBC is simply to identify and count all the birds in your assigned area.  One of my favorite areas is north of Rentenaar Road. I have surveyed this area for the past few years.   The area is bordered by a dike to the west and north, Rentenaar Road to the south and the Columbia River to the east.  Some of it is private, so not accessible.  However most is wildlife refuge. We are given permission to access the area by the refuge manager for this count.  Usually all except Rentenaar Road is closed during the winter to protect the waterfowl.

The shaded area is where I surveyed.

My camera allows me to take movies as well. I need to practice using this feature so I can post videos from my upcoming pelagic trips.  For some reason my view finder does not work on the movie setting.   I need to hold camera out in front of me and look at the screen.  Here are some dancing Sandhill Cranes.  I can use my 500 mm zoom lens while taking movies, which you would think should get me some great videos..

I will need to get much better at holding the camera still if I want to take a video on a bouncing boat! 

A Peregrine Falcon was keeping an eye on all the ducks in the area.

Lincoln Sparrow's are one of my favorites.  Hard to get a good photo of one.  

Here is my complete bird list for the area.

Greater White-fronted Goose  1

Cackling Goose  1600
Canada Goose  120
Canada Goose (occidentalis/fulva)  150
Cackling/Canada Goose  200
Tundra Swan  130
American Wigeon  12
Mallard  43
Northern Shoveler  25
Northern Pintail  110
Green-winged Teal  10
Canvasback  14
Ring-necked Duck  250
Bufflehead  12
Common Merganser  5
Double-crested Cormorant  4
Great Blue Heron  3
Great Egret  3
Northern Harrier  4
Sharp-shinned Hawk  1
Bald Eagle  3
Red-tailed Hawk  2
American Coot  190
Sandhill Crane  220
Greater Yellowlegs  32
Herring Gull  1
Western x Glaucous-winged Gull (hybrid)  5
Eurasian Collared-Dove  4
Mourning Dove  26
Belted Kingfisher  1
Downy Woodpecker  1
Northern Flicker  8
American Kestrel  3
Peregrine Falcon  1
Western Scrub-Jay  7
American Crow  9
Black-capped Chickadee  12
Brown Creeper  3
Pacific Wren  1
Marsh Wren  3
Bewick's Wren  4
Ruby-crowned Kinglet  5
American Robin  2
European Starling  90
Spotted Towhee  5
Savannah Sparrow  6
Fox Sparrow  4
Song Sparrow  30
Lincoln's Sparrow  7
Golden-crowned Sparrow  41
Dark-eyed Junco  35
Red-winged Blackbird  150
Western Meadowlark  6
Brewer's Blackbird  100
House Finch  15

Thanks much for visiting and have a great day!