Portland Birdwatching Experiences

As I am writing this we are leaving a week of very unusually cold temperatures. The fog has persisted for much of the day and if it lifts the sunlight lasts a couple of short hours before sunset. This has led to a rare sheet of ice on the pond I can see from my windows—which is part of the Bethany wetlands through which Willow Creek meanders.  Some of my neighbors have left for warmer weather and we’ll get reports about the temperatures in Palm Springs or Australia soon via email.  Sitting in my sunny window this afternoon I can almost feel what it might be like to reach those warmer temperatures and yet one glance at my pond shows the thin skin of ice and the lacy textures of the previously invisible cobwebs are revealed in the frost as the sun shines weakly on them.

The change in temperature brings new stresses and solutions to our wildlife.  Occasionally and very rarely over the past 15 years I have lived here I have seen Bald Eagles. This past week the eagles have been regular visitors to the “buffet line” that this icy pond has become.  I imagine that their usual diet of rodents and other small animals has been disrupted by this cold snap so they have sought out new food sources. Fortunately Bald Eagles are very flexible in what they eat— which allows them to thrive in different conditions. Apparently this week they prefer duck or goose although and occasional small minnow also seems to be on the menu.

In addition to the Eagle pair we have had several duck types not usually visiting our pond. Every year we do have several Hooded Mergansers who also fish for minnows and apparently do well since they stay for several months before leaving for their breeding grounds. They have had to share the pond with these interloping ducks over the past week—we have had visits from Northern Shovelers, Northern Pintails and even a Ring Necked Duck couple. These groups seemed to be resting while traveling around and did not stay—these ducks are vegetarians so possibly our pond is more suited to producing fish and frogs and snakes than duck weed or other plants.

So far our hummingbird feeder has not frozen. For those of us who recall our chemistry courses—water with dissolved sugar (and other solutes) freezes at a lower temperature than regular water. In some years past with prolonged colder temperatures the sugar water has frozen and then we hooked up a warming light to shine on the feeder—oh those birds have worked their way into our hearts. We also have a specially designed birdbath heater – clearly one does not put anything electrical near water! Unless designed for that purpose. I have seen many of our yard birds drinking and enjoying the “hot tub” since most of the puddles and other shallow bits of water are totally frozen.

While I don’t exactly enjoy layering up in coats and hats to go out or like to worry about slick streets, the other joys of winter are plentiful. The different birds we see, the beautiful outlines of the winter branches in the frost and the brilliant berries in the yard, which stand out, are all sources of wonder and joy.  Get outside or look outside and be amazed.

This common phrase generally means to pick at one’s food—rather like some typical backyard birds that appear to be picking around a lot but not eating much. I personally have never seen an obese Song Sparrow or Robin. However birds eat a LOT. Even a short time watching outdoors will allow one to observe the large chunks of time where almost all species of birds spend actually eating. They tend to eat things that most humans would not enjoy such as worms, snails, snakes, rotten fruit, berries that look past their prime and seeds.

I had the good fortune to spend a recent dark and gloomy rainy day recovering from too much work so I sat and knit, drank tea, watched the day unfold out my window and rested. I also noticed several things about how my Cedar Mill backyard birds were eating that I have not thought about before.

Outside my window we have a collection of bird feeders.  We also deliberately plant foods in the garden known to be attractive to birds—such as crab apple trees, holly bushes loaded with berries and we leave some leaves on the ground for cover for insects. We do not use pesticides so that allows the aphids to flourish on the roses so that the Chickadees can “act like a vacuum” going up and down the stems scooping up protein.  I noticed a particular pair of Red Breasted Nuthatches going to the seed feeder and then taking their sunflower treat up to a specific branch where they lodged the seed into a crack where they then could hit it repetitively with their beaks to break it open to enjoy. Over and over to the same branch they went.

I also noted the Red Tailed Hawks, which generally I see feeding on rodents and snakes, swoop down and snatch up an unobservant Junco from the ground.  I am used to seeing Coopers and Sharp Shinned Hawks eat other birds but had never seen the Red Tailed eat a bird. I think that since the wetlands were so flooded with large amounts of recent rainfall that the typical prey wasn’t available so this bird switched to what was around to eat.

The most vigorous eater of the day was by far the Varied Thrush. This is a winter bird for us since they breed in Alaska and northern Canada. This bird loves to throw leaves around looking for insects hiding underneath and I often noted this bird was about to appear by the amount of leaves being thrown from behind a bush. The vote for “most adorable” went to the huge flock of Bushtits. These tiny birds with long tails flock up in the winter to feed and perch together. In the spring they pair up to build nests. The flock at our feeder had at least fifty tiny birds eating our suet.  Such small beaks but such large bites of suet. I bet they need a lot of food to keep warm.  They visited the feeder so many times that by the end of the day the entire suet block was gone.  Now other birds did help eat the suet such as Yellow Rumped Warblers, Black Capped Chickadees, and Downy Woodpeckers. Northern Flickers, one Ruby Crowned Kinglet and unfortunately some bully Starlings. But most of the eating was done by the Bushtits.

Scientists have some specific names for types of diets in birds—

Avivorous means to eat other birds, fugivorous means to eat fruit (which few birds eat as their sole diet but many will add), mucivorous (sap eaters like woodpeckers), palynivorous which means pollen eaters and ophiniophagous—snake eaters. Many birds are omnivorous which means they eat several categories.  In our area for example Anna’s hummingbirds prefer nectar (nectivorous) but will switch to eating insects in the winter months (insectivorous) when no flowers are blooming.

Birds eat in amazingly diverse ways—some eat fruit, others eat snakes.  Some eat by themselves and others in social flocks.  However the phrase  “eating like a bird” does not seem to hold up to scrutiny of real bird behavior—most eat a lot and often and very few are incredibly inflexible about what to eat. The major difference appears to be that birds don’t eat for “non food” reasons like humans do. We eat to be comforted, to signal our status or to have contact in addition to our need for nutrition.   So maybe we should “eat like birds” – in some ways at least.

On a recent birding outing in Ridgefield National Wildlife Preserve to see Sandhill Cranes our guide—the local manager of the refuge was very clear that camouflage clothing was helpful in not spooking the birds. I decided to do some research about this often repeated bit of advice to see what evidence there was for this recommendation.  Before I get to the data I want to share the observation that the birds knew we were there long before they saw him in his camo coat— they probably heard us or smelled us and in any event right after we parked (out of their sight) , we heard them moving away from the edge of the lake to the other side— didn’t even get a chance to check out the various colors of coats!

A Scientific American from 2006 on What Birds See was illuminating. This summary of the cells in the backs of our eyes which allow us to see colors was explained in great detail. Basically birds have many more types of these cells than humans and most probably can appreciate more depth of color than humans, can see better in dim light than humans and may be able to “see” other wavelengths such as ultraviolet in ways we humans cannot imagine.  I then found an article by an ornithologist, Bryon K Butler who had opinions based on similar research about how birds see differently than humans. He invited us to consider the world from their point of view if we can imagine it.

He describes the bird vision as one which a very high capacity to detect minute movements.  Therefore slow movements and being still at times are critical skills to keep birds from flying off. He hypothesizes that birds appreciate reflection more than we humans can. Therefore he says that shininess and UV reflection may be as important as color. (Think about your reflective sunglasses! Or your bling….) He then described how birds are very wary about being looked at directly—he believes this is a survival instinct to not have predators locating them so he personally “breaks up his face” with a hat with a brim and scans around indirectly to not scare the birds.

These are evidence-based ideas from scientists. As an avid outdoor person I would add some more practical ideas— like don’t wear things that make noise. I cannot tell you how often on Audubon birding outings that the person with “noisy” nylon rain gear which makes incredible amounts of noise as the arms swing back and forth and back and forth and back and forth—for sure you will not hear any bird sounds with that noise interference and most likely they’ll hear you before you see them too. Then there is the shoe issue— hard soled shoes on gravel make a lot of noise. Opt for something less stylish and more safe and quiet. You won’t be likely to slip and you’ll hear more natural sounds.  You need to be comfortable—have plenty of pockets for your insect repellant, your snacks, your camera back up batteries and other necessities such as bird book etc. You need to be warm and dry so options to shed are most helpful. Otherwise I don’t really think that color is the key ingredient unless you WANT to attract hummingbirds—in which case red is the best color.

I have personally been “investigated” by my local yard Anna’s Hummingbirds when I was sitting in my back yard in my red shirt.

There is a funny book called Real Birders Don’t Wear White. Well I can tell you I have worn white shirts and sweaters and seen plenty of birds— the birds see you way before you see them whether you are in camo or white. It’s your behavior which allows you to see birds —. White might not be your choice for other reasons like mud or eating your picnic outside but that is a different issue..

Birdwatching can be a peaceful and calming activity. If instead you choose to rapidly try to “get a glimpse” so you can identify that bird you may just have scared it off. Instead sit for a bit, don’t judge what others are wearing and just breath and enjoy the sounds and the sights. That bird will probably stick around longer so you can enjoy seeing it…

And PS—you don’t have to go to Washington (Ridgefield) to see Cranes. I suggest going there to see Tundra and Trumpeter Swans!  You can see many Sandhill Cranes flying overhead in Cedar Mill if you look up. Your clue will be their distinctive “gaaaarook” call as they fly along with a flock that sure doesn’t look like geese!  During the late fall and early winter they fly further south. Some do stay at Ridgefield all winter and other places like Sauvie Island and an occasional one or two other local areas but most go to southern California or Mexico for the winter. And then of course in the spring they fly back overhead.

When we look at most birds to identify them or just watch them for pleasure, most of us focus on the form or the feathers. Rarely do we even notice the feet unless it’s really something rare like a Blue-footed Booby (which we don’t have in Cedar Mill).

Bird feet are however quite fascinating due to the many types of feet there are if you take a look.  Most perching birds sleep upright in trees—have you ever wondered why it is that they don’t fall off when sleeping? I wondered that so read up on the topic in an ornithology text. Bird feet have a special tendon that clamps down like a vise onto the branch when the bird is relaxed or sleeping on the branch. When the bird “stands up” the tendon relaxes so the bird can fly off—otherwise it secures the feet to the branch—truly amazing adaptation to life in trees!

Other types of bird feet do amazing feats for their feathered owners. The feet of coots have lobes on their feet to transfer heat. These birds tend to swim in warmer waters and instead of sweating they use the increase surface area of the feet to transfer heat out of their bodies.  Most of us have seen the webbed feet of ducks and geese and the University of Oregon mascot makes use of the “webfoot” designation for many team graphics.

Other “water” birds which wade around soft edges of ponds have feet with very largely spread out toes to distribute the weight so they don’t sink. If you ever seen Great Blue Heron tracks on the sides of muddy ponds what you notice is how large the feet are for such a big bird.

Woodpeckers have an arrangement of toes to allow them to climb up and down scaly trunks—the toes are not fanned out. There are “fancy” scientific names for all these toe designs ( for example anisodactyl is the name of typical perching bird feet design).  If you take a college ornithology course you too can learn these long names.  For the more casual birder – simply noticing the variety of feet can increase your enjoyment of the many habitats that birds occupy.

Birds who get food by scratching in the dirt have longer “nails” than those who pluck nectar from flowers. Think about the long nails of chickens or some of our sparrows who scratch for insects under our bushes.

To me the feet of birds of prey (technically called raptors if they hunt in the day or owls if they hunt at night—there are some other distinguishing features of these groups but that is the major division)– are the most interesting. Hawks and owls use their feet to catch and kill their prey. They are strong, they have sharp claws and they are large. Owls have feet with feathers covering the toes. This is unusual in the bird world with most feet being covered with leathery scales but no feathers.  Owls have feathers all the way to the tips—some researchers hypothesize that this keeps them warm all year as they hunt and others believe that the feathers allow for more sensory information about their prey to be conveyed to the brain. In any event one rarely sees owls during the day and almost always the feet are under the body. That was why it was so awesome to see this particular Horned Owl in the middle of the day with the feet exposed. In all my years of birding I have never been this close to a wild Great Horned nor been able to look so long at the various aspects of this magnificent hunter.  I usually hear them calling in the spring at night. This image will become part of my gallery of special moments outside.

Go outside and see what is special to you. See what questions come up for you and what things amaze or inspire you.  You might even wonder about where your feet take you—literally—and metaphorically. So do you move toward or away from new things, from inspiring things, from certain types of things??

Summer is really a time for birds to feast on the nectar in the flowers, the bugs and caterpillars on the plants, the worms in the ground and the abundant fish in the ponds. This past week, the family of Belted Kingfishers, which regularly visit the backyard pond in the Bethany Wetlands, has been a source of amusement. The adult pair has successfully raised chicks every year now for several seasons.  It is so delightful to hear them do their “rattle call” which is almost like a celebration “hip-hip-hooray” when they catch a small frog or fish and fly up to a tree branch exclaiming loudly about their catch.  These birds are easy to see and very easy to hear.

I have also watched with interest as the Bald Eagle and Osprey and Great Blue Heron pluck small fish and frogs and occasionally snakes out of the wetlands.  The Bald Eagle used to be a rather infrequent visitor but this year we see one or two almost every week or so out hunting at the edge of the pond.

The winner this year I think for breeding success in Cedar Mill has to be the Spotted Towhee—so many juveniles are around, I have never seen as many.   They seem to eat the same things as the various sparrows since I see them all busily scratching under bushes.

While it may seem like a really cool summer in terms of weather and many of us wish for more sun—I have had birding clients from other parts of the country suffering from record temperatures and drought who find our coolness to be incredibly refreshing.  When I hear them talk about never ending humidity or water shortages I feel really fortunate to live where it is green and the mornings are cool.  Also of course it’s more fun to go birding in the morning when it’s not so hot!

Birds are in fact most active in the morning compared to other times of day. They too have rested all night and need to break their fast by getting going in the morning.  Our new (indoor) kitten finds incredible delight at watching the early morning birds at our feeder. Last week we had quite the assortment—I casually counted for about an hour and it was around 45 different species – from woodpeckers to nuthatches and sparrows and wrens and Grosbeaks and the towhees.

I know it’s truly summer when the wild blackberries ripen and the California quail chicks start to show up in the yard running through the open spaces rapidly to get back to cover. They also take “dust baths” so it’s fun to see the indentations if I haven’t seen them that morning—I know they’ve been by and I just missed them.  When I do pick the blackberries I often “flush” quite the group of quail. The record of chicks I saw this year was 24!

The sounds of summer are different than our winter visitors. Some of our Goldfinches do leave for places further south. The Rufous Hummingbirds as well as the Green Herons and the Black Headed Grosbeaks I have so enjoyed hearing in our back yard will soon depart. They will of course be replaced with our winter birds that have spent the summer eating the abundant mosquitos and other insects in the northern parts of Canada and Alaska.  Paying attention to what is in our yards allows us to be distracted for a few moments from our layers of busy minds. It gives us a new perspective, it can give us joy to hear a lovely song and it makes us aware of how alive we are in this moment. Get outside, choose to look and listen.   Notice how some of the daily tensions may lessen.

Most birdwatchers learn a bit of ornithology as we start to become competent at identification. After understanding the differences in birds of the same color    (like the brown sparrows compared to the brown songbirds) or birds that act the same (like ducks compared to grebes in the water) we often then start to become more interested in the more esoteric science.  Why are some bird chicks very soon upon hatching out and about with the parents, yet other birds hatch with no feathers, closed eyelids and require some time to emerge out of their nests?

I recently just learned these two words—altricial and precocial. Even though I was a science major and took comparative vertebrate anatomy I must have missed these two interesting concepts or else they weren’t discussed in those courses.  Seeing the tiny goslings swimming immediately after hatching and apparently eating grass with the parents got me curious. I know that other birds species like chickadees or robins spend quite a bit of time being fed by parents before even growing downy feathers or searching for food on their own.

Altricial species of birds (and mammals) have young who are born relatively helpless. Many have eyes, which have not opened and need a lot of care to maintain body temperature and continue to be fed to grow to be able to defend themselves.  Examples of such birds are the robins we might have seen “naked” in their nests while the parents fly back and forth feeding large quantities of insects.  These birds tend to have smaller eggs and tend to have both parents involved in the post hatching feeding extravaganza to grow large enough fledglings to leave the nest competently.

Precocial species on the other hand tend to have larger protein rich eggs (think ducks and chickens and turkeys and pheasants)—tend to be ground nesters although one can find exceptions and tend to have chicks who don’t “need” much from the parents other than some “protection” and possibly learning about great food sources.  When they hatch they tend to have most of their downy outer layer and be able to move about – although most baby birds do seem slightly awkward.

Various ornithologists have tried to make some ecological niche sense out of this. There are a variety of theories about numbers of young and types of hatch but basically there are many exceptions to most theories so since I am not a dedicated ornithology scientist I quit reading the science at that point…

However it seems to me that we are all “hatching”. I have been impressed with how much our cells are ever changing. We are truly “new” beings as time goes by. Our skin cells totally renew themselves generally in about a month— and our other cells “turn over” at various rates as well. Some of this is genetic and some can be accelerated by environmental factors. The new science of epigenetics—the factors in our surroundings, which influence such biological events, is truly an exciting new field.

As we all hatch— we have some “biology” that makes us more “altricial” at some things and more “precocial” at others. I am sure this is an artistic take on these biological words yet it does resonate to me that all of us are hatching. Not just in spring— but all year and as we age.   If I add a new skill (i.e. new cells in my brain or new neural pathways) to an existing skill I am more likely to be somewhat “competent:”—i.e. somewhat precocial and need “less parenting” from my mentors/bosses/ teachers/ elders. If however I add something totally new I am more like the brand newly hatched helpless chick—I will need a lot of “feeding” from the elders.. I have personally done both—picked up knitting after some years—precocial—still awkward but can do it. And then I started teaching – brand new—needed lots of help – altrical or the cautiously incompetent phase of new learning. Thankfully in my symbolic world if I mess up my knitting I just rip it out, in the wild world outside where the birds live if they mess up a coyote will have the gosling for dinner—a totally different outcome…

I hope you enjoy learning new things like I do, and that you go outside whether you are an ”altricial “birder or an experienced “precocial“ birder who wants to ask new questions….

IF we are talking bird “babies” we should use the biologically correct words gosling, chick, duckling, nestling, fledgling, hatchling…. but I just call them babies…

After all the frenzy of the mating calls, the dances, the nest finding and building we now have the product of all that effort—many chicks in our yards in Cedar Mill. This year I was lucky enough to have a pair of nesting Black Capped Chickadees in a bird house on my deck. These birds are very comfortable in urban areas so they paid no attention to our rowdy deck parties or the lawn mower or the lights. They just persisted in feeding large bugs to their group of young and eventually all of them left the nest. We still see them flying around our yard in a group of four. The chicks are obviously “fluffier” than the parents and on occasion do the “begging” routine of fluttering the feathers and opening their large mouths to have suet and bugs just dropped in. This reminds me of our youngest son who has metaphorically a large mouth with his college tuition bills!

I have been amazed at the diversity of the species in my yard when it comes to parental behaviors. Some groups of young and parents stay together for several months in large flocks (geese) and others seem to disperse relatively quickly (Spotted towhee young I see all alone foraging).  This reminds me of the book by Margaret Small–  “Our Babies Ourselves” and the comments about child rearing practices around the world. She describes huge variety in variables such as how much mothers smiled at babies (highest in the US which values “happiness in childhood” more than in traditional African or Asian cultures she studied) and sleep patterns and other language patterns. I have found similar incredible disparities just in my own yard.

One of the things I like most about looking outside is to understand our natural world in more detail rather than assuming that things fit some preconceived notions. Some of the most amazing things can be seen in our own areas. For example I saw some Anna’s hummingbirds visit the holes that Sapsuckers had drilled into willow trees— the hummingbirds were eating the rich sap as well.  If you look around you can see amazing diversity in your own back yard.  I have enjoyed the Swallow nest camera at the Columbia Edgewater Country club.  The babies open their huge mouths the moment the parent’s return. All of these natural events are infinitely interesting if one takes a closer look.

Last weekend my husband and I participated in a bird count for a Yamhill County biodynamic vineyard. That vineyard—Youngberg Hill uses a style of farming that is organic—that is, no manufactured chemicals and in addition, takes into consideration the totality of the ecosystem such as the needs of birds.   So we tromped around the scenic plantings of grape vines and peered into the dense surrounding forested areas looking for woodpeckers, hawks and songbirds. We were fortunate to find several, but what we also observed that piles of brush in the natural area on the perimeter of the vineyard, which might look unsightly in your home landscape, do provide shelter for the many tiny wrens and songbirds. This reminded us that we have an opportunity to be aware of our own back yards and how we might look at our “biodynamic” practices as homeowners.  In keeping with this concept and making one change at a time, led us to recycle our cat’s shed hair into bird nest material.

 As you can see from the attached photo, at least one early nesting species found this material attractive. Who knew that this bunch of prevented hairballs would instead be a treasured nest material?  We watched with delight as this Pine Siskin spent up to 15 minutes picking out each individual cat hair, carefully arranged in his or her (we think this is a female) beak before flying off with a mustache of fur. No expedient grabs of clumps of hair for her! A few minutes later she was back for another load.  This species seems quite “polite” – several other birds would wait their turn sitting on near by branches and it was all very orderly. This is unlike the squabbling of American Goldfinches as they jockey for position at the seed feeders with displays of aggression and frank pushing.

 So while we spend a lot of time enjoying how birds behave I was also struck at the many disparate ways the same event can be perceived by our human species. During our bird count for this winery the owner had also invited a group of George Fox ornithology students. Like a mixed flock of little brown birds, this group of students had very different reactions to the very same event. The vineyard owners in appreciation for our efforts served us lunch so we got to sit and visit about what we saw. Some of the students focused on how cold they got, how hard the hilly terrain was, how they didn’t see X species they needed for their life list and etc. My husband I an who walked the very same paths instead were awed by a Northern Harrier doing its mating swoops up and over the hills and we were glowing with awe in observing that behavior.  Amazing how what we see influences how we feel. And yes it was rainy and hilly and wet….

 In the spring we can have moments of joy if we take just a few minutes to watch what is going on and take a breather from the concerns of the day. This is a lot of fun and it changes the way you see your own back yard. What “trash” is treasure for others? How can you enjoy what is right in front of you?   What new learning can I have today?  All available in your own back yard or a short distance away. If you would enjoy a fun outing a short distance from Cedar Mill—consider driving through the wine country in Yamhill County. The owners of Youngberg Hill Vineyards allow birders to walk the perimeter of their property if you check in at the tasting room. We saw a large number of very interesting birds there and it was peaceful and quiet.   If you wanted to stay longer they have an Inn there that looks amazingly peaceful. Or simply look out your windows or as you go about your daily chores.  Consider the biodynamics of your own home— maybe some dryer lint for the birds? Maybe some yard debris not so carefully cleaned up so that it can be leaf litter for the thrushes to throw around as they scratch for insects. Maybe some fruit past its prime left out for the birds to peck?  

Owls have been associated with magical powers in many cultures’ mythology and history. Their nocturnal secretive habits and their huge eyes simply look mysteriously different than other feathered creatures.  Even people who don’t identify as being particularly interested in birds, have some understanding of owls.  Owls are portrayed in popular imagination such as The Harry Potter series for example or Beanie Babies.  Science class may have covered that they have amazing neck vertebrae, which allow them to turn their heads further than any other animal! There are Audubon classes to learn more about these elusive and rarely seen night- birds. Some people can “call” owls by using various sounds to which they respond. Other times we simply are in the right place at the right time in order to see them. Often we simply hear them without ever catching a glimpse.

 Before the trees leaf out is the best time to scan for owls so get outside and look for large nests before spring and new leaves creates camouflage for owl babies.   Great Horned Owls are particularly fond of using nests from hawks, eagles, crows or even abandoned squirrel nests.

 Great Horned Owls are among our earliest birds to nest in this location.  Later on of course we’ll see some ducks and geese building nests. Our latest nesting birds tend to be the American Goldfinch who doesn’t lay eggs until much later in the summer. Even now at our feeders we can see these Goldfinches start to change from their drab olive winter plumage to their bright yellow breeding plumage despite the fact that the date for egg laying is months away. 

 My own personal experience is limited with owls but when I see one I am truly awed.  These are magnificently camouflaged creatures. The attached picture is from Fernhill Wetlands where we were incredibly fortunate to see this bird peeking over the nest.  According to reputable sources these birds mate for life and start producing offspring when they are about two years old. Both male and female share the duty of sitting on the eggs. There are typically two eggs, which take around 30 days to hatch, and then more time to develop feathers and leave the nest (technical term is fledging). So we look forward to watching this family grow over time. We did not see the other bird but hope to.  This will require careful scanning of trees given their camouflage and another dose of incredible luck.

 I have heard Great Horned Owls in my back yard in Cedar Mill at night. I know they nest in this area. Their – hoo hoo hoo hoo and maybe even one more note at times, is loud and distinct. Once I saw one at dusk land in my back yard tree for a few moments. That was a real treat and the only time I have seen one in the 13 years I have lived in my home.  I hear them a lot in January and February and then when they start to nest they don’t call..

 My brother had an encounter with a Great Horned Owl as he was running in Forest Park with his small terrier dog. The owl apparently thought the dog would be tasty and made a run at the dog. They will eat whatever is available including small dogs and cats. Mostly they eat rodents..

 What mostly amazes me are their huge eyes, which can bring in lots of light to see in dim conditions. Birds have so many adaptations to specific habitats. Some of them have beaks for cracking open nuts, some drill holes in my trees for sap and insects and owls have huge eyes to see at night. It reminds me of our human signature strengths. We don’t all have to be alike and being different and unique may allow us to thrive together.  It also is fascinating the variations in responses to owls in history. While these creatures are in fact hard to study due to their habits this has not stopped fertile imaginations from interpretations. In many cultures owls are revered for wisdom and are symbolic of fertility (such as being the companions of many ancient goddesses of fertility in recovered artwork—due to their association with the night maybe?). Other cultures have found them to be symbolic of rather evil and dark things like harbingers of death and destruction.

 Human’s beings are able to interpret the very same event or animal in markedly diverse and creative ways. To me the owls are intricately adapted to harsh conditions and are such a rare treat that I am transfixed. I think I watched this particular owl for about an hour and the time just melted. What awes you?

 Get outside and see..

I have recently learned about irruptive birds. The definition of irruptive is– an influx of birds either of a species not normally observed in an area or in greater numbers than normally observed or in a different season than generally observed.

It amuses me when American Robins show up on the Audubon Society rare bird alert in winter months because most of them do in fact leave for the winter. While they are incredibly common in the spring and summer months here they are relatively rare in the winter. I experienced an afternoon last month when our cherry tree was full of robins they must have been migrating though in a flock since I have not seen any since. I am reminded that Robins are the first birds to sing around 4 AM in the spring with their “cherrio cherri up “ songs. It’s very quiet at that time in the winter…

Our most rare back yard bird was a single Tundra Swan who appeared in our wetlands in January. The folks who have lived next door for about 25 years had never seen a swan in the wetlands so this definitely qualifies as an irruptive species, at least for our little area.

The swan was lovely. It was banded and its neckband had a number indicating it was part of an avian flu study originating in Alaska. I was able to find out that this bird, a female, was banded in White Salmon Alaska when she was about 2 years old. Where she has traveled since that time I don’t know. Several of her banding cohorts are currently in the Ridgefield National Wildlife refuge in Washington. Why she became separated from the flock is a mystery. However this bird appeared to find a new flock of Canada and Cackling geese, which is great for socializing and protection from predators.

Other irruptive species are being found more and more in Oregon. This winter we have had unusual ducks including Ring Necked ducks, Common Mergansers as well as many Green Winged Teals and Hooded Mergansers. Who knows why we have so many of these “unusual” birds in our ponds. Of particular note are the sightings of Snowy Owls in the Northwest. I have not seen any in my back yard but am always hopeful…

So birding can be a treasure hunt for rare creatures but now I know the scientific term is “irruptive”. Keeps my brain active but mostly makes me look out the windows… have fun looking..