Portland Birdwatching Experiences

March 2010 

Mindfulness practices are a definite boon to good health. Some of the more recent scientific studies show that being mindful is good for your immune system and good for your brain in terms of emotional health and creativity.  Birdwatching is an engrossing and fun way to bring more mindfulness into everyday life– all that is required is to look outside or go outside and be fully present looking to see what you might see. 

So many people rush through their days and miss the lovely white crowned sparrow that was singing on the lamp post mid day outside of our Safeway store. I stood for a minute and listened to that beautiful song and even commented to passersby who said “what birdsong?”

Yesterday I went outside in my back yard and saw two Flickers doing something I had never seen– bobbing their heads up and down at each other than then gently touching bills over and over for about 15 minutes. No vocalizing at all. Spring is coming! And soon those very same flickers will be drumming for mates and in fact you will hear loud sounds all around Cedar Mill, Oregon as they stake out their territory.

Another thing I saw in my own back yard when I bothered to really look was that many birds have already started to change into their breeding plumage. Feathers are not alive so to change colors birds have to lose one set and replace them with a new set– a process called molting. Different birds do this in varying ways. You might have noted for example the mottled European Starlings are starting to develop their glossy dark black breeding plumage and their yellow beak color. All this requires a lot of energy as they lose one set of feathers and grow in a new set. Our most striking example of changes in breeding plumage are the Mallard male ducks with their bright green heads in the spring and the Goldfinches who change our of their drab olive winter feathers to the typical incredibly bright yellow of the breeding male.  See the website gallery for examples of Goldfinches in summer/breeding plumage and winter plumage.

Really focusing on what you can see changes your walks and visions out of your window from the mundane to the very interesting and is probably good for your health. Take a careful and mindful look outside.

February 2010

Winter brings many birds to our area that we see only briefly. In the case of the Brant Goose seen in the accompanying picture , this goose settled in Cedar Mill on Saturday Jan 23 for about a one hour rest period before resuming flight back to breeding grounds in Alaska. The Brant is rarely seen in the Willamette Valley and in the 25 plus years I have been bird watching in Cedar Mill I have certainly never seen one. In fact I have never seen one anywhere, despite reports they are occasionally seen at the coast.  See the photo in the website gallary.

Over the past few weeks I have heard migrating Tundra Swans overhead and ran out to see them. Often they are low enough one can see the details of neck length and beak color! Other times winter birds come closer as in the swarms of Juncos mobbing my bird feeder in my yard or the Yellow Rumped Warblers flitting around the suet—they almost hover as if they were hummingbirds, but their large size gives them away as warblers. Soon they too will leave our area to go north to breed and feast on the millions of hatching insects in the Alaskan summers.

The key to seeing these fleeting migrants is to listen for new sounds and then look out! If you are lucky enough to be by a window or be outside that is a special treat for those who are observant. Soon in our area the summer birds will be back, making nests, singing for territory and eating all they can to get fat to make eggs and sit on them for a while! Spring really is coming from the chives bursting through my garden soil to the just appearing young dandelions in the grass to the migrating geese and swans!

December 2009

Many birds who breed in the northern parts of Canada and Alaska find our winters to be “balmy” even with the occasional weeks of very cold temperatures we have had in the past few winters. As I write this in mid December, the pond in the back of my yard in a wetlands area of Cedar Mill is just starting to become free of ice around the edges.
This makes winter an excellent time to see many birds that we won’t see in the spring or summer unless you too fly to Alaska! Last week in my pond I saw Gadwalls, Green-winged Teals and American Widgeons. All these however were eclipsed by the “hawk” show—due to the ice they could not hunt their usual rodents and snakes so they picked off gulls and small ducks that were stranded in the center of the pond. While this sounds difficult to see, in many ways it is part of the natural order.
The winter has also brought to Cedar Mill many small song birds that breed in Alaska. We now regularly see large flocks of Juncos, Golden Crowned sparrows and Yellow Rumped warblers at our feeders. The Bushtits have flocked back up as well after pairing off in the summer to breed, but in the fall they form large flocks which will “bomb” a suet feeder with up to 50 birds at a time—making for a squirming mass of birds on one feeder.
Several Goldfinches appear to be staying for the winter in flocks, usually they migrate in fall to warmer climates but this year there appear to be many who have decided to stay—possibly it was a good seed year in Cedar Mill? I have seen them eating out of the pods of my sweet gum tree—when I looked in a pod I found numerous small seeds resembling the nyger thistle that we can buy at stores to attract these birds. And to think that I imagined those hard pods only being a nuisance in my lawn!
The absolute favorite bird however that I have seen recently in my back yard has to be the Great Horned Owl who I hear at night but rarely see, I know there are two owls out there who hoot back and forth. I was fortunate enough to see one perch on a tree at dusk. The “ears” of his Great Horned head were obvious in the twilight even if I had not heard his call which identified the bird.
In the greater Portland area over the course of a year there have been about 270 birds identified. The exact number changes from year to year and with the climate change we are seeing more “unusual” birds that we generally don’t see here In our own back yards if we look we can see amazing variety through the seasons. From the large Great Blue Herons and Great Horned owls to the tiny Anna’s Hummingbirds who stay all winter (keep your feeder full and unfrozen!) we have almost all those birds if we just look outside.

by Jonathan Brinckman, The Oregonian
Saturday September 05, 2009, 7:00 AM

Portland Birdwatching Experiences
Portland
Formed in March 2009
A bird-watching tour in Hawaii prompted Lauretta Young to form her own company in Portland.

The product: Customized birdwatching tours in the Portland area.

What stage: About 50 tours so far.

Price: $30 an hour for one to five people. Meals are extra.

The founder: Lauretta Young, 55, was born in Wyoming and moved to Portland with her family at age 14. She has a bachelor’s from Oregon State University, a medical degree from Oregon Health & Science University and worked for Kaiser Permanente for 25 years — the last 15 as chief of psychiatry.

Employees: Just Young, though she may hire another guide.

Her favorite place for tours: Sauvie Island, because of its diversity of birds, followed closely by Mount Tabor.

The idea source: Young took a bird tour in Hawaii and found it one of the most rewarding tourist experiences of her life. When she returned to Portland, she found no private birding tours and decided to start her own.

The money: $1,000 to create a Web site.

Young’s dream: To offer tours all over Oregon, including coastal estuaries such as Bandon Marsh, the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and national wildlife refuges near Corvallis and Eugene.

Her favorite bird: The meadowlark. “There aren’t many around. I like their song. It’s very melodious and uplifting and reminds me of summer.”
Web site: www.portlandbirdwatching.com

–Jonathan Brinckman

The baby arctic terns in the protected park at Mendenhall Glacier were so camoflauged in their mottled black and white down that until t he parents arrived with tiny fish out of the lake we didn’t see them! Pictures will be posted in the picture gallery soon– they were balls of down with strikingly orange tern beaks . After eating they collapsed on the pebbly beach to digest and get warm in the sun! Such a privelege to see these babies up close from our kayak which would be the only way to see these tiny creatures in the island which is not accessible any other way. What a treat in Alaska to see these newly  hatched chicks!

Also heard grouse on top of Mt. Roberts and on several hikes doing their mating calls.  Of course eagles are so common one seees them as part of the background very soon after arriving.

The closure of the Mt Tabor park on Wednesdays so that birders can hear the bird songs is a lovely way to spend a spring day. Last week three hours went by with sightings of hundreds of migratory warblers. The ” common” ones such as the orange crowned and the Townsend’s were abundant but mixed in with those were a couple of ” rare” Nashville warblers and even a hermit warbler. The colors and the constant movement and the glimpses are fascinating. The light was just right to see the hues on the birds. We also saw a vireo, a Townsend’s solitaire, a merlin and a Pacific Flycatcher!!

What a lovely day with cooperative migrants!

What a lovely day in Portland– we are all so sun starved after weeks of clouds and rain that a 66 degree day with total sunshine is such a treat. I took a wonderful family group out today and we saw a rarity in Portland– several acorn woodpeckers. The sun was shining right on their incredibly red heads and they were quite accomodating, flying in front of us and posing on a very pecked tree– so that we could see the YELLOW on the throat and face!
so very bright and clear as they posed for us.

We were also lucky enough to see a male flicker apparently feeding chicks in a nest hole over and over– seems ” early” for chicks but that sure appeared like what he was doing.

The wood ducks were obliging again this weekend along with pied bill grebes, ring neck ducks, lesser scaups and many widgeons and buffleheads mixed in.

We spent about an hour watching the acorn woodpeckers demonstrate their white wing patches and then land and preen and peck. Unusual to see so many in Portland but they appear to have found a spot they like.

Yes it rained, it’s spring break in Oregon. It has to rain most of next week as well since it’s spring break for Washington! However.. there were a few sun breaks, just enough to go to a nearby wetlands in a corporate park to see many many waterfowl and have a 2 mile walk before the rains came again. ( Then we had to go to the nearby library to read magazines about birds and cooking!) and warm up .

The major find on this walk were three wood ducks, all close enough to hear the different calls of the male and the females. I had never appreciated the squeaks of the male since they are rather soft compared to other ducks’ verbalizations.

The other wonderful opportunity was to see both ring neck ducks ( both genders) right beside lesser scaups . These are sometimes hard to differentiate especially in poor light at a distance. I love the “hairdos” with attitude on both male species but particularly the ring necks! We got pictures which we can hopefully post on the site soon. Some of the green wing teals were ” tame” evidently being used to the corporate lunch crowd feeding them? but the others like the buffleheads staying in the middle of the ponds far away from any human contact.

It was fun to see the teals just take off right out of the water unlike their dabbling cousins who ” run along” for many feet before take off. These little females had such bright green speculums on the wings they were unmistakable even in the cloudy day.

We got lucky with the sun bursts and the many ducks we saw .

The Kalapuya Indians of the Tualatin Valley where I live called this ” out of provision month”– where all the dried camas and the salmon have been eaten, the new shoots are not yet out and the migratory birds are arriving. Last week before the last snow I did find some nettles and picked them, apparently they were a native food and I certainly didn’t like them — kind of ” soapy” but if that was all to eat I probably would have liked them better.

This week in my wetlands the geese are making mating displays, the kingfishers are very loud and the woodpeckers are drumming for mates. I was so hoping a wood duck would use the house but so far the only bird house occupants in a different house are a pair of chickadees who relentlessly go back and forth picking up the cat hair from a feral cat who lives under the porch but leaves his hair on the side walk where he rubs in the sun.

Last week we went to FernHill wetlands where we saw a flock of tundra swans– could see in the scope they were not trumpeters. Saw many many ring neck ducks, pintails and ruddy ducks . No swallows yet. No rufous hummers back either or my sweet pair of green herons.

The gold finches are turning more and more yellow every day . Spring really is coming.