Least Sandpiper

I came across this Least Sandpiper walking the berms of the newly renovated Wapato Marsh Wetlands at Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve. It was strangely tolerant of me.  While the multitudes of other peeps would fly off if I got anywhere near as close as I got to this one, it seemed only mildly concerned with me. I took dozens of pictures of it, with the two above being the best, finally deciding to let it be and moved on.

Dunlin

Fernhill Wetlands has had some high water lately, so I decided I'd try Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve this past Saturday in hopes of seeing some interesting shorebirds. I stopped by Jackson Bottom on my way home from Fernhill Wetlands last weekend and noticed that the restoration work on the Wapato Marsh Wetlands was complete. This appeared to be great shorebird habitat.
Things were a little slow as I approached, but soon I started seeing peeps (mostly Least Sandpipers from what I could tell) everywhere. The ponds also attacked scores of Barn Swallows.
Peeps were the only shorebirds I saw for awhile other than a few Killdeers. But eventually I spotted some Dunlins. Though not uncommon, I've only identified Dunlins once before a couple of years ago, again, here at Jackson Bottom.
Initially they spent some time in a shallow area in the middle of a pond, then got quite active, flying around the area, disappearing for awhile, then reappearing.

Then, as I was pursuing a Greater Yellowlegs and a Spotted Sandpiper, the flock of Dunlins landed on the shore right in front of me. Hoping this would happen all morning, I remember thinking to myself, "Ok, don't screw this up". No sooner did I lift my camera, than they all took off. The image above is the best I got as they flew off.

But, for whatever the reason, they began circling the marsh again, making passes nearby a few times. Being a typical gloomy spring day, the low light made it difficult to get sharp images of them in flight, however the one above turned out reasonably well. That big black spot on their bellies during breeding season makes them easy to identify and makes for a handsome bird.

Bonaparte's Gull

I saw a Bonaparte's Gull on May 30 at Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve. It was floating on Pintail Pond, zigzagging back and forth looking for things to eat. Quite often it would thrust its head into the water in hopes of catching something. According to Cornell's All About Birds, it eats small fish and large invertebrates, including insects, so its actions were in line with its typical feeding habits.
I wasn't able to get very good pictures of it as it stayed a ways off shore. I watched it quite awhile, using the tall grass that has grown along the service road that surrounds the pond as a blind, hoping it would come in closer, but it was satisfied with its position. The top image above shows the gull in one of the pictures I took uncropped at its closest using my 300mm lens (actually 450mm in 35mm film terms for those who understand that kind of thing). The image below it is a fairly tight crop. I typically don't like to crop that much as the resulting picture loses a fair amount of detail. None-the-less, there is usually enough detail for identifying and studying the bird.

Last November, I saw a couple of Bonaparte's Gulls along the South Jetty at Fort Stephens State Park. One was an adult and the other a first winter gull as seen in the image below:The adult's tail is completely white compared to the black tips on the feathers of the first winter. The tops of the wings of the adult are relatively clean with black tips on the primaries whereas the first winter gull's upper wings have mottled brown on the lesser coverts and on the leading edge of the primaries, plus black tips on the secondaries. Also, the wintering adult's black ear spot is fairly round as apposed to the oval ear spot of the first winter's. Of course, in the summer, during the breeding season, the head of the Bonaparte's Gull is completely black.

Here's a better view of the first winter's upper wings and tail:

That brings me back to the gull I saw a week ago. What can I tell about it from it's plumage? Well, from the image below, I'd say it is a first winter and it has obvious black tail feather tips. But this picture was taken on May 30th. According to Sibley's Field Guide, an adult should have a black head in April.

Looking closely at the image, you will notice a few things. First, the mottling on the lesser coverts and lead edge of the primaries is nearly gone and the ear spot is more round than oval. Sibley states that it take a Bonaparte's Gull a year to acquire adult plumage. Therefore, I deduce that a first winter does not have a black head in late May like this one, but it is clearly transitioning towards adult coloring. And an even closer look at the back of its head reveals some darker feathers starting to fill in.

Song Sparrow - Early Fledgling

Travel, travel, travel. I'm getting tired of it. I've been on the road on business four of the last six weeks. On top of that, I've been fighting a cold for going on two weeks now. Oh well, could be worse, could be raining. Oops.
Last Sunday I stopped by Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve. I don't bird there as often since I've discovered Fernhill Wetlands. It was mid-afternoon and things were fairly slow as expected. Highlights include my first Ring-necked Pheasant photograph, though it was way off in the distance. It's been the only bird I have seen and positively identified and not photographed. I also saw a few Warbling Vireos. Last spring I saw one, this spring I've seen many in lots of various places. Not sure why.

Another interesting sighting was that of an early Song Sparrow fledgling. You can see the gummy corners of its bill in the images above. I saw some of these last year as well and they threw me for a while. This is quite a bit earlier than I noticed them last year.The next two images are adults. I took one of my favorite pictures of a Song Sparrow on this same wire last spring about this time.

Savannah Sparrow

I saw my first Savannah Sparrows of the year at Jackson Bottom last Sunday. They were up to their old tricks of laying low in the grass and then flying away, just out of range, as I got near. It was great to see them again.

Morning Dove

This Morning Dove has some odd ruffled feathers on its neck. I suppose it could be a molt of some sort, but it is rather intense in a very localized area. Because of this, I'm guessing that it had been attacked by a predator and was lucky to escape.

Greater Yellowlegs

I haven't been able to get much quality birding in for the last couple of weeks as I have been lighting another production at Wilsonville High School. I decided to take a chance on Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve in hopes of seeing some migration action. The last time I stopped by about three weeks ago, it was totally flooded. Today it was much better, but there wasn't much happening as far as migrants are concerned.
The most interesting thing I saw while there were eleven Greater Yellowlegs all together. I have never seen so many in one place before.

Bewick's Wren

It had been awhile since I had visited Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve, so I decided a week ago last Sunday to see how the water levels had returned since fall. The water levels were good, but the birds numbers were just so-so; however it was mid to late afternoon.
I did manage to get this shot of Bewick's Wren. It was a typical cloudy, gloomy, low-light day, but this wren hung around in the open long enough and allowed me to get in close enough to get one decent shot.

Western Tanager

Since I posted a female Western Tanager yesterday I thought I would post images of males today. Neither image is very good, but they are good enough to clearly identify the birds.
The top image was taken on my trip to Albuquerque, NM in late June. On the way to the Sandia Crest with the local Audubon Society, we stopped at historical church garden where we saw a few Western Tanager males at a distance. They had full mating season coloration.
The bottom image was taken last weekend at Jackson Bottom. This male has lost most of its red coloration on its face and looks a bit beat up and possibly molting as Autumn approaches.

Barn Swallow - Juvenile

It's a hot weekend, highs in the mid 90's, so I got an early start before the heat got too bad. Since things are pretty dry around here, I decided I would make the trek to Hillboro and visit Fernhill and Jackson Bottom. Turned out both we pretty slow, as slow as I have ever seen them, but there were still birds to be seen.

As approached the bridge near Kingfisher Pond at Jackson Bottom, I noticed several Barn Swallows flying up and down the creek. This is a common area for a variety of Swallows, especially Barn Swallows. I also noticed that there were juveniles flying amongst them. Since it is not uncommon to see swallows and other birds perched on the railings of the bridge, I decided to hang out for awhile and see if I could catch one perching.
While none perched on the railing, this juvenile perched on a nearby branch long enough for me to get some close shots. While it could fly quite well, you can see from the fact that it still has some down that it is quite young.

Song Sparrow - Juvenile

A juvenile Song Sparrow in a grove of trees at Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve.

European Starling

This European Starling was sitting in a tree along the service road on the northern boundary of Kingfisher Marsh at Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve. This is the first time I have been at Jackson Bottom and not had to walk through some mud along this road.

Least and Spotted Sandpiper

I heard some Killdeers along the partially flooded service road along the north side of Pintail Pond at Jackson Bottom. This was the lowest I've seen the water on this road since discovering the wetlands. Soon you'll be able to walk its full length without getting wet.
Upon a closer look I noticed there were also Sandpipers, so I thought I'd see how close I could get. As I feared, they didn't let me get too close. But then I got the idea that I could step a step off the trail and semi-hide in the low hanging trees along the road. Maybe they would come back to the water they seemed so interested in just a few moments earlier.
Sure enough, after just a couple minutes, both Least and Spotted Sandpipers returned and I was able to get some decent shots of them.
It's nice when a plan works out occasionally.

Douglas Spirea

These Douglas Spirea were growing around the bird feeder area at Jackson Bottom. I've been learning a bit about wildflowers along with the birds. When birding is a little slow, I find that taking pictures of wildflowers and insects calms my trigger finger. :-)

Song Sparrow

Another Song Sparrow picture. I decided to post two different croppings of the same picture. Grrrr, Blogger washed them out a little again.

American Goldfinch & House Finch

American Goldfinches and House Finches are common visitors to the bird feeders at Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve.

Barn Swallow

As I approached the Kingfisher Shelter at Jackson Bottom, I noticed some white bird droppings in the middle of the deck. Looking up at the underside of the roof, I saw what I suspected, a Barn Swallow nest.

There were about four young swallows in the nest patiently waiting for a parent to come with some food, so I sat down and waited along with them. Sure enough, it wasn't long before a parent swooped in, fed on of its young and then quickly took off for another bug hunt.
This reminded me of my youth on my grandpa and grandma's farm. I remember seeing these mud and grass nests in the barn and the swallows swooping around the yard catching bugs.

Cedar Waxwing

I spent Monday morning at Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve. I hadn't been there since May 29th. Time sure flies. Not much had changed since then. The water levels were about the same. They had mowed the paths recently which was nice.
When I got to Pintail Pond I noticed something I hadn't seen before. Along with the swallows flying over the water catching insects, there were Cedar Waxwings doing the same.
I thought it might be a good opportunity to get a close shot of one of these pretty birds as I figured that they would have to rest at some point. So I sat down and waited, but they wouldn't land on any of the tall grasses along the pond, instead flying to the nearby groove of trees. I gave up on them after awhile and walked the back path until I returned to the pond at the shelter.
I sat there for awhile watching the Waxwings waiting for an opportunity. Still no luck, but then I noticed that they were landing on a nearby tree so I made my way over there and got a few pictures. Not bad, but still not as close as I would like.
Finally, I noticed that they were landing on some tall, dead, woody weeds to take momentary rests. This is what I was hoping for and the results are above.
The bottom two pictures are a couple I got of them flying over the water. In the bottom image note that its beak is open in preparation to catch a bug.

Cedar Waxwing

One of the first birds I came across Saturday morning at Jackson Bottom was a small flock of Cedar Waxwings. They were feeding on insects over the Tualatin River. They would spend some time perched on a branch of a large tree on the other side of the river and then fly out over the river to catch an insect before returning to a branch in the same tree. I took pictures of then while they were perched, switching from one to another until I noticed a couple on a branch partaking in some interesting behavior.

One (I would later learn it was the male), would start at end of the branch with an insect in its beak as seen below.It would then inch its way over to the other (the female) until they were side by side.

Finally, they would touch beaks as the male would offer the insect to the female.

They repeated this over a few times until, I read, that the female would take the offering from the male. It seems I experience and learn something new each time I venture out.

Osprey

The 400mm lens I rented has advantages and disadvantages. It's advantages are apparent, 400mm with a f2.8 aperture. It has a lot of reach and great light gathering abilities. Unfortunately, it is also about 12 lbs and has no VR. In order to support and steady it, I use a monopod. This works quite well for birds at or about eye level, but it gets increasing difficult the higher or lower its position.
I was walking through Jackson Bottom Wetlands when I saw the Osprey above flying overhead. This seemed like a great opportunity, but instead of my light weight 300mm lens, I had the 12 lb behemoth. Not one to pass up an opportunity, I lifted the lens and monopod up off the ground and pointed it overhead at the Osprey. At the moment there was a mix of blue sky and light gray clouds so exposure was a concern, but since this was all happening so fast, there wasn't any time for anything but shoot or loose the opportunity. Needless to say I wasn't optimistic that the pictures would turn out, so it came as a pleasant surprise when I saw many had turned out very nicely.