#birdsof2024 — Public Fediverse posts

Another nice sighting today in the backyard:

27) golden-crowned sparrow, on the stone walkway by the back door. Distinctive black on its head with a white-yellow stripe.

#Seattle
#birdsof2024
#backyardbirds

The 26th bird yard sighting of 2024 was both thrilling & bittersweet. Last night, we saw a barred owl silently emerge from our rhododendrons and alight on the telephone wire above. It was likely hunting the warren of (also nonnative) Eastern cottontails living in that patch. Barred owls certainly have abundant food here, though it’s hard not to think about the native owls that have also declined due to this species’ increasing dominance. Sigh.

#owl
#Seattle
#birdsof2024
#backyardbirds
#birds

Two more bird species to add to my yard list for 2024:

24) a glaucous-winged gull flying directly overhead (apparently the neighborhood crows keep them in check)
25) white-crowned sparrow bopping around the front yard. First time I’ve ever seen one of those in the yard!
#birdsofmastodon
#Seattle
#birdsof2024
#backyardbirds
#birds

Approximately a zillion #CacklingGeese coming in to land at the Tualatin River #NationalWildlifeRefuge this afternoon. Sound on for the full effect! Other birds today included a #NorthernHarrier lass cruising past at eye level, a distant flock of #WesternMeadowlark flushing up from the field, groups of #TundraSwan and #SnowGoose, faraway #GreaterYellowlegs and #Killdeer, a #GoldenCrownedKinglet practically in my pocket, and a white-belly second year #BaldEagle piccoloing overhead.
#BirdsOf2024

Approximately a zillion #CacklingGeese coming in to land at the Tualatin River #NationalWildlifeRefuge this afternoon. Sound on for the full effect! Other birds today included a #NorthernHarrier lass cruising past at eye level, a distant flock of #WesternMeadowlark flushing up from the field, groups of #TundraSwan and #SnowGoose, faraway #GreaterYellowlegs and #Killdeer, a #GoldenCrownedKinglet practically in my pocket, and a white-belly second year #BaldEagle piccoloing overhead.
#BirdsOf2024

Approximately a zillion #CacklingGeese coming in to land at the Tualatin River #NationalWildlifeRefuge this afternoon. Sound on for the full effect! Other birds today included a #NorthernHarrier lass cruising past at eye level, a distant flock of #WesternMeadowlark flushing up from the field, groups of #TundraSwan and #SnowGoose, faraway #GreaterYellowlegs and #Killdeer, a #GoldenCrownedKinglet practically in my pocket, and a white-belly second year #BaldEagle piccoloing overhead.
#BirdsOf2024

Approximately a zillion #CacklingGeese coming in to land at the Tualatin River #NationalWildlifeRefuge this afternoon. Sound on for the full effect! Other birds today included a #NorthernHarrier lass cruising past at eye level, a distant flock of #WesternMeadowlark flushing up from the field, groups of #TundraSwan and #SnowGoose, faraway #GreaterYellowlegs and #Killdeer, a #GoldenCrownedKinglet practically in my pocket, and a white-belly second year #BaldEagle piccoloing overhead.
#BirdsOf2024

Approximately a zillion #CacklingGeese coming in to land at the Tualatin River #NationalWildlifeRefuge this afternoon. Sound on for the full effect! Other birds today included a #NorthernHarrier lass cruising past at eye level, a distant flock of #WesternMeadowlark flushing up from the field, groups of #TundraSwan and #SnowGoose, faraway #GreaterYellowlegs and #Killdeer, a #GoldenCrownedKinglet practically in my pocket, and a white-belly second year #BaldEagle piccoloing overhead.
#BirdsOf2024

First, thought I heard a Downy Woodpecker behind vociferous crows. Then thought could be a Hairy. Then a robin, perched on a stump giving its teek call which is REMARKABLY like the call note of a #HairyWoodpecker. Finally the pair of Hairies took pity - sweetheart, idiot, here we are! Super close extended looks as they foraged on the stump and a massive tree bole. I don't see that every day! They do like that big timber.
Photos not up to snuff though..
#BirdsOf2024 #Birding #Oregon

Today checked out some of the Beaverton parks I got acquainted with on the Christmas Bird Count. Finally found a #GoldenCrownedSparrow flock at a likely location with blackberries bordering a grassy lawn, and a Sparrow/OopsNotSparrow #HermitThrush hopped right across the trail. At Oregon Episcopal School wetlands a nice variety-pak of duck species. Many large fallen trees and much debris after the windstorm.
#BirdsOf2024

A good sized willow came down in the windstorm - a bit of a mess, but also a potential source of a zillion willow cuttings that our riparian patch kind of needs. The existing ash canopy is fine but could get wiped out by emerald ash borer any time now. While snipping pussy willow laden twigs to poke into the mud, heard the cah-cah of a dozen crows overhead and a Growk Growk from a #CommonRaven pair they were chivvying along.
#BirdsOf2024 #Birding

Rain subsequently let up and I scoped the pond for ducks. No egrets, no grebes, no Great Blue Herons... At the far side an intermittent patch of white resolved into the pale flanks of a #LesserScaup flashing as it bobbed to the surface, paused for breath, and leapt into another dive. A hint of greenish iridescence tempted me to make it into a Greater (usually on bigger waters like the Columbia) but nothing was otherwise indicative. But a cheerful pond fellow for sure!
#BirdsOf2024 #Birding

Oscillating between drizzle and downpour, this weather is ideal for using the car as a blind! This #BlackCrownedNightHeron was perched quite close to the pavement, along with a companion who presented only a hunched back screened by willows. Was able to digiscope this picture without getting wet or perturbing them.
#Birding #BirdsOf2024 #Oregon

I finally got a close-up confirmatory sighting of the Bewick’s wren that’s been bopping around in the back yard (you can see its relatively long lever-like tail and white eye stripe in the attached Wikipedia photo).

Today, it was investigating a vertical crack in our big retaining wall, hoping for some tasty bugs. Nearly up to two dozen species so far!

23) Bewick’s wren

#Seattle
#birds
#birdsofmastodon
#birdsof2024
#backyardbirding

We’re much warmer today (up to 27 degrees!) and two more sightings in the yard for 2024:

20) A single European starling. Not unexpected but I suppose it’s good that the first truly invasive species on the list didn’t show up until now.

21) A juvenile yellow-rumped warbler. This was a fun one; yellow patches clearly visible on either side of its breast, but muted grayish coloring on its head and body.

#Seattle
#birds
#birdsofmastodon
#birdsof2024
#backyardbirding

Saw two northern flickers in the yard today - a pair? - so I’m now up to 17) for 2024. They didn’t stick around long enough for a pic (the nerve!) but they’re very handsome birds.

#Seattle
#backyardbirding
#birds
#birdsofmastodon
#birdsof2024

Physicists have determined that our January woods exist in two fundamental quantum states:
#Bushtit Negative. All very quiet. Okay to yawn, meander in circles. Somewhere in the distance a crow caws.
Bushtit Positive. Tsip tsip tsip.... Bushtits one two three seven! twenty-two? Many? Chickadees and kinglets along for the ride because why not?!? Don't forget the yellowrump! Bushtit on a twig three feet away looking you in the eye. You can never have just one!
#Birding #BirdsOf2024 #Oregon

Physicists have determined that our January woods exist in two fundamental quantum states:
#Bushtit Negative. All very quiet. Okay to yawn, meander in circles. Somewhere in the distance a crow caws.
Bushtit Positive. Tsip tsip tsip.... Bushtits one two three seven! twenty-two? Many? Chickadees and kinglets along for the ride because why not?!? Don't forget the yellowrump! Bushtit on a twig three feet away looking you in the eye. You can never have just one!
#Birding #BirdsOf2024 #Oregon

Physicists have determined that our January woods exist in two fundamental quantum states:
#Bushtit Negative. All very quiet. Okay to yawn, meander in circles. Somewhere in the distance a crow caws.
Bushtit Positive. Tsip tsip tsip.... Bushtits one two three seven! twenty-two? Many? Chickadees and kinglets along for the ride because why not?!? Don't forget the yellowrump! Bushtit on a twig three feet away looking you in the eye. You can never have just one!
#Birding #BirdsOf2024 #Oregon

Physicists have determined that our January woods exist in two fundamental quantum states:
#Bushtit Negative. All very quiet. Okay to yawn, meander in circles. Somewhere in the distance a crow caws.
Bushtit Positive. Tsip tsip tsip.... Bushtits one two three seven! twenty-two? Many? Chickadees and kinglets along for the ride because why not?!? Don't forget the yellowrump! Bushtit on a twig three feet away looking you in the eye. You can never have just one!
#Birding #BirdsOf2024 #Oregon

Physicists have determined that our January woods exist in two fundamental quantum states:
#Bushtit Negative. All very quiet. Okay to yawn, meander in circles. Somewhere in the distance a crow caws.
Bushtit Positive. Tsip tsip tsip.... Bushtits one two three seven! twenty-two? Many? Chickadees and kinglets along for the ride because why not?!? Don't forget the yellowrump! Bushtit on a twig three feet away looking you in the eye. You can never have just one!
#Birding #BirdsOf2024 #Oregon

Seen from the gravel parking pad while waiting for taco at Mexican food cart: sundry bird social interactions. #HouseSparrow commotion among the picnic tables and low bushes, unconcerned about the hoomans, certainly emphatic and boisterous. Shrilling calls of a #CedarWaxwing flock in the high branches - ventriloquistic, high-pitched as an old modem, and no doubt also information-dense. Below them, four sleek #MourningDoves perched together in companionable silence.
#BirdsOf2024 #Birding

Fat raindrops falling from gray shadowed clouds; a last blade of sunlight comes clear from a gap at the horizon and slants across Portland. Beyond the crows beginning to flock up for return to their evening roost, two pale gulls winging high catch the illumination and turn their flight toward the Willamette.
#GlaucousWingedGull #Birding #BirdsOf2024

Ten thousand years ago, rotund gray birds clung to Aegean sea cliffs, hooted and circled in stiff-winged squadrons at the stony edges of fjords barely cleared of ice. Now they've wandered far, somewhat changed by their time living among the odd primates, their flocks variegated with russet, with white and buff, with feathers sooty and pale. High curving freeway ramps, red brick walls, glass-faceted canyons hunted by peregrines - cliffs are all still cliffs.
#RockPigeon #Birding #BirdsOf2024

Finch Corner - a yard with a seed feeder and tall trees, affording perches that are conveniently situated for scanning the horizon as well as casual conversation. Flocks of #HouseFinch, #LesserGoldfinch, and the occasional #AmericanGoldfinch assemble and chat about the state of the world. Wandering #PineSiskin flocks have also recently arrived. In dark conifers down the road, an Inkcrest (nee #StellersJay) swoops down and gives his opinion of me ("Shackshackshackshack!!)
#Birding #BirdsOf2024

At Whitaker Ponds Nature Park, late afternoon brings a sudden frigid wind across the fetch of the pond. Among the rafts of ducks, a tucked-down cluster of #AmericanWigeon; several exotically gaudy #HoodedMerganser males, pied and crested; and a lone female #CommonGoldeneye lifting her brown head from the water. A #EurasianCollaredDove pair courses overhead. A camouflaged #BrownCreeper spirals up a tree trunk - glad I can still detect its sweet, high-frequency call notes!
#Birding #BirdsOf2024

At Whitaker Ponds Nature Park, late afternoon brings a sudden frigid wind across the fetch of the pond. Among the rafts of ducks, a tucked-down cluster of #AmericanWigeon; several exotically gaudy #HoodedMerganser males, pied and crested; and a lone female #CommonGoldeneye lifting her brown head from the water. A #EurasianCollaredDove pair courses overhead. A camouflaged #BrownCreeper spirals up a tree trunk - glad I can still detect its sweet, high-frequency call notes!
#Birding #BirdsOf2024

At Whitaker Ponds Nature Park, late afternoon brings a sudden frigid wind across the fetch of the pond. Among the rafts of ducks, a tucked-down cluster of #AmericanWigeon; several exotically gaudy #HoodedMerganser males, pied and crested; and a lone female #CommonGoldeneye lifting her brown head from the water. A #EurasianCollaredDove pair courses overhead. A camouflaged #BrownCreeper spirals up a tree trunk - glad I can still detect its sweet, high-frequency call notes!
#Birding #BirdsOf2024

At Whitaker Ponds Nature Park, late afternoon brings a sudden frigid wind across the fetch of the pond. Among the rafts of ducks, a tucked-down cluster of #AmericanWigeon; several exotically gaudy #HoodedMerganser males, pied and crested; and a lone female #CommonGoldeneye lifting her brown head from the water. A #EurasianCollaredDove pair courses overhead. A camouflaged #BrownCreeper spirals up a tree trunk - glad I can still detect its sweet, high-frequency call notes!
#Birding #BirdsOf2024

At Whitaker Ponds Nature Park, late afternoon brings a sudden frigid wind across the fetch of the pond. Among the rafts of ducks, a tucked-down cluster of #AmericanWigeon; several exotically gaudy #HoodedMerganser males, pied and crested; and a lone female #CommonGoldeneye lifting her brown head from the water. A #EurasianCollaredDove pair courses overhead. A camouflaged #BrownCreeper spirals up a tree trunk - glad I can still detect its sweet, high-frequency call notes!
#Birding #BirdsOf2024

In the oak and ash trees along the lakeside, a #RedBreastedSapsucker working the shaded trunks, #WhiteBreastedNuthatch calling "Ghaerb!" in the upper canopy, boisterous #CaliforniaScrubJay conversation, and two flavors of #YellowRumpedWarbler (lemony-throated Audubons and a Myrtle with angular white gorget). The slim gray phantom slipping past in low flight, weaving among the sapling poles, is a #GrayCatbird. Several rarity-seeking photographers are looking the wrong way!
#Birding #BirdsOf2024

Visiting Koll Center Wetlands in Beaverton today, the full aquatic contingent was out on the lake: #Mallard #Gadwall #GreenWingedTeal #NorthernShoveler #RingNeckedDuck #RuddyDuck #Bufflehead #PiedBilledGrebe #AmericanCoot. Stalking the shallow margins, #GreatEgret in pure white and #GreatBlueHeron in shaggy gray. #BeltedKingfisher rattling from a snag, and #BlackPhoebe flitting from perch to perch with high sweet little cries. A mob of crows seeing off a #RedTailedHawk.
#Birding #BirdsOf2024

Doing dishes at the sink. A family of #BlackCappedChickadee engaged in lively chase amid the bare branches of the dogwood. #DarkEyedJunco hopping about below in dry leaves, wiping beak against a twig in a brisk doubled sideways motion. Over the whir of the dishwasher a deep ka-konk penetrates from outside as a big #CanadaGoose passes somewhere overhead.
#Birding #BirdsOf2024

The first fooler of the day. A #EuropeanStarling ringing the changes on his mimicry talents. An asthmatic Red-tailed Hawk? The Tao that can be spoken is not the true Tao, the Killdeer that is calling from the top of an ash tree is not the true Killdeer.
#BirdsOf2024 #Birding

First birds of 2024 heard while lying in bed with window cracked. A #SongSparrow singing like it's spring! Then calls of #AmericanCrow #SpottedTowhee #DownyWoodpecker #HouseFinch and the droning song of a #VariedThrush shifting through his repertoire of pitches.
#Birding #BirdsOf2024