Bird Watching - The Outdoor Directory for Birding

For another season a pair of Red Tail Hawks are nesting on a fire escape in downtown Portland OR. The young hawks have hatched. You can follow their growth and nest activity from a camera mounted at the nesting site. Go to KGW.com/raptorcam for past photos and a live camera feed.

Posted by bill@birdingguide.com at 06:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Spring and winter are pushing against each other for dominance this year here in the Northwest. We have had a light snow fall for three mornings at our elevation of only 660 feet, which is most unusual for the Coast Range. Such late freezing weather is a big concern for the fruit orchards with are in bloom. With spring and winter overlapping so much I went on a mid April snowshoe trip to Mt Hood in celebration of my 62nd birthday. With over 15 feet of snow on the ground I snowshoed up a steep mountain ridge on the east side of Mt Hood to Elk Meadow, a lovely bowl of wild flowers in the spring, but still deeply covered in snow. Pushing back against winter the birds of spring are arriving even with all the snow. Dozens of Tree Creepers were in the forest, the songs of Robins were ever present and I caught a glimpse of a couple of warblers. The forest around Elk Meadow at 4,500 feet in elevation, though still snowbound, had many orange and brown California Tortiseshell butterflies flying through the trees. A wonderful day it was but I do hope the butterflies in the snow signal the end of winter soon.

Posted by bill@birdingguide.com at 07:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Here in the coastal range of the Pacific Northwest we are experiencing a delightful invasion of Varied Thrushes. One can not look out any window of our house without seeing these black, gray and striking orange birds foraging in the lawns for insects, worms and snails. Any apples that have remained all winter on the trees are attractive to the Varied Thrush. Typical of the far west, British Columbia and Alaska they sometimes stray all the way to the Atlantic. They nest in conifers but sometimes also on the ground. Their songs, especially at dawn and dusk, are enchanting. Each evening I enjoy walking the old logging road to listen to their music. In the mornings I pause before getting into my car to listen again to their morning song. There is something about their song that makes it difficult to locate the position of the singer. Their numbers will taper off as many will move on to Alaska before their return in the Fall. but for now what a delight to see them running across the yard and flying through our trees.

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