Ethical Birder

Taverner’s Cackling Goose vs. Ridgeway’s Cackling Goose

November 11, 2017 by John Rakestraw, posted in identification challenges, seasonal movements, Uncategorized

On a recent trip to Commonwealth Lake Park in Beaverton, I had the opportunity to observe Taverner’s and Ridgeway’s Cackling Geese side-by-side. Taverner’s are larger, with pale breasts and slightly longer bills. Ridgeway’s have dark, iridescent breasts (on adults) and stubby little bills.

Here is a close look at a Taverner’s Cackling Goose, the subspecies most likely to be confused with Lesser Canada Goose. Lesser Canada Geese have thinner necks and slightly longer bills.

ridgeway's
The bill on a Ridgeway’s Cackling Goose is thick and stubby, and the neck often appears very short and thick. This subspecies is generally regarded as the most adorable.

Another fun goose at Commonwealth that day was this Greater White-fronted Goose. A few of these have been hanging out at Commonwealth the past few winters.

Not a goose, but a gorgeous bird when you get a close enough view, is this Double-crested Cormorant. You can expect to see a few of these whenever you visit this site.

The American Wigeon flock was pretty small this day, but I expect the wintering birds to increase in the coming weeks.

Random Images

November 2, 2017 by John Rakestraw, posted in seasonal movements

Once again, here are a few photos from the past few weeks’ ramblings.

While one can admire the adorableness of this Black-capped Chickadee, the real bird of interest is his drinking buddy in the background, a Pine Siskin. Siskins were pretty much non-existent last year as their population took a big downturn (as it does every few years). This fall has brought good numbers of Pine Siskins to the Willamette Valley already, so it looks to be a good year for them.

This Short-eared Owl flushed from Broughton Beach and flew out over the Columbia River before heading downstream. Short-eareds winter at this site with some regularity. I felt bad about flushing the bird. If she had just sat still, I probably would have walked right by and not seen her. I would think that birds who roost in such a high-traffic area would learn to adjust to passers-by.

My gull class went to the coast last weekend. We found nine species of gull, one less than last year but still great diversity. One of the first was this first cycle Ring-billed Gull.

Bonaparte’s Gulls get the award for cutest gull on the Oregon coast.
Even though they lose their black hoods in winter, you can still see the white eye crescents when they turn just so.

The Seaside Cove hosted several Surfbirds along with a flock of Black Turnstones. Both of these species are reliable at this site in fall and winter, but it still feels like a treat to find them every time I’m there.

The forecast for the next week calls for cool and rainy weather, so we shall see what changes that brings to the birding.

Mount Hood

October 6, 2017October 6, 2017 by John Rakestraw, posted in mammals, OR Birding Sites

At least once a year I like to visit the moonscape that is Mount Hood above Timberline Lodge. The birding there is hit or miss, sometimes yielding great spectacles like a flock of 200 Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches, and sometimes offering little besides a distant Common Raven. This trip was somewhere in between.

Every trip to the mountain results in at least one photo of a Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel. Yes, we see them every time, but their cuteness knows no bounds.

Mountain Bluebirds are expected here in the warmer months.

Townsend’s Solitaires are a little harder to come by, but are usually around in small numbers.

The sun at this elevation is pretty intense, making even this Common Raven glisten.

Another bird on a stick; Red-tailed Hawk. I hope to see migrating raptors when I visit Timberline in autumn. There wasn’t much movement on this day, but I did see several Red-tails, a Prairie Falcon, and at least one Sharp-shinned Hawk.

California Tortoiseshells were present in good numbers. I don’t know what they were eating, as all the blossoms had long since dried up.

So ends another visit to Timberline. While the birding varies, it is always fun to explore this part of the mountain.

Prothonotary Warbler

September 19, 2017 by John Rakestraw, posted in rarities

The Portland birding scene was abuzz recently with news of a Prothonotary Warbler that was visiting a bird bath at a home northwest of town. For about a week, this little eastern warbler would arrive just before sundown, take a couple of quick baths, then disappear until the next evening. This made for a pretty easy tic for my state list.

This is only the eighth record of Prothonotary Warber in Oregon. The odds of someone finding and recognizing this bird were amazingly small. She was not associating with other birds, and the yard she was visiting was out in the country and not particularly birdy. One has to wonder, for every rarity like this that birders see, how many others go undetected?

Several southern species have been found in British Columbia but not in Oregon, including Black Vulture, Gray Kingbird, Mexican Violetear, and Xantus’s Hummingbird. Did these birds fly through Oregon before reaching Canada, or did they take another route?

This is what draws us outside to look through all the familiar birds. Most of the time, we just find the usual chickadees and such. But wayward birds pass through Oregon all the time. Most probably pass through unnoticed, but we just might find one the next time we go out.

Summer shorebirds

September 3, 2017September 3, 2017 by John Rakestraw, posted in OR Birding Sites, seasonal movements

Mid to late summer is the prime time to watch shorebirds in western Oregon, partly because it is the peak of southbound shorebird migration, and partly because the locally nesting songbirds have stopped singing and are very hard to see. Shorebirding in the Portland area has been a little more challenging this summer with major construction projects occurring at Fernhill Wetlands, Smith and Bybee Wetlands, and Jackson Bottom.

Broughton Beach, near the airport, has not hosted large numbers of birds this year, but has attracted some good species.

Baird’s Sandpipers come through Oregon every year, but never in huge numbers, so finding one is always a treat. They stand out with their buffy coloring and long wings.
Almost all of the Baird’s that pass through in summer are juveniles, so they show a strong scaly pattern.

While Sanderlings are quite common along the coast, it is rare to find them inland. Broughton seems to be a good spot to find them in Portland.
Here is a group shot of (L to R) a Sanderling, a Western Sandpiper, and a Baird’s Sandpiper, all juveniles. While it is fun to sort through thousands of shorebirds when the birding fates align, when birding is slow it does us good to take advantage of small numbers and really study the few birds at hand. Shorebird migration runs for another month, so I am hoping to have many more encounters before the rains return and the shorebirds depart.

Fernhill Wetlands

July 22, 2017July 22, 2017 by John Rakestraw, posted in identification challenges, mammals, nesting, OR Birding Sites

With the ongoing renovations taking place at Fernhill Wetlands, each visit throughout the year is a new experience. Most of the breeding species have done their thing, and the resident waterfowl have molted into ugly duck season. Water levels are still a little too high to provide shorebird habitat, but that should change soon enough.

Afternoon temperatures have been getting quite warm, so the brush rabbits come out early in the morning to enjoy the cool. The backlighting on this guy highlights the blood vessels in his ears.

Purple Martins are a new addition to Fernhill this year. A new nesting box installed beside the main lake has attracted at least one pair. If you build it, they will come.

These Cinnamon Teal were plowing through a thick mat of algae. Note the very large bills on these ducks, which help identify them in their summer plumage.

merg
This hatch-year Hooded Merganser was hanging out in the middle of the lake. The unusual habitat choice and the unfamiliar juvenile plumage caused many birders, myself included, to initially call this a bird a Red-breasted Merganser. While a Red-breasted had been documented at this site in May, closer inspection of this bird reveals the solid head shape and the slightly smaller bill of a Hooded. Another reminder to actually look at every bird and don’t rely on others to identify them for you.

Turkey Vulture, experiencing some wing molt

This Red-winged Blackbird was one of a large flock feeding in the cattails.

barn swallow chicks
Some of the local breeders are working on a second clutch. These young Barn Swallows are waiting for someone to come feed them. Soon the power lines will be crowded with young swallows preparing for their first migration.

Jackson Bottom

July 13, 2017 by John Rakestraw, posted in nesting, OR Birding Sites, seasonal movements

I made a quick visit to Jackson Bottom in Hillsboro. This is a very busy spot in the summer. The Savannah Sparrows are still in full song.

puddle Pintail Pond has been drained to accommodate some restoration work on the site, so it has dried out about two months earlier than normal. This is normally one of the better shorebird sites in the Portland area during the summer, so we will have to find other spot this year. There is only about three weeks between the end of northbound shorebird migration and the beginning of southbound migration. Western and Least Sandpipers have arrived in good numbers, and were feeding in the little puddle that remains of Pintail Pond.

western least
Western (l) and Least (r) Sandpipers

spotted adult
Spotted Sandpipers are common nesters in the area.

spotted chick
Spotted Sandpiper chick

Four Greater Yellowlegs made a brief appearance.

swallow box
Tree Swallows are everywhere at Jackson Bottom, thanks in part to the many nesting boxes that have been installed here.

swallows 3
The first broods are grown up now, and it looks like second broods will be arriving shortly.

swallow 2
pretty boy

Smith Rock State Park

July 7, 2017July 7, 2017 by John Rakestraw, posted in mammals, OR Birding Sites

I hadn’t been to the dry side of Oregon for far too long, so I took a trip to Smith Rock State Park. The avian stars of this site are the White-throated Swifts that nest here. They did not disappoint, but those little winged rockets are far too fast for my photographic abilities.

Unlike the swifts, the abundant Violet-green Swallows will occasionally pose for a photo.

There was apparently a good crop of Black-billed Magpies this year, so lots of youngsters were hopping around near the parking lot.

Direct sunlight and iridescence make for a lovely flash of color on these black birds.

Desert Cottontail. Note all the ticks on the edge of his ear.

itchy rabbit

I hiked over the rock formation on the aptly named Misery Ridge Trail, then back along the Crooked River. Rock Wrens were plentiful, but whenever I try to photograph that species I end up with crystal clear images of rocks with blurry birds on them.

Mule Deer were common in the grassy areas along the river.

The river held lots of Mallards, like the family pictured here, and Canada Geese.

Looking up at the cliff face from the river

Say’s Phoebe, looking regal

The same Say’s Phoebe, about to hork up something

By noon, the park was getting pretty crowded and the heat was intense so I headed for home. Birding was quite good despite the heat and the lateness of the season. I think a trip here in early June would be even more productive.

Lawrence’s Goldfinch

June 12, 2017June 12, 2017 by John Rakestraw, posted in rarities

For the second week in a row, I chased a vagrant to add to my life and Oregon lists. A Lawrence’s Goldfinch turned up in a back yard in Sherwood. Since this species is hard enough to find in its normal range (southern California), when one appeared a half-hour’s drive from home, I was compelled to chase.

It was a dark rainy morning, so the bird was a bit bedraggled and a decent photo was impossible, at least with my camera. But a lifer is a lifer. This was a twitch, a quick look to identify the bird so it can be added to the list and then move on. Someday perhaps I will see a flock of Lawrence’s Goldfinches in their proper range and habitat and enjoy extended views to study plumages and behavior. But for Oregon, a damp bird at a backyard feeder is still a pretty sweet deal.

The finch appeared soon after we arrived (there was a group of nine of us that descended on this yard) then moved on. While we waited for the bird to return, we enjoyed a pair of Eurasian Collared Doves.

Anna’s Hummingbird, singing in the rain

I know that two events do not make a pattern, but it would be nice if this run of a new bird each week would continue. I won’t hold my breath.

Bar-tailed Godwits

June 4, 2017June 4, 2017 by John Rakestraw, posted in rarities

This spring has brought an unprecedented number of Bar-tailed Godwits to the Oregon coast. This species spends the winter in New Zealand, then flies to China and the Korean Peninsula to fatten up for a month before flying to northern Alaska and northern Eurasia to nest. This year, a weather event apparently blew some birds off-course to the east. Four birds appeared near Newport in April. Another 16 were found near Sunset Beach north of Gearhart in late May and into June.

The Bar-tailed Godwits are associating with flocks of Whimbrels.

Here is a comparison of a male (l) and a female (r). The female is noticeably larger and paler.

It would be interesting to know where these birds will end up this summer. It seems late in the season to make it all the way to the arctic to nest at this point. If they don’t make it all the way north, what will their southbound route be? Normally, Bar-tailed Godwits that nest in Alaska fly from the west coast of Alaska directly to New Zealand. A few juveniles get lost and work their way down the west coast. Will these adults stay in North America as they head south, or will they find their way to the south Pacific? It will definitely be worthwhile to scrutinize flocks of Marbled Godwits this summer and fall for adult Bar-taileds.