A Cold and Gray Morning

We walked around Bennington Lake this morning.  The lake is still mostly frozen.  There was one spot that was open, and a great blue heron was there looking for food.  We saw two northern shrikes, a great horned owl, several Townsend's solitaires, black-capped chickadees and red-shafted flickers.  Two common mergansers flew over looking for open water.  We watched a downy woodpecker hanging upside down from a rose bush working on a gall.  Dark eyed juncos and robins were plentiful, and there were a few Bewick's wrens and song sparrows.  The house finches and goldfinches have finally left the old sunflower patch - we only saw a dozen or so all morning.  One spotted towhee was in it's usual spot (although it wasn't there on the Christmas count).  A red-tailed hawk and three American kestrels were in the tree tops.  It was a pretty typical winter day at the lake.....  Ginger

A Muddy Walk Around Bennington Lake

The trails were muddy and slick and the lake is still frozen, but we still managed to see some nice birds including a long-eared owl and two northern shrikes.  Robins and dark-eyed juncos were abundant.  16 canada geese and 3 common mergansers flew over the lake, hoping for some open water.  An American kestrel and a red-tailed hawk were the only raptors we could find.  Townsend's solitaires and Bewick's wrens were singing - enjoying the 50 degree weather I'm sure.  It was a good practice run for the Christmas Bird Count on Saturday.     Ginger

Northern Umatilla County Raptor Route

It was a perfect day to go looking for raptors.  Snow covered fields, partly cloudy skies, temperatures just above freezing - all these are conducive to good raptor watching.  Mike and MerryLynn, Rodger and I spent the day counting raptors and came up with a total of 329 hawks and owls.  The breakdown is as follows: 239 red-tailed hawks, 52 American kestrels, 23 northern harriers, 1 sub-adult bald eagle, 1 immature golden eagle, 3 rough-legged hawks, 2 prairie falcons, 2 Cooper's hawks, 1 sharp-shinned hawk, 2 northern goshawks and 3 great horned owls.  Other birds of interest were a northern shrike, 54 wild turkeys, a downy woodpecker, 3 Eurasian collared doves, 4 great blue herons mousing, and numerous quail and pheasants.  We watched 3 coyotes hunting and saw 6 mule deer.       Ginger