Oregon and Washington Part 4

On Wednesday on our trip, we went to Pittock Mansion.  It is a fairly old house, but the people who had lived there were quick to get the newest technology, such as electricity.  It was a very large and beautiful mansion with nice views of mountains and Portland.  There were also nice pathways and it was surrounded by tall trees.  Early in the morning, or when there are few people around, there are probably many birds.  Even with all of the people there, I saw Wilson's warblers and Stellar's jays.  Below are three photos.  The first is of the mansion (the photo is just the top because the bottom was being repaired).  The second and third are of views around the mansion.

After the mansion, we went to the Portland Audubon Center, which is very close by.  There were a couple Wilson's warblers there; a male and a female.  Wilson's warblers are found in the northwest United States, Canada, and Alaska in the summer, most of the United States in migration, and south into Mexico in the winter.  They are found in woods near water.  They are very small and bright yellow below, and greenish-yellow on their backs.  Males have black caps while females have greenish-yellow that extends from their back to their head.  Below are three photos of them.  The first and third are of the male.  The second is of the female.

Wilson's Warbler

Wilson's Warbler

Wilson's Warbler

The center was very big and nice, and there was a window to view some bird feeders.  There was a hummingbird feeder and a suet feeder.  Below are two photos of Anna's hummingbirds at the feeder.  The first is a male and the second is a female.

Anna's Hummingbird

Anna's Hummingbird

There were also trails nearby.  We followed a few.  They led through a beautiful forest that looked like a rainforest.  It had very tall trees with long moss hanging off some of their branches, and there were large ferns everywhere.  It was also quite humid like a rainforest.  Below are four views from the trails.

We then went back to the center and saw many, many chickadees at the suet feeder.  There were mostly black-capped chickadees.  Below are four photos of them.

Black-Capped Chickadee

Black-Capped Chickadee

Black-Capped Chickadee

Black-Capped Chickadee

There were also chestnut-backed chickadees, which are very pretty.  They are found along the Pacific Northwest all year round in wet, mixed woods.  They have faded black and white faces (not as bold as black-capped chickadee), gray wings, pale chests, and reddish-brown sides and backs.  They are smaller than black-capped chickadees.  Below are two photos of them.

Chestnut-Backed Chickadee

Chestnut-Backed Chickadee

We saw another Steller's jay there.  Steller's jays are found along the Pacific coast, in the Rocky Mountains, and down into Mexico all year round.  They are found in coniferous or mixed woods, often in the mountains.  They have tall black crests, black upper bodies, and blue bellies, wings, and tails.  Birds on the coast have blue marks on their foreheads, while the ones farther inland have white marks.  They are similar in size to western scrub-jays. Below is a Steller's jay.  The photo below wasn't taken in Oregon, because I wasn't able to get one there; I took the photo below at the Pinnacles in California.

Steller's Jay

After the Audubon center we went to a restaurant.  Out the window I saw an American robin that was catching either caterpillars or large grubs out of the grass.  They are found in Alaska and Canada in the summer, the United States year round, and the very southern United States south into Mexico in the winter.  Males are gray above and reddish below with darker faces with some white markings.  Females are more faded over all.  Below are two photos.  The first is the one is Oregon with the grub.  I believe is was a young one.  The second is a photo I took of one in Colorado that shows the colors a bit better.

American Robin

American Robin

Through our whole trip that day, we saw beautiful views of Mt. Hood.  Below is the one I thought was the best.  I took it while we were driving home.

Oregon and Washington Part 3

I am back from Washington now, but I will continue to post about the trip.  There will probably be one or two more parts after this one.

Two weeks ago on Saturday, we went on a trolley bus and took a short tour of downtown Portland.  We went to a Chinese garden and saw beautiful water-lilies and koi fish.  Below are three photos.  The first is of the trolley-bus, the second is a water-lily, and the third is of four koi fish.

Portland is filled with trees; though, at most, these trees are only seventy years old.  Before that, nearly all of the trees in the area were cut down for the logging industry.  Fortunately, people are now a bit more careful, so there are a lot of trees again.  Below is a photo of a park filled with trees.

The next day, we went to Oaks Park, which is mostly an amusement park, but there are quieter picnic areas shaded by trees.  It is also right next to the Willamette River, so we had a nice view.  I looked for birds, but I only saw crows, a creeper, and some chickadees.  I think that there are probably more birds in the early morning and evening and when it isn't so hot.  Below is a crow sitting on a fence nearby our table.

American Crow

The chickadees were all black-capped chickadees.  They are the most common one in Oregon, though there are two other species there: the mountain and the chestnut-backed.  Black-capped chickadees are found throughout the northern United States, southern Canada, and southern Alaska all year round.  They are very common in any wooded habitat and are most often in groups of other chickadees or other songbirds.  Black-capped chickadees have black caps and throats, white faces and chests, tan sides, and gray backs.  Below is one chickadee that was in a small flock of about four.

Black-capped Chickadee

There were many beautiful trees and other plants around.  The trees near the picnic tables seemed to be the creeper's favorite, though I' not sure what they are.  There were also tall cottonwood trees.  The paths were lined with piles of the cotton, and plants nearby were coated with it.  It looked as if all the plants had thick cobwebs on them.  There were also more blackberries and very tall trees of different kinds.  Below are five photos.  The first is a tree by the table, the second is a view of the Willamette River, the third is cotton on a cottonwood tree, the fourth is a very tall tree (I don't what kind), and the fifth is blackberries.

Oregon and Washington Part Two

On Friday, we went to Clark's County Fair.  There are lots of farm animals, food, and amusement park rides.  There were tons of barn swallows flying around, though they went too fast for me to take a photo.  On one lone tree far from the others, there were brown creepers that I was able to photograph.  Brown creepers are found in the central and southeastern United States in the winter and the rest of the United States, part of Mexico, and southern Canada all year round.  They summer in southeastern Canada.  They are found in wet, shaded woods, and blend in very well with bark.  They are very small and woodpecker-like.  They're brown above and pale below with spots on their heads and backs, stripes on their wings, pale eyebrows, and curved beaks.  They are very quick little birds and they remind me of hummingbirds.  Two of them were racing after each other around the tree.  I've seen some other brown creepers since the fair, and they are very hard to take photos of since they're so fast.  Below are two photos of one of the creepers.

Brown Creeper

Brown Creeper

After the fair, we went to the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge and took a driving tour.  It is a very beautiful place.   There were fields, woods, and ponds.  Below are five photos of views in the refuge.

There were not as many common yellowthroats as I would have thought.  I only saw two or three in the long time that we were there.  One of them was a young one.  It was patchy-colored with yellow edges on its beak.  Below is the young yellowthroat.

Common Yellowthroat

There were many other young birds there as well.  There was a mother mallard leading her seven ducklings.  They were swimming very quickly down a creek and I had almost run alongside them to take a photo.  Below are the line of ducks.

Mallards

There were also many, many young American coots.  For some reason, there tons of young coots and very, very few adult ones.  The young ones are fluffy and gray.  Some of the ones I saw were almost white on their heads.  Below is one of the young coots.

American Coot

There were a few great blue herons around.  One was fairly close by.  Below is a photo of it.

Great Blue Heron

Another young animal was a white-tailed deer fawn.  It was very small and I could just barely see it in the tall grass.  It was accompanied by its mother, who was grazing and occasionally watched us.  She was a very pretty deer.  Below is a photo of her.

White-Tailed Deer

A mammal that was not so great to see was the nutria (or coypu).  They are very large rodents from South America.  They resemble beavers when they're swimming, but they are smaller and have rat-like tails.  They were raised in Oregon (and other places) for meat and fur, but escaped and established themselves in nearby wetlands.  Unfortunately, like most introduced species, they are driving out native ones.  They also eat farmers' crops.  We saw a few of them.  Below is one of them scratching itself.

Nutria

There were many chickadees hopping around in a tree, though I wasn't able to photograph them because a downy woodpecker flew in and scared them away.  Downy woodpeckers are found all year round throughout the United States, Canada, and southern Alaska, though they are not found in the desert parts of the southwest.  They are small, black and white woodpeckers similar to Nuttall's woodpeckers.  They have striped faces, spotted wings, and a white patch on their upper backs.  They are plain white underneath and males have a small red patch on the backs of their heads.  They are very similar to hairy woodpeckers but are much, much smaller with shorter beaks.  Below is the woodpecker.

Downy Woodpecker

Another little bird we saw was a pretty male American kestrel.  It flew across a field and then landed on a post for several seconds before flying off.  Below is the kestrel.

American Kestrel

Some very neat birds we saw were yellow-headed blackbirds.  They're neat because they're very pretty and I've never seen them before.  They are found in most of the western United States and southern Canada in the summer and in southern California south through Mexico in the winter.  In small parts of the southwest and northwest, they are around all year.  However, they are only common locally, which is why I haven't ever seen them at the Buena Vista Lagoon, which is within their range.  Males are black with yellow heads and chests and white patches on their wings, which are clearly seen in flight.  Females are dark brown with yellow faces and chests.  There were quite a few of them mixed with red-winged blackbirds in the reeds and beside the road.  Below is a group of them.  The streaked bird second from the right is a female red-winged blackbird.

Yellow-Headed Blackbirds and Red-Winged Blackbird

We saw northern harriers in a field.  There were many of them flying around.  Northern harriers are found in the southern United States in the winter, on the Pacific coast and northern United States all year round, and most of Canada and Alaska in the summer.  Males are gray above and white below.  Females are streaked brown all over.  Juveniles are mostly plain brown above and orange below.  All have long striped tails, white rumps, and owl-like faces.  Two of the harriers were acting oddly.  At first I thought it was a mating ritual, but then I noticed that one was a juvenile and the other was a female.  The female had its wings spread out and would run around the juvenile like that.  Then they both flew up and around and around each other.  Below are two photos of them.  The first of the juvenile and female.  The second is just the female.

Northern Harriers

Northern Harrier

Other raptors we saw were turkey vultures.  Three of them were just wandering around in the grass.  They weren't eating; just walking.  One of them lay down.  Below are the three of them.  The one in the middle is lying down.

Turkey Vultures