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Week Fifty-Four, March 25-31, 2002

Sunday, March 31, 2002

I was hoping we would find the Osprey back along the Rogue River, and today they were out in force. We saw at least three nesting pair of Osprey, including the female on the nest in the photo above. All of the nesting birds were on the south side of the river, not far upstream from the Pacific Ocean. Natalie took what we hope will be some great shots with the SLR on slide film, while I took a handful of shots through our spotting scope with the Nikon CoolPix 950 digital camera. I'm pretty happy with how the shots turned out.

Even more numerous than the Osprey were the couple of dozen or more Turkey Vultures that were circling over the river and over the nearby mountains. The only vultures that we saw land were those on the ground feeding on something across the river from where Natalie's uncle lives on the north side of the Rogue River.

Besides the big raptors (we also saw a Bald Eagle), we sat and watched a Black Pheobe catching insects at the edge of the former lumber mill site. And later this afternoon we watched and listened to Red-winged Blackbirds as they sang alongside a pond on the mill property. And before we drove up the river at all we spent some time battling the winds along the coast while watching shorebirds flying north between the heavy surf and scoping out what appeared to be a Pigeon Guillemot bobbing in the surf not far from shore.

The day wasn't all about birds though. I also found the small blue butterfly in the photo above while we were pulled over along the river to check out some birds in the bushes. We also stopped and tried to get some photos of other small butterflies, but they were less cooperative and stayed well out of range of the camera lens. Maybe tomorrow...

Saturday, March 30, 2002

What a raptor-filled trip our drive south was today. Along the way to Gold Beach we saw nearly 50 raptors - 20 of which were Turkey Vultures which are commonplace on the Oregon Coast, 10 or which were Red-tailed Hawks, and five of which were American Kestrels.

I figured we would see a lot of raptors, which are the easiest birds to see while whisking across 400 miles at about 60 miles an hour. We opted to turn off Interstate 5 near Salem, we visited Natalie's grandparents in Dallas, Ore., and then we took a less busy route to the coast, going over a short cutoff road called Poodle Creek to land on Highway 126 for the drive to Florence and then south along the coast nearly to the California border. I took the photo above of the coastline near Port Orford, a much-photographed area looking south toward Humbug Mountain and the rest of the Oregon Coast.

Along our drive we stopped at a couple of parks near the Oregon dunes that line the coast from Florence down to Coos Bay, and it was interesting to see that all of these parks are now run on a pay-to-play system. There are signs everywhere that make it clear that you have to pay to park your car, and pay stations require a minimum $5 fee to park - whether you are stopping for a quick photo, as I was, or planning to spend the day ripping up the dunes with a gas-guzzling all-terrain vehicle. I hate to see our country going to this length, locking people out of access to the natural history and natural settings that are part of the heritage of every American, heck, of every citizen of the world. But I can also see some of the necessity of the fees. In Washington there were threats that a dozen or more state parks could be closed because of the current budget crunch earlier this year, and given the choice I think the lesser of two evils is to keep the parks open and charge a minimal fee for access.

Friday, March 29, 2002

More White-crowned Sparrows visited the grounds underneath our bird feeders today. It seems that every time I let the seed run low in the feeders that more of the White-crowned Sparrows show up to clean up on the ground in the absence of all of the busy activity overhead.

Today the busy activity was taking place inside the house, behind the living room window that I usually peer out to watch the birds at our feeders. We left home tonight to drive south for an overnight at Natalie's parents home in Longview, Wash., and tomorrow we will make the long drive the rest of the way down to Gold Beach, Oregon. I'm not sure which route we will take to our destination, but I think we will opt for a little longer and slower route, just so we have a better chance to see more birds along the way.

Thursday, March 28, 2002

And so the streak ends. I may have seen another Sharp-shinned Hawk being chased by a crow late this afternoon, but it was too far away to be sure and so I am not confident enough to make this the fourth day in a row of seeing a sharpie.

I was too busy running around and trying to get ready for our weekend road trip to Southern Oregon to spend much time outside today, which was a shame since it was a sunny spring day that just begged for me to spend time weeding and planting in the garden. Those things can wait though. I will kick into gardening mode when we get back home next week.

Wednesday, March 27, 2002

Today was the third in a row when I have seen a Sharp-shinned Hawk. I was home after making a late lunchtime run to the garden center - where Natalie and M and I picked up some blueberry plants, potatoes and other garden supplies - and as I was getting out of the car I looked up just in time to see a crow chasing the hawk down Mullen St. in front of our house. I have been wondering why I have gone so long between times seeing raptors hunting in our neighborhood. It great to see a hawk back in the area.

More signs of spring are around our yard today. I took my photo today of a hyacinth blooming in front of a pair of miniature daffodils that are blooming along the sidewalk in front of the house.

Tuesday, March 26, 2002

I came this close to taking a nice photo of a Sharp-shinned Hawk that I watched hunting in our yard this afternoon. I was sitting here and working when I glimpsed the hawk flying into the snowball bush and then quickly working its way down onto the ground on the neighbor's property. It then flew up a couple of feet and pounced back down. I couldn't see what it was after. The hawk didn't stay on the ground for more than a few moments before it was back in the air, fluttering up to land on the power line that leads into our neighbor's home. It sat there for another moment, as I focused my binoculars on it, but there was not time to grab the camera before a crow came along to harass the hawk, which sent it flying off to the west and across the street.

The hawk returned momentarily to land on top of the neighbor's chimney before a crow once again scared it off.

Clouds returned to dominate the spring skies today, and tonight there is a brisk south wind blowing with temperatures hovering around 36 degrees. This early spring weather can be so fickle. This evening as Natalie and I drove to the Proctor area to watch the Harry Potter movie there were rainbows in the sky off to the east.

Monday, March 25, 2002

On my way home from doing some errands today I stopped by China Lake Park just off S. 19th Street here in Tacoma, just to see what I would find in the afternoon sunshine. I was hoping I could find a butterfly in the open field at the front of the park, but since I didn't find any then I walked along the path on the west side of the lake. I didn't make it too far before the shallow water blocked my path. This park is completely transformed in the winter compared to when I last visited in August. Today there were Mallards, Lesser Scaup, a Pied-billed Grebe and a female Bufflehead in the water, which has risen to take over much of the park, leaving islands of vegetation in the middle of the water as perfect cover for the waterfowl.

I took the photo above to show the reflections of the island vegetation and in some hopes that the Great Blue Heron that was spreading its wings and sunning in the tall fir trees at the opposite side of the pond would show up in the photo. It comes across as a small white dot in the shot.

All in all, it was much warmer and spring-like today. Hopefully it is a sign of the week to come.

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