It was 46 degrees when we started driving home at 7:47 this morning. We did not have our eyes on birds today. In fact, I wondered if a Resplendent Quetzel were sitting by the road, would we notice it? We had our sights set on getting safely home!
Instead of 300 to 500 photos a day, today I took 9. Two were blurry!
The birds we saw were few and in strange circumstances. A Bald Eagle was sitting alongside a creek beside Hwy 97 north of Madras--no big trees in sight and scarcely any little trees. A bit later we saw a white-headed raptor perched precariously on a power WIRE. When we turned around to go back and look at it, I saw a woodpecker on a power pole--a quick look. It had a dark back and buffy breast. The raptor flew away our second time by it and did not return. No idea what the raptor or woodpecker were--and no idea what the Bald Eagle was doing in such a barren spot.
At one spot, it was curious to see lush green wheat fields growing surrounded by dry, bare land. How do they do that? Or, maybe why?
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| The picturesque road going down into Biggs, OR |
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| and the sweet view of the Blue Mountains and home! |
We got home at 2:30 this afternoon. We found home and garden in great shape. Sofie was thrilled to be home and raced around the house and yard, rolled in the grass and got out one of her toys before taking a nap!
Today we travelled 285 miles. Our total trip mileage was 2210 miles in 18 days. I took 3200 photos!
We are in the midst of studying our bird list to see how many birds we saw and how many life birds! This information will be posted as soon as the checking and cross-checking is accomplished.
It doesn't take any analysis to know we had a wonderful trip and enjoyed it all thoroughly! And we are grateful to be safely home again!
P.S. Saturday, May 16th. Before the analysis took place, I reorganized my life list. Now the tabulations are complete.
On our California trip we saw 150 species and 7 new life birds. Life birds are:
Tufted Puffin at Bandon, Oregon;
Band-tailed Pigeon at New River Area of Environmental Concern, Oregon;
White-tailed Kite at Arcata Marsh, California;
California Towhee and Common Gallinule both at Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, California; Yellow-billed Magpie, near Anderson River Park, California; and
Northern Goshawk between Alturas and Lava Beds National Monument, California.
Chocolate was consumed in honor of the life birds!
Our trip species list follows:
Red-throated Loon
Common Loon
Eared Grebe
Western Grebe
Clark’s Grebe
American White Pelican
Brown Pelican
Brandt’s Cormorant
Double-crested Cormorant
Pelagic Cormorant
American Bittern (H)
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Black-crowned Night Heron
Green Heron
White-faced Ibis
Canada Goose
Greater White-fronted Goose
Snow Goose
Wood Duck
Mallard
Gadwall
Northern Pintail
American Wigeon
Northern Shoveler
Cinnamon Teal
Green-winged Teal
Canvasback
Redhead
Ring-necked Duck
Lesser Scaup
Surf Scoter
White-winged Scoter
Bufflehead
Ruddy Duck
Turkey Vulture
Northern Harrier
Northern Goshawk
Red-tailed hawk
Golden Eagle
Bald Eagle
Osprey
White-tailed Kite
American Kestrel
Peregrine Falcon
California Quail
Ring-necked Pheasant
American Coot
Sora (H)
Common Gallinule
Sandhill Crane
Semi-palmated Plover
Killdeer
Black Oystercatcher
American Avocet
Black-necked Stilt
Greater Yellowlegs
Willet
Whimbrel
Long-billed Curlew
Marbled Godwit
Dunlin
Western Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Long-billed Dowitcher
Short-billed Dowitcher
Wilson’s Phalarope
Franklin’s Gull
Ring-billed Gull
California Gull
Western Gull
Caspian Tern
Forster’s Tern
Pigeon Guillemot
Common Murre
Tufted Puffin
Mourning Dove
Eurasian-collared Dove
Rock Pigeon
Band-tailed Pigeon
Great Horned Owl
Anna’s Hummingbird
Rufous Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Lewis’s Woodpecker
Acorn Woodpecker
Williamson’s Sapsucker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Western Wood-Pewee
Say’s Phoebe
Black Phoebe
Western Kingbird
Ash-throated Flycatcher
Hutton’s Vireo
Steller’s Jay
Western Scrub Jay
Clark’s Nutcracker (H)
Black-billed Magpie
Yellow-billed Magpie
Common Raven
American Crow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Bank Swallow
Tree Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Mountain Chickadee
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Bushtit
Red-breasted Nuthatch (H)
White-breasted Nuthatch
Winter Wren
Marsh Wren
American Dipper
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Western Bluebird
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
Dratted European Starling
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Townsend’s Warbler
Wilson’s Warbler
Yellow-breasted Chat
Western Tanager
California Towhee
Savannah Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Western Meadowlark
Dratted Brown-headed Cowbird
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Red-winged Blackbird
Brewer’s Blackbird
Bullock’s Oriole
Pine Grosbeak
Cassin’s Finch
House Finch
Red Crossbill
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch
Lesser Goldfinch
House Sparrow
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