Wood River Wetlands

It has been several years since I visited this location and once again I was almost overwhelmed with all the bird sounds and activities. 

Lots of birds and other wildlife like this European Comma butterfly or at least that is the name my Seek app gave it!

These raccoons which were swimming on the lake. I believe they may have been looking for waterfowl nests and a snack!

There were lots of marmots and even a long-tailed weasel. I was too slow to get a pic of the weasel but I hope to someday! Of course there were many birds like this Bald Eagle.

and this Black-crowned Night Heron.

In total I identified 57 bird species. Click here to see a complete list of todays birds and more pics.

Joseph Stewart County Park

I stayed in the Joseph Stewart park on the recommendation of a worker at the Southern Oregon RV park. It was one of the nicest parks that I have ever visited. Sites are spaced far apart with lots of large trees and open grassy spaces.

There are even areas with playground equipment for children! There are miles of hiking and biking trails.

Some with great views of the Lost Creek reservoir. Along the trails were some of the largest Madrone trees I have ever seen. Some close to three feet in diameter.

Restrooms and showers are clean and well maintained. Birding was great with the most Grosbeaks, Tanagers and Orioles I have ever seen in one location! There are a couple downsides! For one, there was a lot of poison oak. It was not a problem if you stayed on the trails but if you wondered off, you might be in trouble! The other  problem was more of an inconvenience and that is no connectivity, at least not for Verizon. I thought it might be my account but I spoke to several other Verizon customers and they had the same issue. I was not able to get connectivity until I traveled east about 25 miles! Tonight I am at the Kla-Mo-Ya casino trying to catch up on all my internet postings like this blog and eBird submissions. You can see the list from the last day here! I have a list for almost every day I spent there. I will head north tomorrow and hopefully  find a camp site as it is Memorial Day Weekend!

Southern Oregon RV Park

 I am just wrapping up an 8 day stay at the park. 

It is a very well kept park and all the workers are friendly and helpful. The park has 2 small lakes that are stocked with trout.

They also contain bass and bluegill. Although I did not fish, many locals did and I saw several catching trout. Each site is well maintained with full hookups.

The only downside to the park is noise from the freeway which is 500/600 ft away. If you stay, try to get a site furthest from the entrance. It has been in the upper 80's every day which I am not accustomed to after being on the central Oregon coast for 2 years but I am not going to complain. It is nice to be able to go outside without rain gear and rubber boots! There are a number of birding hotspots within just a few miles so I had lots to do. Tomorrow I head east up the Crater Lake Hwy to Joseph Stewart County park for 6 days. It is higher in altitude and should be a bit cooler with new places to bird!

Tou Velle State Park

This morning I visited Tou Velle State Park. 

I arrived at 6:30 not knowing the gate opens at 7! After a short wait the host arrived and allow me access. I was there for almost 4 hours and traveled almost 2 miles. In that time period I spotted 60 species of birds! Even with my impaired hearing, I was almost over whelmed with a the bird sights and sounds. Among the birds I could hear where Acorn Woodpeckers,

Mourning Doves,

and White-breasted Nuthatches.

The Acorn Woodpeckers dominated the entire area that I walked. They bore holes in trees then gather acorns and store then in the holes. They constantly need to adjust the holes as the trees shrink and expand with the weather! Here is an example of a storage tree.

Here is a close up.

With the amount of Acorn Woodpeckers in the area, I was surprised to find a pair of Downy Woodpeckers!

To see the complete eBird list of todays birds and a few more pics, click here.
 

Denman Wildlife Area

Today I took the advice of my friends Jim and Jeanette Scott and visited the Denman Wildlife Area! 

The birding was excellent! 55 species in 3.5 hours! (Sorry Jim, when I started working on the photos I realized I had not included the Spotted Towhee.) Some of the more interesting finds was a Yellow-breasted Chat. I  have only seen 1 before today!

A first for a photo is the Ring-necked Pheasant. Until today I have heard but never photographed!

Obviously there are many more birds that I did not photograph but you can see more pics and a complete list of todays birds here. I think tomorrow I will check out the Hoover Ponds.

Oak Titmouse - Life bird 432 or is it 435?

Early success on my southern Oregon birding trip. The Oak Titmouse was my target bird for this area and I spotted two at the  I-5 Manzanita rest stop before I even arrived at my destination!

I will still bird watch, just have to change my planned birding sites! The reason for the confusion on Life Birds is that the 2 apps I use to track my birding give 2 different totals. eBird does not count what it considers exotic/escaped where Merlin does. For example I spotted a Budgerigar in Texas. It is an escaped parakeet not native to that area so it is not counted. I will use the ebird as my official count so I am at 432!

More colorful birds!

I had a great morning! I was invited to breakfast with some family members at the casino. Their treat! Then back to camp for some birding. First special sighting was a Bullocks Oriole.

Next was a  male Western Tanager.

He was being elusive and left the campground when I first attempted to photograph him. I continued to look for birds when I spotted him fly back into the campground. I had to follow him to several locations before he landed where I could get a photo. Right after he landed at this location, a Black-headed Grosbeak popped up out of the brush nearby and I was able to photograph it as well! I had heard it earlier in my walk but could not see it!

They bring the total bird species I have seen here to 107! I will be heading out Thursday for the Medford area where I hope to see the Oak Titmouse which will be a Life bird for me.

Still surprised by all the colors!

Even after 1000's of pictures of birds, I am still amazed at the many colors they display. One such colorful species is the Rufous Hummingbird. The light was just right to capture a spectrum of color on this male.

From orange/red to a yellow/gold! It may be my best hummingbird picture yet! Not near as varied in color, but still stunning, is this male Purple Finch.

Now for a bit of yellow, we have a female Western Tanager.

Although the male of the species is a bit more colorful with his bright orange head, she still adds a nice variety to the birds here!