The weather this week has been primarily 31-34 degrees Fahrenheit and foggy. The sun finally broke through on Thursday afternoon.
The Preserve has had several birders visiting in preparation for this Saturday's Forest Grove Christmas Bird Count. Thus we have 67 species on a short week.
Good birds this week included the continuing RED-SHOULDERED HAWK. A group of CALIFORNIA QUAIL were spotted in the back acreage. The covey that had been present several years was eliminated after someone dumped housecats at the Preserve some time ago (a year or so). The cats are gone now, or maybe one remains, seen only by noting tracks in the mud recently.
A flock of DUNLIN was the first since November. A lone TREE SWALLOW has been hawking insects over the ponds during the last three days of the weekly period. I don't know where it came from. The first birds usually show up the second week of February, but the last birds are usually gone by late September.
A RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER was spotted again this week. Three WESTERN MEADOWLARK were on the Preserve on Thursday.
Cackling Goose
Canada Goose
Tundra Swan
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Canvasback
Ring-necked Duck
Lesser Scaup
Bufflehead
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Ring-necked Pheasant
California Quail
Pied-billed Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
American Coot
Dunlin
Glaucous-winged Gull
Mourning Dove
Great Horned Owl
Belted Kingfisher
Red-breasted Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Steller's Jay
Western Scrub-Jay
American Crow
Tree Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Bushtit
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
Bewick's Wren
Winter Wren
Marsh Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
American Robin
European Starling
Spotted Towhee
Fox Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Red-winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
Brewer's Blackbird
House Finch
Lesser Goldfinch
American Goldfinch
