A male House Finch with its offspring at Jackson Bottom Wetlands, Hillsboro, Oregon on 9 June, 2010 by Greg Gillson.Wet, wet, wet! Rain this week backed up water from the Tualatin River and refilled the wetland ponds at Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve in Hillsboro, Oregon.
Joe Blowers found a pair of WESTERN KINGBIRDS on June 5, a first-Preserve record of these migrant flycatchers that are rather uncommon in NW Oregon.
Another surprise, a migrant DUSKY FLYCATCHER was present June 4. This is the second-Preserve record following the first observation the first week of May. They are typically found in mountain scrub and clear cuts from the upper Cascades eastward.
Continuing the flycatcher thread, several OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHERS are still being seen and heard on the Preserve for the third straight week. These should breed up in the older forests of the Coast Range and are presumably just passing through as late migrants.
A drake BLUE-WINGED TEAL was spotted on June 8.
Many fledglings are out and about, being cared for by their parents out of their nests including CANADA GOOSE, MALLARD, KILLDEER, MOURNING DOVE, HOUSE FINCH, BUSHTIT, RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD, and EURASIAN STARLING. On the other hand, many AMERICAN ROBINS seem to be nest building again, perhaps their nests were destroyed by the recent unseasonal deluges.
Forty-four chicks were counted in the Great Blue Heron rookery in Owl Woods on about a dozen nests. Rick Balazs counts these regularly by looking down on the nests from the Hillsboro Landfill (no public access).
The full list of species seen this week...
Cackling Goose
Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Gadwall
Mallard
Blue-winged Teal
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Shoveler
Hooded Merganser
Ring-necked Pheasant
California Quail
Pied-billed Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
American Bittern
Great Blue Heron
Green Heron
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Red-tailed Hawk
Virginia Rail
Killdeer
Spotted Sandpiper
Rock Pigeon
Band-tailed Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Vaux's Swift
Anna's Hummingbird
Rufous Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Western Wood-Pewee
Willow Flycatcher
Dusky Flycatcher
Pacific-slope Flycatcher
Western Kingbird
Steller's Jay
Western Scrub-Jay
American Crow
Tree Swallow
Violet-green Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Bushtit
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Bewick's Wren
Marsh Wren
Swainson's Thrush
American Robin
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Orange-crowned Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Spotted Towhee
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Black-headed Grosbeak
Lazuli Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Brewer's Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
House Finch
Lesser Goldfinch
American Goldfinch
Evening Grosbeak
House Sparrow