Hillsboro Library bird walk

Great Blue Heron on nest, Hillsboro, Oregon on 14 April 2010 by Greg Gillson.

 

Every Wednesday afternoon from 2:00 - 3:30 I lead a free bird walk at the Main Library at Hillsboro, Oregon. The library backs up to the Dawson Creek Corporate Park. There are a series of artificial ponds here that attract more than their share of birds that are very easy to observe.

There are three GREAT BLUE HERONS nesting in the park. Surprising is the one photographed above in a 20-foot tall Douglas-fir right next to the paved and busy trail.

In the ponds floated RING-NECKED DUCKS, LESSER SCAUP, AMERICAN WIGEON, GREEN-WINGED TEAL, MALLARDS, BUFFLEHEADS, NORTHERN SHOVELERS, CANADA GOOSE, and CACKLING GOOSE. Had we been there earlier in the day we might have seen Wood Ducks, too. Not bad for a busy city park in mid April. The winter list of ducks is much longer.

A colony of ACORN WOODPECKERS works the wetlands on the south edge of the property. The trees there are riddled with holes where they store their acorns. And, if you know where to look, there is a broken snag with a GREAT HORNED OWL nesting in it.

Additionally, today we spotted a LESSER GOLDFINCH, some WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCHES, and a RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER apparently excavating a nest hole.

No reservations are necessary if you want to join me on a future walk. Show up at the bike pavillion on the north side of the library parking lot. This is on Brookwood Parkway, east of the Hillsboro Airport (take Shute Road exit off Hwy 26 if coming from Portland.

Great Blue Heron afternoon

Great Blue Heron, Jackson Bottom Wetlands, Hillsboro, Oregon on 4 November 2009 by Greg Gillson.

 

The low golden afternoon light last week was good for this Great Blue Heron at Jackson Bottom. After I finished Lunch With The Birds I hiked out into the wetlands to see if I could find the Northern Shrike reported from the previous day. I didn't find the shrike, a rare winter visitor, but this heron provided a consolation prize.

Great Blue Heron in flight

Great Blue Heron, Fernhill Wetlands, Forest Grove, Oregon on 26 August 2009 by Greg Gillson.

 

Here is a recent photo of a Great Blue Heron. For more information check our earlier discussion about this species.

At the pond... Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron, Dawson Creek Park, Hillsboro, Oregon on 11 January 2009 by Greg Gillson.

 

The widespread Great Blue Heron is found near water from southern Alaska and across the mid-latitudes of Canada, south to Florida, Texas, and northwestern Mexico. Most birds move out of the frozen north and interior in winter and are found well into Mexico.

This bird is found in all sorts of wet habitats. In the Pacific Northwest you may see one hunting voles out in a flooded grass seed field, stabbing at fish in a small puddle or backyard goldfish pond, walking the mudflats of the estuary, perched on jetties in the ocean, or even hunting frogs or snakes in the freeway median. In fact, this bird is so well known in the Pacific Northwest that it is the official City Bird of Portland, Oregon!

Many persons are quite surprised the first time they see herons perched in trees! These herons nest in small colonies quite high in trees near water. They build large stick nests 2-3 feet across and lay 2-6 eggs, March to May.

As for similar species, Green Herons are 1/3 the size and colored differently. "White Herons" in the West are the slightly smaller Great Egrets or the much smaller Snowy or Cattle Egrets. Many people call Great Blue Herons "cranes." However, the Sandhill Crane is a larger, sandy-colored bird with a red crown with populations nesting in agricultural grasslands of the Great Basin. Flocks of these local cranes, supplemented by birds that nest in Alaska and Canada, winter locally in the Willamette Valley (Sauvie Island NWR, Oregon and Ridgefield NWR, Washington) and the Central Valley of California. Herons may congregate in wetlands, but do not migrate in noisy flocks as do the cranes. While Great Blue Herons fly and rest with their long necks crooked under their breast with the head resting on the back (as shown above), cranes always walk and fly with their long necks held straight out.