Lately a few Lesser Goldfinches have been hanging around the yard, which is neat because they are a west coast bird. They were a trick to distinguish from the regular goldfinches, but the bright white wing bars, greenish backs, and yellow underparts gave them away.







Back at the Bingen pond were a bunch of the usuals, except for these three Western Grebes:


Looking forward to some sunshine coming next week.

It's been warm and raining a ton here, so here is a picture of the Hood River at 14 feet:


Despite all the rain, this little guy has found a place to stay dry in the back yard:


The sun made an appearance yesterday for the first time in weeks, so I jumped on the chance to get some full-sun shots. January 17th also marked the arrival of 50+ Evening Grosbeaks to the back yard. While the pics are nothing too amazing, I will share anyway. I am pleased with the clarity, but the birds never seemed to perch the way I wanted them to.










This female looked a little beat up...






Red Breasted Nuthatch

I made a quick stop by the Bingen pond and Columbia waterfront today and tried not to get rained on. Mostly just the regulars were there: Bufflehead, Scaup, Ring necked duck, Double crested cormorant, Common goldeneye, Gadwall, Mallards, and a whole ton of Canada geese. There were three Tundra swans, which I hadn't seen there before, which was pretty cool. The geese made Gretl a little uneasy when they all took off honking, all she could do was whine nervously.


Double-crested Cormorant, juvenile based on the amount of orange on the bill?




Mr. Bufflehead


Northern Flicker- in the yard

Snowy Day

We got some snow last night, so this created an exciting opportunity to test my camera in a new setting. I did a lot of creeping around the yard today, stalking my bird neighbors, but in the end the varied thrush was really cooperative.













and a chestnut-backed chickadee for good measure:

It is a little bit warmer today, so I took advantage of the weather to do some waterfowl birding without frozen fingers. I went down to Bingen pond and the Columbia waterfront near my work. There were lots of mallards, green winged-teal, gadwall, lesser scaup, common goldeneye and a great blue heron. The pond is starting to thaw, so I look forward to more birds there soon.


common goldeneye


lesser scaup


gadwall


the view

Cold Morning

I am improving... I don't think these are too shabby for hand-held shots at such slow shutter speeds...




Pine Siskin




American Goldfinch


Pine Siskin- I kinda chopped the top of his head off a little- but I like the detail...

Hood River Christmas Bird Count

The bird count in Mosier this morning was filled with a lot of the same ole birds, except for this guy:


A very cool Northern Pygmy Owl...



Is this his front or his back? Pretty awesome false eye spots to ward off predators- he looks like he has eyes in the back of his head!