It was the third Sunday bird walk, and there were more birds than birders.  Steven Runnels and I were immediately greeted by Bullock’s Orioles struggling to keep their nearly grown young fed.  The first nest we saw was in a tree next to the dog park’s carlot.  On the backside of the toilet building there was another oriole nest in a young oak.  All along Ashland Creek and Bear Creek orioles were to-ing and fro-ing, chattering and food-gathering.

Male Bullock’s Oriole and Northern Flicker share a dead treetop on the cold, gray-skied morning that was supposed to be the start of summer. We think of spring and summer moving slowly northward up the Northern Hemisphere each year.  Somehow it seems to have stalled down in California this year because we’ve had cold, gray, wet weather here for weeks.  Despite that, flowers bloom, baby birds fledge.  Like the young Red-tailed Hawks above Bear Creek.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And one still in the nest.

 

 

 

 

 

Bullock’s Oriole male.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Female Bullock’s Oriole next to Ashland Pond.

 

 

 

 

Much of the bird song of spring is past.  But this male Chat was still calling and aggressively patrolling his patch.  Also we heard a lone Wrentit and a couple of Bewick’s Wrens.  Song Sparrows were probably plentiful in the brambles, saw one and heard none.  Along the edge of Ashland Pond a male California Quail calling from a willow-top.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the pond itself we found a family of Green Heron feeding.  Swallows and Vaux’s Swifts swooped back and forth.  The swift is named for William Vaux who was a member of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, and a friend of fellow member John Townsend.  Townsend found the first known specimen of this smallswift during his stay in Oregon in the 1830s and named it in honor of his friend.  Vaux became the pre-eminent mineralogist in 19th Century America and  bequeathed his collections, archaeological collection and much money to the Academy on his death in 1882.  Wm. Sansom Vaux (1811-1882).  It is not known if he ever saw his namesake swift in the wild, most of his travels were in Europe.

DANDY BUTTERFLY

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This insect gets nectar from thistles, fruit trees, mustard, yarrow, and dogbane.  The caterpillars eat aspen, willow, cottonwood, apple, cherry, spirea, serviceberry–not surprising this butterfly was in the riparian thicket next to Ashland Pond and Ashland Creek.

Location:     Bear Creek Greenway–Ashland
Observation date:     6/21/09
Notes:     Fledglings include: RT Hawks, Robin, Scrub-Jay, House Finch.
Number of species:     35

Mallard     5
California Quail     1
Turkey Vulture     1
Red-tailed Hawk     2
American Kestrel     1
Rock Pigeon     4
Mourning Dove     2
Vaux’s Swift     4
Rufous Hummingbird     1
Acorn Woodpecker     1
Downy Woodpecker     2
Northern Flicker (Red-shafted)     3
Western Wood-Pewee     2
Western Scrub-Jay     6
American Crow     4
Common Raven     2
Tree Swallow     16
Violet-green Swallow     3
Northern Rough-winged Swallow     1
Barn Swallow     8
Bewick’s Wren     2
American Robin     4
European Starling     8
Yellow-breasted Chat     4
Spotted Towhee     12
Song Sparrow     2
Black-headed Grosbeak     3
Red-winged Blackbird     12
Western Meadowlark     1

Brewer’s Blackbird     10
Brown-headed Cowbird     4
Bullock’s Oriole     16
House Finch     4
Lesser Goldfinch     4
House Sparrow     10