HAPPY NEW YEAR TO BIRDS AND BIRDERS ALIKE

The year got off to a cold start, with temps well below freezing overnight.  Bird baths frozen at dawn.  Ice on ponds and ground frozen hard.  The year got off to a hot start with four woodpecker species and a nearly tame Golden-crowned Kinglet, never easy to photograph. But best find of the day: fields full of American Pipits along Shelton Road just west of Westside Road and east of the main elbow along Shelton.

WOODPECKERS OF WENNENBERG

Three of the woodpecker species were at Wennenberg Park in Carlton.

This Acorn Woodpecker flew to the top of this utility near where I was watching.  He began to drill in the top.  And there he retrieved a stored acorn. Not far away I watched a Red-breasted Sapsucker finding something appetizing low on a conifer’s trunk.

OTHER “WENNENBIRDS”

The mighty flighty little Golden-crowned Kinglet is always a camera challenge.  This individual was with a single Chestnut-backed Chickadee along the North Yamhill River.  A flock of only two gleaners:   Robin and GC Sparrow.Robins on ice.  An avian cocktail?

GARDEN VARIETY

Siskin drinks fron small pool of water I put on top of the morning’s iced over bird bath. The two finches: Purple on left, House on right.Purple feeds. Purple with BC Chickadee on same platform. The one Varied Thrush in the garden this morning.  Male.

 

820 NW 19th Street, McMinnville, Yamhill, Oregon, US
Jan 1, 2016 9:00 AM.  16 species (a high number for our garden feeders)

Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus)  1
Western Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma californica)  1
Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus)  2
Chestnut-backed Chickadee (Poecile rufescens)  1
Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis)  1
American Robin (Turdus migratorius)  1
Varied Thrush (Ixoreus naevius)  1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata)  1
Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis)  20
Golden-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia atricapilla)  3
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)  2
Spotted Towhee (Pipilo maculatus)  2
House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus)  1
Purple Finch (Haemorhous purpureus)  2
Pine Siskin (Spinus pinus)  12
House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)  4

Wennerberg Park, Carlton, OR, Yamhill, Oregon, US
Jan 1, 2016 11:10 AM – 11:40 AM.  11 species

Acorn Woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus)  1
Red-breasted Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus ruber)  1
Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens)  1
Steller’s Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri)  1
Western Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma californica)  1
Chestnut-backed Chickadee (Poecile rufescens)  1
Golden-crowned Kinglet (Regulus satrapa)  1
American Robin (Turdus migratorius)  75
Fox Sparrow (Passerella iliaca)  2
Golden-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia atricapilla)  15
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)  4

Meadowlake Rd., Yamhill, Oregon, US
Jan 1, 2016 11:45 AM – 12:10 PM.  9 species

Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis)  1
American Kestrel (Falco sparverius)  1
Western Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma californica)  1
American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos)  30
Common Raven (Corvus corax)  1
American Robin (Turdus migratorius)  X
European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)  X
Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis)  15
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)  1

Shelton Road, Yamhill, Oregon, US
Jan 1, 2016 1:00 PM – 1:10 PM.  2 species

American Kestrel (Falco sparverius)  2
American Pipit (Anthus rubescens)  300