Always great to see those woodpeckers. I usually find two of them on the road into Montour Campground near Star.
Another sighting that’s exciting: I have 12 lazuli buntings (9 males, 3 females) eating a quail and dove mix on the ground in my backyard right now. Has anyone else seen them moving through like this? Gorgeous.
I was happy to see your sighting of the Lewis’s Woodpeckers in Horseshoe Bend as I was at Avimor residential development on Highway #55 which is just south of HB 2 days ago and a Lewis’s Woodpecker flew over me. He was higher than I usually see woodpeckers and I scrambled to get a photo that is blurred but I was sure it was a Lewis’s WP. Their coloration is hard to mistake!! I feel validated!! Thanks
So amazing – just the other day, I was driving down Porter Creek Rd, thinking how I haven’t seen a Lewis’ Woodpecker for years, whereas they were regularly seen when we first moved up here 20 years ago….they are my favorite western woodpecker…
…fast forward to 30 minutes ago… I was working on my computer and suddenly 2 birds flew into my crabapple tree – couldn’t believe my eyes – 2 Lewis’ Woodpeckers! First time ever in my yard, so I’m a very happy camper right now…
Best, Jonathan, Horseshoe Bend
(the wind was blowing pretty hard, so it was so difficult to get any good shot…)
I heard an uncommon bird song late today. Grabbed my glasses and located a warbler way up in the nose bleed seats of our ancient front maple. My list submission will most likely be challenged, but after comparing photographs of the distinct white eyebrow and under the eye, the blue gray back, and the song, I’m fairly certain this was a black-throated gray warbler. I spotted one in our side yard in October 2015. Long time between visits.
I hope to be lucky enough to spot him again tomorrow.
I believe the bird in the attached photos is a leucistic female red-winged blackbird. What do you all think? Found this last Friday at Camas WMA in the east shelterbelt. It did not sing and was generally not shy. I was able to observe the bird for as long as I wanted, which was about 30 minutes.
Awesome day, Tom, and thx for a vote of confidence, but I’d rely more on Jay because while I have a lot of experience, I don’t necessarily remember it… 😉
Whereas Jay has excellent eyes, ears, memory and a lot of experience
There’s another factor we don’t often discuss… not long ago several of us had this game…. we’d each play a recorded bird on a specific CD set and challenge the others to name all the background songs, chirps, calls, wing sounds, whatever, and of course I always lost because those other birders were quite younger than I was, and they could separate most sounds from the “milieu” whereas I had lost much of that ability…
