On average, I bird our 13-acre Sauvie Island property twice a day and, dividing
each month in half, keep track of the species I see. On average, I will see
Lincoln sparrows maybe 3-4 times a year; varied thrushes maybe once or twice a
year; Townsend’s warblers maybe once a year; and hermit thrushes maybe once a
year (but not in over a year). Also, unlike the ruby-crowned kinglets, I see
and hear golden-crowned kinglets only intermittently, and we see
chestnut-backed chickadees only some winters, although when they are here, we
see them with some frequency.
Yesterday I saw my first hermit thrush on our property in well over a year,
maybe two years. Then today we saw my first varied thrush in over a year, my
first Townsend’s warbler in over a year, my second Lincoln sparrow in six
months, my first golden-crowned kinglets in about a month, and several
chestnut-backed chickadees (which are around this winter). Overall, for this
half of November, I have identified 49 species on our property, and the list
includes only three ducks (mallard, wigeon and gadwall) due to a lack of
ponding in the area, and only gull. Notable omissions include American crow,
Cooper’s hawk, Eurasian collared dove (we’ve seen very few of them this entire
year compared to past years), Bushtit, and House sparrow,
I haven’t provided my bird list for Lost Lagoon Farm in almost two years (I
think), but here is my list for the second half of November (seen on or from
our property).
Cackling goose (thousands)
Canada goose
Gadwall
Mallard
American wigeon
California quail (just one, yesterday)
Double-crested cormorant
Great blue heron
Great egret
Bald eagle
Red-tailed hawk
Sandhill crane (by the dozens in the fields next to us)
Killdeer
Ring-billed gull
Mourning dove
Barred owl (one-day visitor)
Great-horned owl
Anna’s hummingbird
Belted kingfisher (first in a couple of months)
Hermit thrush
Red-breasted sapsucker
Downy woodpecker
Hairy woodpecker
Pileated woodpecker
Northern flicker (all woodpeckers are pretty reliable sightings here)
American kestrel
California scrub-jay
Black-capped chickadee
Chestnut-backed chickadee
White-breasted nuthatch (a regular here)
Brown creeper
Bewick’s wren
Golden-crowned kinglet
Ruby-crowned kinglet (seen almost daily)
American robin
Varied thrush (first in about a year or more)
Hermit thrush (first in maybe two years)
European starling
Townsend’s warbler (first this year)
Fox sparrow (every winter)
Song sparrow
Golden-crowned sparrow
White-throated sparrow (every winter)
Dark-eyed junco
Spotted towhee
Red-winged blackbird
Brewer’s blackbird
House finch
Lesser Goldfinch
American Goldfinch
For those interested, we have also seen, on our wildlife cam, river otters,
possums, raccoons, deer, coyotes, muskrat, nutria, beaver, squirrels, rabbits,
and a weasal of some sort.
Mark Greenfield
Lost Lagoon Farm
Gillihan Road
Sauvie Island
sauviemark@xxxxxxxxx
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