Hello OBOL'ers. Not a lot to report as the trails have been flooded since
mid-January. Since the big freeze there has been a dearth of waterfowl in the
area. At best small numbers of a few hundred, maybe, visible in the distant
willows. Nothing like the thousands of pintails, ring-necked and cacklers that
were present at the Christmas Bird Count on 1/1/17. It is still a mystery to
us where the local bald eagle pair is going to nest since their most recent
nest fell down in September. There was report from a city maintenance crew on
2/13 of a pair of adults carrying sticks in the vicinity of Dairy Creek Park,
near where highway 8 crosses Dairy Creek on the west side of Hillsboro but some
scouting since then has revealed nothing more. That they plan to nest seems
logical as yesterday we observed a pair copulating in the "love tree" at the
northeast corner of Pintail Pond on the Preserve. The female remained perched
for about 30 minutes then flew low and slow to the west southwest, crossing
highway 219 and going out of sight. If anyone has any clues as to their
potential nesting site, please email me.
Two red-shouldered hawks are present on the Preserve. An immature bird is the
most visible and hangs out in the vicinity of Clean Water Services quite a lot.
A second bird is often heard further to the east near the land fill and an
adult RSHA has been sighted over there in the last few months.
We had a very enjoyable Cranes and Eagles of Sauvie Island outing last Saturday
with 13 participants. Highlights were dancing cranes, vocalizing trumpeter
swans in flight, dueling peregrines, hunting merlins and of course bald eagles.
More class opportunities can be found here:
http://www.hillsboro-oregon.gov/departments/parks-recreation/our-facilities/jackson-bottom-wetlands-preserve/camps-classes-and-programs/classes
Steve Engel, Nature Program Supervisor
City of Hillsboro Parks & Recreation
Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve
2600 SW Hillsboro Highway
Hillsboro, OR 97123
Steve.engel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
503-681-6283 office phone
503-681-6124 fax
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