Earlier today, Sarah and I co-lead a group in the North Portland section of the Portland Christmas Bird Count. We searched for birds at Smith and Bybee Lakes (above), St. John's Prairie (formerly St. John's Landfill), and the Pier Park neighborhood (below).
Our group size fluctuated between four and seven and we found 70 species of birds. Among our interesting finds were:
A tree full of Lesser Goldfinches
A fox squirrel recently deceased (or sleeping).
A Sharp-shinned Hawk perched near the fox squirrel. Coincidence?
And a showdown between an immature Cooper's Hawk and another fox squirrel. We think the squirrel won.
Now that our last event of the holiday season is complete, we can take down our lights and resume our normal routines.
Pretty sure that little guy wasn't sleeping.
ReplyDeleteI just googled the St. John's Landfill as I haven't heard of that area. The metro site doesn't say much about it. Do you have to have permission to enter the area, or is it open to the public? Did you see Horned Lark? Looks like they are developing it with them in mind! Looks like you a CSC (Christmas Squirrel Count) today!! :)
ReplyDeleteThe former landfill is unmarked and is usually closed to the public. We missed the Horned Larks, but we did see a snipe, Western Meadowlarks, and American Kestrels at the site.
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