Connect with Nature!
House Wrens (Troglodytes aedon) are familiar birds, largely because they thrive in altered habitats, including forest clear-cuts, parks, brushy thickets, and residential areas, and because of their habit of nesting in man-made objects, such as bird houses, mail boxes, old hats, and other objects left outside. Like other wrens, House Wrens have loud bubbling songs and harsh scolding call notes. Read more...
If your black oil sunflower seeds are vanishing at an alarming rate, and your feeders seem especially crowded and noisy, the “grocery beaks” may be paying you a visit! If you have the honor of hosting them this year, you're lucky -- our population of Evening Grosbeaks has declined 78% in the last 40 years. Read more...
Song Sparrows are found throughout North America, but with up to 30 different subspecies, this bird may look different wherever you travel. Visitors from other parts of the country often confuse the local Song Sparrows with Fox Sparrows, but Fox Sparrows are larger. With a little practice, you will learn to recognize Song Sparrows by their distinctive, and beautiful, call note. Read more...
Black-headed Grosbeaks are striking summer residents throughout much of the western U.S. Read more...
Although Western Tanagers (Piranga ludoviciana) are brilliantly colored and nest across much of the western United States and Canada, they can be hard to see most of the time. They nest in mountain forests and tend to stay hidden in the shade. During spring migration, however, these colorful birds become a common sight in yards, parks, and bird baths throughout the Willamette Valley. Read more...
With their slender build and long tails, White-crowned Sparrows are dapper birds! They winter across much of the Lower 48 and into Mexico, and can be found in the Portland area year-round Read more...
Those aren’t locusts swarming your suet feeder – they’re Bushtits! Read more...
While they all readily gobble up black oil sunflower seeds, the smaller finches also enjoy having their own feeder stocked with Nyjer seeds. Finches tend to be nomadic, so you may see many birds one week and few birds the next. Read more...
When you attract songbirds to your yard, chances are good that you will eventually attract avian predators as well. While some people don’t like the idea of hawks feeding on “their” birds, many others welcome this opportunity to see raptors up close. Read more...
Did you know that the Portland area is the year-round residence of one species of hummingbird? Anna’s Hummingbirds, the largest of coastal Pacific Northwest hummers, are non-migratory! Both sexes are primarily greenish in color, but in sunlight males flash purplish red iridescence on their foreheads, throat patches, and sides of neck. Read more...
A visit from a Varied Thrush can brighten up a drab winter day. This striking bird may remind you of its cousin, the American Robin, only dressed in orange instead of red. Read more...
Dark-eyed Juncos are common sparrows found throughout North America. They show a great deal of geographic variation, with many subspecies divided into five recognizable groups. The group found locally is known, appropriately enough, as Oregon Junco. Read more...
With the arrival of autumn weather in late September and early October come Golden-crowned Sparrows. This species nests in Alaska, the Yukon Territory, and British Columbia, then spends the winter along the west coast from southern British Columbia to Baja California. They remain in the Willamette Valley until mid-May. Read more...
Cedar Waxwings (Bombycilla cedrorum) are found in Oregon all year, but their nomadic behavior makes it hard to predict where you will find them at any given time. They may arrive in your yard one day (usually in a flock), spend a day or two, and then disappear for months. Read more...
Chapman School in Northwest Portland houses the largest known roost of migrating swifts in the world! Hundreds of bird watchers visit the school during September to watch up to 35,000 Vaux Swifts swarm into the chimney at dusk. Read more...
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