Nice wet morning walk at Jackson-Frazier Wetland, always a great place for raptors. Today was no exception. The red-shouldered and the harrier were both close and in perfect light. Sometimes it feels like the birds are blessing you.

12) Northern Harrier
13) Red-shouldered Hawk
14) Northern Flicker
15) Bushtit
16) Bewick's Wren
17) American Robin
18) Song Sparrow
19) Spotted Towhee

#BirdsOf2026 #corvallis

Just me, walking in the woods and looking at birds as my country commits an illegal invasion / smash and grab oil heist. I'm so tired and sorry and angry and sad.

20) Wild Turkey
21) Red-breasted Sapsucker
22) Brown Creeper

#BirdsOf2026

I've gotten out on at least short birding walks 4/4 days this year, a streak that will probably end this week. But I'll do my best, because stress is definitely higher than I'd like it to be, between work and *gestures broadly*. About time you showed up, crow.

23) American Crow
24) Ruby-crowned Kinglet

#BirdsOf2026

One streak that will definitely end today, 5/5 days in 2026 visiting a different park in my area. We are so lucky to have a lot of options, but I'll start repeating now, because only so many are in the range I can reasonably take off work to visit. And the rain seems to be returning tomorrow. Pretty out today, though.

25) Mourning Dove

#BirdsOf2026

Another rough day in the teetering empire, and the birds once again helped me stay reasonably mentally stable. Special shout out to this hawk, who not only let me get close, but even posed by fanning out their wings and tail. Pretty bird.

26) Cooper's Hawk
#BirdsOf2026

Oregon is a paradise for corvids. My easy four (crow, raven, scrub and Steller's jays) are all on the list now, with just Canada Jay left to find. Most years, I don't get to magpie or pinyon jay country, but I hope to at some point soon.

27) Common Raven
#BirdsOf2026

My day was dominated by my other Birds, but despite that game not going my way, I got to see a top-notch sunset and as a huge bonus, actually saw, not just heard, my resident neighborhood owl. I'll take that.

28) House Finch
29) Great Horned Owl

#BirdsOf2026

I'm slowly running out of the easiest winter birds to see in my home counties. Neither rare nor elusive, but very pretty nonetheless. Starlings would be prized birds if they were rare and native, rather than invasive and common. So shiny.

30) European Starling
31) Red-winged Blackbird

#BirdsOf2026

Less than ideal viewing conditions. (There is a river there, I promise.) But fog and other limited visibility can have a bright side. You see less, but you also see different things, because it changes bird behavior. Some come closer than they would on a clear day. Some fly lower. There are also sometimes fewer people out, especially if it's both cold and foggy, as it definitely is today. I see scaup fairly often, but usually from pretty far away. Today, they were close and clear.

32) Lesser Scaup

#BirdsOf2026

Fabulous day, bird-wise at least. It's very funny how long it took me to see a goose. They're everywhere, just not where I was walking until today. One of my favorite things is seeing two similar birds next to each other, to clearly see the differences. Today I got that with the woodpeckers. What a treat.

33) Canada Goose
34) Downy Woodpecker
35) Hairy Woodpecker
36) American Kestrel
37) Pacific Wren
38) Fox Sparrow

#BirdsOf2026

This is ridiculous, scary weather for western Oregon in January. But just for today, I'm choosing not to think about what it means for our water year or what it portends for summer. We spent 3 hours birding Salem's Minto-Brown Island Refuge and Park, and saw 21 species of birds, 6 of them new to me for the year. Glorious walk.

39) Gadwall
40) Great Blue Heron
41) Bald Eagle
42) Red-tailed Hawk
43) Belted Kingfisher
44) Western Bluebird

#BirdsOf2026

One more, and now I'm really running out of easy winter ones. Still a few weird ducks to track down, but then it's going to slow way down until spring migration arrival. I'm three ahead of last year at this time, and more importantly, I've had some very pretty walks.

45) Golden-crowned Sparrow

#BirdsOf2026

I had to drop someone off at the airport very early this morning, and took the opportunity to visit two of my favorite spots from back when I lived around Portland: Greenway Park and Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge. Between the two, I saw 30 species of birds, 8 new for the year. I definitely have work to catch up on from taking the extra time off, but it was well worth it. Both places are gems, and if you get a chance, I can't recommend visiting them enough.

46) Cackling Goose
47) Green-winged Teal
48) Common Merganser
49) Great Egret
50) Northern Shoveler
51) Northern Pintail
52) Ruddy Duck
53) Pied-billed Grebe

#BirdsOf2026

When I watch birds, I tend to do it in the wildest places I have time to get to, and so it sometimes takes me a while to see city birds that are some of the most common in the country. Today, in the parking lot of Jackson-Frazier Wetland, I finally picked up the rare, the elusive, the enigmatic:

54) House Sparrow
#BirdsOf2026

Today is the start of this year's Great Backyard Bird Count. I went to my local wetland and heard one of the few birds that this mediocre auditory birder can reliably count by sound, as two rails were calling at each other from opposite sides of the boardwalk.

Any eBird observations from now through Monday help scientists and managers more effectively protect birds for decades to come.
More info: https://www.birdcount.org/

55) Virginia Rail
#BirdsOf2026

Good little-bird day at the park today. Three sparrow species—song, golden-crowned and white-crowned—plus juncos, hummingbirds, chickadees, wren, etc. Probably a killdeer too, which would have been #57, but I wasn't quite sure enough to count it.

56) White-crowned Sparrow
#BirdsOf2026