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

I know I've heard Phoebes before today, but I hadn't positively identified one until this great look this morning, perched close and singing at Starker Arts Park in Corvallis.

57) Black Phoebe
#BirdsOf2026

We pretty regularly get chickadees both -capped and -backed at the farm, but I can't ID the latter by song, so it always takes me a little longer. Gotcha.

58) Chestnut-backed Chickadee
#BirdsOf2026

I saw my first vulture of the year today, often one of my favorite days of the year. My muse, my champion, the golden purifier, Cathartes aura. And I can't even enjoy it. I can't welcome this old friend back to my skies, because I am mourning those my government is killing and the many, many more who will die and be harmed because of it.

59) Turkey Vulture
#BirdsOf2026

Introduced, but they count. It's not their fault that we brought them here, or that they happen to like it so much and do so well where we put them. The hoo-HOO-hoos have arrived.

60) Eurasian Collared-Dove
#BirdsOf2026

Swallow season has arrived in western Oregon, and to me at least, it has come all at once. I usually see Trees at least a little before VGs, but today they both put on a show at Willamette Park and showed me all their butts and faces, so I could see the difference. Welcome to spring.

61) Tree Swallow
62) Violet-green Swallow

#BirdsOf2026

Spring continues its approach, and the migration is speeding up. Today, at Ankeny Hill refuge, I spotted my first migrating hummingbird of the year, a great look at a male rufous. After a long flight on such tiny wings, I hope you have a good summer, little one.

63) Rufous Hummingbird
#BirdsOf2026 #oregon

I spend most of my time watching birds in parks and wilder land, and that means I sometimes miss the ones that hang out in human spaces. These days, you're more likely to see these dudes in a big box store parking lot than their native wetlands and grasslands, but I'm glad I saw them on the farm, in the grass where they belong.

64) Brewer's Blackbird
#BirdsOf2026

This was my first real trip to the coast this year, where I could actually sit and watch birds, and it was spectacular. Seaducks for days. The harleys in particular are a bird I don't see every year and haven't in the last few. Add in my first pelicans of the year and a lovely close look at a male crossbill, and it was all such a treat.

65) Western Gull
66) Harlequin Duck
67) Black Oystercatcher
68) Surf Scoter
69) Red Crossbill
70) Black Scoter
71) Brown Pelican

#BirdsOf2026

Spring continues to arrive, one migrant bird at a time. I had a fabulous half-hour walk at Jackson-Frazier Wetland, with 18 species and 2 new for the year. Oregonians, get out every day you can. Literally see it before it burns, because the summer is going to be rough.

72) Barn Swallow
73) Orange-crowned Warbler
#BirdsOf2026

Two more spring arrivals, and more importantly, two great moments with both of these birds along the Willamette River today. It's also nice to hit 75, the second earliest in my 9 eBird years that I've reached that number. I'm a slow and careful lister, who only marks birds I am very sure of, so every one is a fairly close, unique experience.

74) Greater Yellowlegs
75) Osprey

#BirdsOf2026