birds.

last winter, or maybe the winter before that, but probably much further back than i can really put my finger on, i became very interested in watching birds. It came naturally from my love of the outdoors, hiking, camping, breathing... I would take notice of them, watch them wheel in the sky, eat, play, bathe, hover, hunt, but i wasn't really paying attention. Then, last year, i decided to pay attention, but i made the decision in january, and the weather was crappy, and it was hard to get motivated to go tromping when the weather is crappy, yes?

My wife and I bought a house several years ago in east portland that sits on a nice lot, larger than usually seen, and much more treed than is usual. we have huge pines, and something like a maple, a giant tree. we have lots of shrubbery too. with all these woodsy places, we have several critters we see regularly, such as squirrel, raccoon, possum, and many many birds. we have lots and lots of windows in our house providing us with a near 360 degree view of the wildlife around us. Of course, its not that wild, living in the city, but you make of it what you can, right?

anyway, to birds... I regularly hear the red-shafted flickers in the tops of the pines around us, and on the top of the telephone pole in the back yard. Starlings are omni-present when the weather is fair, robins, black-capped chickadees, all of them are usual visitors. Now that i am paying attention, i am seeing much more variety. I see dark-eyed juncos all the time, and today i think i had a slate-colored junco in the yard. Scrub Jays are regular, and there is a stellar jay or two that comes and goes. I have had a red-breasted nuthatch visiting this week, a red-naped sapsucker hanging on the tree 10 feet from the front window. A solitary bewick's wren has threatened to live in the bird house i built last summer, paying a visit once a week, feeding, curiously poking around in the little house and flying away. a flock of bushtits come and go. all manner of finches, sparrows, an unidentified warbler or two have been spotted, and, although we don't have a hummingbird feeder, i have seen them in and out of the pines in the backyard. I recently had a (what i think was) a juvenile cooper's hawk on the roof-rack of our car, in the driveway, it blew me away to see it up close.

whenever we go out of town, or even on an around town hike, i am scanning the skies and trees and listening for the birds around me. i hope to keep a list with me and begin to keep some kind of amateur-ish record of what i see and where and when. but i dont think i am organized enough for that. I would like to be efficient enough to take pictures of some birds. my family has become used to my sudden hushed cries of slow down, be quiet, move quietly. they used to worry what was wrong, but now they now its just a bird. they will even point out birds to me, or ask me what it is they see. it was my 6-yr old that pointed out the sapsucker on the tree outside the front door last week.

i was inspired to write a blog by my wife, who does a lot of posting, and it gives me a little outlet to write about things i find interesting.