White Wing

Today, Nov. 26, 2017, for the first time in months, we saw White Wing, the mostly white Red-tailed Hawk with a lovely red tail that hangs out in the Grand Ronde area, west of Grand Ronde Rd and north of the Salmon River Hwy (Hwy 18). It seems to hunt along the power lines there. It was raining today and my camera turned the raindrops white.

Nov. 26, 2017

I thought I'd try to find past photos of White Wing with dates and see if he (she?) has changed over the years. This will be a work in progress...

The first email I saved about this hawk was in March of 2005 but I did not say when we had first seen it. In April of 2006, Mary Ann Sohlstrom wrote to tell me about the leucistic Red-tail she and friends saw on the wire by the Nazarene Church in Grand Ronde. That has been a favorite spot for that hawk over the years.



On Aug. 8, 2007, I wrote this email:

Today I saw White Wing on a low evergreen pretty close to the

Nazarene Church in Grand Ronde. A bit farther away, on one of

the power line poles, was another Red-tailed Hawk. This was the

one Carol Karlen and Marilyn VanDyk spotted in the same location

yesterday and called to tell me about. It looks like a normal

red-tail from the front, but from the back, it is quite

different. It has a wide, white chevron, white eyebrow, and

white terminal tail band on a red tail. Pretty bird. It's 
an adult so I don't know if this is a White Wing parent,

sibling, or offspring.

I have saved no other emails but we have seen White Wing every year since, so it is at least 13 years old.

May 30, 2012

 October, 2012

November 2013

November 2017

February 2, 2018, White Wing was sitting in a distant tree. My photo is not good. Shortly after, it took off and was joined by a second red-tailed hawk. They soared together. I think White Wing has a mate! With luck we'll see them sitting side by side sometime so we know, by size, if White Wing is a male or female.

February 2018

Shorebirds at Bob Straub Park Part 3

Are these Sanderlings? Or, at least, some of them?

Yes! says Paul Sullivan. I finally got one right!

These are Sanderlings, with white underparts and the black mark at the bend of the wing.  They lack a hind toe.  Note the scaly back.  Several of them have a remnant of the rusty color on the neck, left over from breeding plumage.

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Posted By Linda Fink to Birds at 9/05/2017 10:04:00 PM

Shorebirds at Bob Straub Park Part 4

Is this one long-billed, bigger bird a Dowitcher? Is there any way to tell if it is Short-billed or Long-billed? I did not hear it vocalize. Who are its buddies?

Paul Sullivan replies:

These are Sanderlings, with white underparts and the black mark at the bend of the wing.  They lack a hind toe. There is one Long-billed Dowitcher.

In the future, I will know to look for the black mark at the bend of the wing. Many thanks to Paul Sullivan!

Shorebirds at Bob Straub Park Part 2

I am confused about these... not even sure they are all the same groups. The scaly backs and dark caps make me think Semipalmated. ?? Wrong again. Paul Sullivan wrote:

I think this large group of birds are Western Sandpipers.  They have dark leg, a white throat and foreneck, and their bills are long, with a slight droop.  However the birds in the background in photos 8-9 are Sanderlings.  They have a black mark at the bend of the wing showing against a white breast and neck, and they are running up the beach away from the waves.

I did realize the birds in the back were Sanderlings but did not state that. I love Paul's reasons. But I could not detect a droop in the bills of the birds in front. Now that I look harder, I can.

Shorebirds at Bob Straub Park Part 1

Sept. 5, 2017, I attempted to survey shorebirds while doing my Beached Bird Survey for COASST. I took photos and thank others for helping me figure out what they are.

 This is the first small group I saw. My guess of Western Sandpipers was wrong. Paul Sullivan said:

I think they could be Baird's Sandpipers.  They have dark legs, a hind toe, wings longer than the tail, a buffy breast, and a finely streaked crown

Now that I look at the tail/wing ratio, I see what he means. I never think to look for that.

Hendrik Herlyn has now also commented on each set of photos with very helpful remarks. Anyone else trying to learn shorebirds, be sure to read his comments as well as Paul's. Thanks to these great birders for helping me out!

Peregrine Falcon

On July 5th, Johnny and I walked my CoastWatch mile 262 (at Cape Kiwanda State Park) in the fog and saw an adult peregrine plucking a newly caught gull on the beach. My Nikon Coolpix 900 brought him up close and I took lots of photos.

Farther south on the beach, half way up the cliff, a hatch year peregrine was perched on a dead branch. It was looking north toward where we had seen the adult plucking the gull. Maybe it was hoping for a meal from the parent. We did not stay around to find out. Again, I took lots of photos.