[birding] Video of Swainson's Thrush singing

[Lisa Millbank]

After watching some Red Foxes (see http://groups.google.com/group/mid-valley-nature/browse_thread/thread/3e8f0c7c1371ac68 for more on that), we then rode to Willamette Park and finally achieved the Holy Grail, World Cup, Nobel Prize and Golden Ticket of local bird sound videos, all rolled into one...a Swainson's Thrush singing.  It may be hard to believe that it is that valuable to us, but because they are quite shy, nearly always hide in dense vegetation, have cryptic coloration and a relatively brief period of singing, to actually get a close and unobstructed video of a male singing without unwanted background noise has been exceedingly tough .  You can see it at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpLnRUnoJNQ

Don had to go to work, and I worked in the garden.  I was amazed to see the Tree Swallow pair in the garden, whose babies have apparently fledged, mating about 18 times in a row!  Mr. Tree Swallow was quite an energetic little fellow!  I hope they do have another brood.  Mrs. Tree Swallow was sitting in the nest box after all that activity.

Peanut Queen and Mr. Shy, the jays, have fledglings as well.  They are keeping them well-hidden from the crows, but I hear them all the time.  I'm looking forward to meeting their brood of little gray-headed rascals.

Lisa
www.neighborhood-naturalist.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.midvalleybirding.org/pipermail/birding/attachments/20100623/943e8917/attachment.html