Hello, and Riverwood + Erindale birds

[Reuven_M]

Very good again today, my personal highlight was the bluest-headed vireo I've ever seen, with it head not far from the colour of a blue jay!
Also hawk-watched for a while, with some decent numbers, but they were all far away (towards the lake)
70 vultures
2 sharpies
1 coopers
2 red-tails
2 buteo sp.
4 raptor sp.
3 accipter sp.
2 downy and 2 hairy woodpeckers
1 phoebe
2 blue-headed vireo
3 golden-, 2 ruby-crowned and 3 kinglet sp.
2 nashville, 35 yellow-rumped and 2 palm warblers
1 savannah (first of fall), 8 song, 1 swamp, 32 white-throated and 5 white-crowned sparrows

[Reuven_M]

An amazing morning despite the light rain most of the time. My feet were pretty wet by the end, but it was worth it.
Highlights were 4(!!!!!) orange-crowned warblers, 4 rusty blackbirds, my first hermit thrush and winter wren of the year, and just the sheer numbers of the common migrants.

1 harrier and 2 kestrels
1 downy and 1 red-bellied woodpecker
1 phoebe
About 150 blue jays
1 winter wren
about 20 golden- and 35 ruby-crowned kinglets
1 hermit thrush
6 warbler sp: 4 orange-crowned, 6 nashville, 1 magnolia, 2 palm, 1 yellowthroat and at least 80 yellow-rumps
6 sparrow sp: 1 lincoln's, 4 swamp, 4 junco and about 25 song, 50 white-throated and 45 white-crowned
A flock of about 200 grackles included 4 rusty blackbirds, but nothing else except a starling
tons of goldfinches, about 60

[Reuven_M]

Another very good day with another 4 orange-crowned warblers!!! At least 2 were different individuals from yesterday.
about 30 turkey vultures, 1 red-tail and 2 accipiters
1 red-bellied woodpecker
2 phoebes
2 blue-headed vireo
Many kinglets, I actually got looks at 11 ruby-crowns and 1 golden-crown, but there were at least 50 more kinglets around
6 hermit thrush
4 warbler sp: 4 orange-crowned, 5 nashville, 2 yellowthroat and around 75 yellow-rumps. There was a flock of mixed orange-crowns and nashvilles that I id'd 2 orange-crowns and 3 nashvilles from, but there were at least 6 others I didn't get good looks at.
4 sparrow sp: 40 white-crowned, 35 white-throated, 6 song and 5 swamp

[Reuven_M]

Tons of birds around this afternoon, including huge numbers of yellow-rumped warblers and my first decent flock of juncos

2 downy and 1 sapsucker
1 phoebe
2 red-breasted nuthatch
approx. 25 of each kinglet
3 hermit thrush
1 catbird
7 warbler sp: 2 ornage-crowned (ho-hum ), 5 nashville, 1 black-throated blue, 2 black-throated green, 2 palm, 2 yellowthroats and about 120 (!!) yellow-rumps.
5 sparrow sp, mostly white-crowns: 7 song, 2 swamp, 15 white-throated, 45 white-crowned, 20 junco

[Reuven_M]

Another very good day at Erindale, today the main focus was on raptors
Raptors: 5 species including 750 (!!) turkey vultures, 3 sharpies, 3 red-shouldered (first of fall and my 2nd-4th for erindale), 4 red-tails, 1 kestrel and 8 buteo sp.  

3 downy woodpecker
1 blue-headed vireo
2 ruby-crowned kinglets and 15 kinglet sp. (I didn't spend much time trying to get good looks at them when there were more interesting birds around)
5 warbler sp: 2 orange-crowned, 2 nashville, 4 palm, 1 blackpoll and around 70 yellow-rumped
5 sparrows sp: 4 song, 1 swamp, 6 white-throated, 50 white-crowned and 40 junco

Also a snake which I found out was a brown snake, a first for me. The cold was clearly making it slow, I could pick it up with it barely moving.

[Reuven_M]

Rather quiet today with all the wind
1 red-tailed hawk
1 downy woodpecker
1 hermit thrush
6 yellow-rumped warblers
The four expected sparrow species: 3 song, 3 white-throated, 9 white-crowned and 5 junco
1 house finch

[Reuven_M]

I went out with Vince and Sue, and saw some nice birds:
1 great blue heron
2 vultures, 1 cooper's hawk
2 downy woodpecker
2 phoebes
2 white-breasted nuthatch (+ 1 red-breasted heard)
about 25 golden-crowned and 40 ruby-crowned kinglets
5 hermit thrush
6 warbler sp: 3 nashville, 2 magnolia, 2 black-throated blue, 16 yellow-rumped, 1 black-throated green and 1 palm
6 sparrow sp: 1 field (first of fall) and 1 swamp, and about 20 song, 60 white-throated, 60 white-crowned and 30 junco
Quite a few blackbirds flying over, mostly grackles, but at least one red-winged blackbird, my first for quite a while
3 house finch

[Reuven_M]

Not as many birds today, but my first towhee of fall and 4 field sparrows were nice.

3 red-tails
2 red-breasted nuthatch
6 yellow-rumped, 1 palm and 1 yellowthroat
6 sparrow sp: 1 towhee, 4 field, 15 song, 20 white-throated, 30 white-crowned, 15 juncos

[Luv2Bird]

Vince and I would like to thank Reuven for the super guided tour Sat. morning.  We explored some great new areas.   It was wonderful to have such a knowledgeable guide along ...as Vince and I are still not great at IDing on sight.  We have to look at our pictures and thumb through our bird books.   Reuven was most helpful with IDs right away.   We'll certainly make many more trips to Erindale.

[Luv2Bird]

Reuven .. were you with us when we saw the Great Blue Heron land in the river? You didn't mention it on your Oct. 9th list.

[Reuven_M]

Oops! I changed it. Thanks for the kind words.

[Rob'in'To]

Wow!  I was at Riverwood on October 9th.  I saw a much smaller list.  Sometimes I should seek out and talk to other birders in my travels.

[Vince]

I've had more luck with Erindale Park than Riverwood

[Reuven_M]

I couldn't tell you why, but Riverwood is almost always way more productive than Erindale in spring, and vice versa in fall.

[Reuven_M]

This afternoon was rather quiet. However, there was one major highlight, a flock of five fox sparrows! I have only twice before seen 2 fox sparrows in a day, but today I had at one time four in my binoculars at once. Rather good for my first of fall.
If anyone is interested in trying to find them, head from the parking lot to the toboggan hill. Once you reach the hill where the path splits into three, go right, and they were in the first patch of conifers on the left of the path.

I was expecting a nice raptor migration today, and I think there was one, but very high. In about 45 minutes watching all I saw were 8 turkey vultures, 2 red-tails and 3 buteo sp (1 of which I think was a red-shoulder). However, they were very high and hard to find, and the buteos weren't even visible to the naked eye, I only found them by fluke when I looked at a vulture.

1 red-bellied and 2 downy woodpecker
8 ruby-crowned kinglet
1 hermit thrush
2 nashville and 1 yellow-rumped warbler
5 sparrow sp: 5 fox, 5 song, 3 swamp, 3 white-throated, 8 white crowned (and 0 juncos!)