The Birds in Our Backyard
March 30th, 2011 by Guest Blogger
An acorn woodpecker at Dawson Creek Park in Hillsboro. Photo by Jeff Young.
By Lauretta Young of
www.portlandbirdwatching.com
One of my favorite woodpeckers is the Acorn woodpecker. Dawson Creek Corporate Center behind the Hillsboro Library has several ponds with a variety of migratory ducks and even some wood ducks–but the stars of that area are the Acorn woodpeckers. They are such “show offs” and love to pose for whoever wants to admire their magnificent coloring.
South of the Dawson ponds is a wetlands area with several dead oak trees. There are live oak trees south of the library also full of woodpeckers gathering acorns. The birds then fly to the dead trees, where they deposit these treasures in previously drilled-out holes. The trees are riddled with holes and the noisy flock is often busy filling the holes with their stash, calling to each other loudly. If the sun shines on their heads the yellow and red almost glow. They are attention-grabbers for sure. Our area is usually the northern-most spot in the U.S. to see these gorgeous woodpeckers.
Of course in my yard and all around Cedar Mill we have many woodpeckers, including the Hairy and the smaller Downy, as well as Flickers and occasionally Sapsuckers and Pileateds. The Downys are the most common at suet feeders and in trees, but it’s worth the short trip to Hillsboro to see the Acorn woodpeckers and take a stroll on the nice paved paths to see the ducks. Top it off with a stop in the library and enjoy reading while looking out onto the ponds from the large picture windows.
Lauretta Young is a retired physician who now teaches health classes at PSU and OHSU, and leads birding tours in Cedar Mill and beyond. She birds happily year-round without having to travel far to find great habitats. Check out her website or her husband’s photos at www.flickr.com/photos/youngbirders/
Tags: birding oregon, birdwatching Oregon, Hillsboro Oregon Library, Oregon woodpeckers, washington county oregon
This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 30th, 2011 at 2:13 pm and is filed under Nature. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.