Well, “little dog” still doesn’t have a name (don’t pressure me) but he has now traveled to the coast.

“Little dog” proved to have a good enough recall that he was allowed off leash for both a morning marsh hike and both trips down to the beach.

Finn has always loved the beach. In the last few years, it’s become one of the few places he still runs and romps and does play bows.

He and “little dog” paled around on the sand and rocks and had a grand time.

Saturday morning I took the dogs out to an old logging trail where “little dog” (and Finn of course) was allowed off leash again. He likes the trails… and everything else!

While we were there, we saw a rough skinned newt, a marsh wren, and several geese.

After this adventure, Mom and I picked up a friend of mine and went to Toledo for lunch and to view artist studios.

In the afternoon we went back down to the beach.

It’s possible “little dog” is now tired.

This morning I got up to go with the Salem Audubon Society on a birding trip to Ankeny National Wildlife Refuge.

When I got up this morning, a spectacular near-red sunrise greeted me, but by the time I got to Ankeny, a little cloud brightness was all that was left.

A storm was coming, however, and the birds sensed it. We didn’t see too much until the end of the trip when we spotted a peregrine falcon surveying the marsh.

In the next field over we spotted a bunch of American pipits (no pictures) which was exciting for the group and a first for me.

But my favorite photo was this one, of a fluffed-up female kestrel on a slim little tree looking over her territory.

Could be a painting…?

Yesterday was my second (and last) day at the Wild Wings Festival. While the Wild Wings Festival is a four day event, I could only attend on the weekend. Originally I had toyed with the idea of staying over an extra day on Sunday and driving back on Monday (a holiday for me), but my plans never really got off the ground.

Sunday I had signed up for a “mystery” tour of the upper basin. The description said that we would tour the upper basin and go to various birding spots based on the weather. I thought this sounded like a good idea because I hoped that the guide would take us to the best spots that had been reported throughout the weekend. This turned out to be close to what happened, so it was an excellent tour. I felt like between the Saturday tour that focused on the lower basin and the Sunday tour focusing on the upper basin that I could come back and have an idea where to start.

We start out the day heading north to a private road where the guide (Marshal Moser) had arranged us to view the feeders at a simply STUNNING home. The road up to the house was great for waterfowl and raptors, and once we go to the home we were amazed by the variety.

After leaving the house we ventured further north, going along the “bays” that have been carved out of the lake. We go this ID guide to help us determine which raptors we might be looked at (there were… A LOT!)

The trick was the “dark/light” pattern. Red tails were “dark/light/dark” whereas Rough-legs were “light/light/dark.” The group spent a great deal of time on this issue. I will admit I got lost a lot.

A little later we came to a large group of black birds (not Blackbirds (necessarily)). The group was very excited about this because in addition to Red-winged Blackbirds, there were Brown-headed Cowbirds and Tricolored Blackbirds.

We started to move north again, spotting a Great Horned Owl in a red-tail nest….

A sick, lone antelope….

And, much to the group’s excitement (I wouldn’t have known) a Say’s Phoebe.

We started moving into snow country and rough-legged hawk territory. On one stretch we saw 11 rough-legged hawks (and no red-tails!)

On the last part of our adventure, we went to a little park where a pair of American Dippers were nesting. I was game to go see them, but unfortunately I slipped on some ice and hurt myself (again…) and went back to the bus to regroup, thus missing the dipper.

We returned to base a few minutes early, where I hit the road for home. It was a good trip.