The King

Vroom!

The King...

...wishes you...

...a happy Sunday.

Good Morning

Heckle...

...and his Mom...

...hope you have a Super Saturday!

Friday

Designer - Val's Stitchin' Stuff

Fabric - 28 count Khaki Cashel linen

Fibers - WDW

Stitched 2009

I share the flora on my Green Island walk.

Here are some of the fauna.

A Kestral

I heard this Black Phoebe long before I located him.

I was able to get some nice close ups.

I really like this one.

Male Hairy Woodpecker

Saw several raptors - I think this is a Red-tailed Hawk.

Here is evidence of a raptor strike.

The thought was that it was a duck of some sort.

An Old Finish to Share Again

 Design - Bernard

Designer - Heart in Hand

Fabric -32 count Dirty Belfast linen
Fibers - WDW
Date Completed - 2009

Let's transition from a little snowman to a little bird.

I had my first sighting of a female Downy Woodpecker in several weeks.

She flew in for some suet on an especially cold morning.

The larger Hairy Woodpeckers have been missing as well. 

Once again cold temps brought in a bird...

...this time a male.

I had two Red-breasted Sapsuckers on the same tree, but was only able to get  photo of one.

The bird(s) have been spending about an hour each morning working on this tree.

At some point they'll finish up here and move on to work on the other trees in their rotation.

Can't forget the Flickers - they've been morning visitors too. 

Wet Wednesday Walk

I took a cold, wet walk today on Green Island. It's an 1100 acre property at the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette Rivers. It formally was a farm - here you can see remnants of the old ferry crossing to the island.

The McKenzie River Trust acquired the property in 2003.

Along the rivers the property was generally untouched. 

Now this part of the river is changing with snags in the river...

...and developing gravel bars.

Great habitat for the Black Phoebe in this photo.

But much of the property was farm fields - and these have been slowly replanted with native shrubs and trees - over 500,000!

Loved these old seed pods.

Algae in a side channel.

Reseeded lupine is thriving. 

Looking east toward the Coburg Hills.

Mosses and lichens.

Willows

There are also three old quarry ponds which have been reconnected to the rivers.

I think we saw a beaver.

What do you think?

While it was a cold, drizzly day, it was heartening to see all the progress toward returning this piece of property to its natural state. 

A Bit of Progress

The snow guy now had a face and a scarf. With a few more details he'll look like a snowman rather than a zombie.

The past few days have dawned clear and quite cold.  It's led to some good woodpecker action.

I've had at least three Flickers - a couple of red-mustached guys...

...and a gal.

For the past several days a Red-breasted Sapsucker has been hard at work on this huge Douglas fir tree. Little bird - big tree!

One morning I briefly saw two birds.

The sapsuckers pay no attention to me.

I think they've figured out that 20' up...30' up the tree...

...they are safe from me.