It wasn't all birds! We saw a Mule deer - a buck - and several of these Golden-mantled Ground Squirrels.
The first site we visited was a condominium complex!
There were several holes in these two aspen with active nests tended by multiple species including Tree Swallows, Western Bluebirds, Pygmy Nuthatchs, House Wrens, and Woodpeckers. I watched the activity and saw the House Wren, Bluebirds, and Swallows hard at work. The Nuthatches and Woodpeckers were so quick in and out that I did not feel I saw them clearly.
We saw and heard several different Flycatchers including this one.
At the aptly named Calliope Crossing, we saw this male Calliope Hummingbird.
In early May 2015, I had one stop by my feeder for a couple of days while on migration. Take a look - the photos do a better job showing off this lovely bird.
Here's one of the Life Birds I collected - a Red-naped Sapsucker.
This pair of Sapsuckers was interesting as one...
...was a leucistic bird. It had a red head, but the rest of the bird had very little pigment, and was cream colored. Nonetheless it had found a mate and had an active nest.
This is another lifer for me - a Hammond's Flycatcher.
This is the most unusual of the woodpeckers I think.
It's a female White-headed Woodpecker.
It's a rather odd looking bird I think, but a regular feeder bird in this area. It too was a Lifer.
Through the late 1880's the Williamson Sapsucker females and males were thought to be separate species as they look so different. This is the female and a Lifer.
And this is the male! They look nothing alike.
Sometimes Nature is very tidy! The male is cleaning out the nest - the poop of the young birds is contained in a fecal sac for easy removal.
Here's the female once again.
We also saw Hairy Woodpeckers and several small Downy Woodpeckers like this one.
High atop a pine I was thrilled to see this Lifer - a Red-Crossbill. If you enlarge the photo you can clearly see how the top bill overlaps the bottom - the better to open seeds.
Most Oregon woodpeckers prefer to reside in living forests, but two species, the Three-Toed, and the Black-backed Woodpecker reside in burned forest eating the beetles that inhabit the dead trees.
This is an active Black-backed Woodpecker.
And here's the male bird!
A quietly handsome bird with a dash of yellow atop its head.
We had a wonderful day exploring the birds and forests around Sisters, Oregon.
