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Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Flock of finches at Beaverton Creek Wetlands

Today while out doing errands I stopped by Beaverton Creek Wetlands to see what was happening and take a quick walk in the drizzly weather. I haven't been there in a couple of years, and it's amazing how much the trees and shrubs have grown up, largely blocking the view of the wetlands from the path. I only turned up 13 species in the half hour I was there, but the highlight was right at my turn-around point where there was a mixed flock of house finches and American goldfinches (115):


It's interesting to me that I hadn't seen American goldfinches yet this year, while I had seen lesser goldfinches on several occasions. In the past, I considered lesser goldfinches a real rarity. A recent discussion on the local bird-watching listserv focused on the recent rise of lesser goldfinches in the area, so this seems to be a general trend in the region.

At the other end of the park several red-winged blackbirds were singing, including this male who was flashing his bright shoulder patches:

2 comments:

Warren Baker said...

Hi Monika,
Over here we call a flock of Goldfinch's a 'Charm' Is that what you know them by ?

Monika said...

I haven't heard that before, but I like it!