Winter Birding in Cedar Mill
by Lauretta Young

Many birds that breed in the northern parts of Canada and Alaska find our winters to be “balmy” even with the occasional weeks of very cold temperatures we have had in the past few winters. As I write this in mid December, the pond in the back of my yard in a wetlands area of Cedar Mill is just starting to become free of ice around the edges.

Golden-crowned sparrow Photo by Jeff Young

This makes winter an excellent time to see many birds that you won’t see in the spring or summer unless you too fly to Alaska! Last week in my pond I saw gadwalls, green winged teals and American Widgeons. All these however were eclipsed by the “hawk” show—due to the ice they could not hunt their usual rodents and snakes so they picked off gulls and small ducks that were stranded in the center of the pond. While this sounds difficult to see, in many ways it is part of the natural order.

The winter has also brought to Cedar Mill many small song birds that breed in Alaska. We now regularly see large flocks of juncos, golden crowned sparrows and yellow-rumped warblers at our feeders and underneath.

A small mob of bushtits visits a suet feeder Photo by Virginia Bruce

The bushtits have flocked back up as well. They pair off in the summer to breed, but in the fall they form large flocks which will “bomb” a suet feeder with up to 50 birds at a time—making for a squirming mass of birds on one feeder.

Several goldfinches appear to be staying for the winter in flocks, usually they migrate in fall to warmer climates but this year there appear to be many who have decided to stay—possibly it was a good seed year in Cedar Mill? I have seen them eating out of the pods of my sweet gum tree—when I looked in a pod I found numerous small seeds resembling the nyger thistle that we can buy at stores to attract these birds. And to think that I imagined those hard pods only being a nuisance in my lawn!

The absolute favorite bird however that I have seen recently in my back yard has to be the great horned owl who I hear at night but rarely see, I know there are two owls out there who hoot back and forth. I was fortunate enough to see one perch on a tree right at dusk, the “ears” of his great horned head were obvious in the twilight even if I had not heard his call which identified the bird.

Male Anna's Hummingbird Photo by Jeff Young

In the greater Portland area over the course of a year there have been about 270 birds identified. The exact number changes from year to year and with the climate change we are seeing more “unusual” birds that we generally don’t see here. In our own Cedar Mill back yards, if we look, we can see an amazing variety through the seasons. From the large great blue herons and great horned owls to the tiny Anna’s hummingbirds who stay all winter (keep your feeder full and unfrozen!) we have almost all those birds if we just look outside.

Lauretta Young is a local bird tour guide – see www.portlandbirdwatching.com for more information about her business and to see some pictures of her recent tours!

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