Lesser Goldfinches are tiny, thumb-sized creatures, rich green on their backs, gilded dandelion on their breasts, with trim little black caps and splotchy white-and-black wings.
Lately, my friends and I count fewer birds and more black, license-plate-free cars on our expeditions to the woods. While counting hawks, I'm often keeping an eye out for armed men, another eye on the news, and another tracking which of our communities ICE might be hunting in.
I went down to the Big River to write about ducks. While I was doing this, I noticed a dead gull on the end of a rocky spit. I decided to go evaluate the gull, and incidentally, scare the bejeebers out of 40 Rock Pigeons who happened to be snoozing there.
THE GORGE — Eagle Watch events on Jan. 17 will include indoor experiences at Columbia Gorge Discovery Center, and outdoor viewings in The Dalles and Lyle, some hosted by the Corps of Engineers.
In a bush nearby I’ve been hearing the liquid gabble of practicing Golden-crowned sparrows, fresh from the North. I know they were born this spring because they’re only “singing” these babbly liquid burble sounds, with snatches of barely recognizable sparrow-tune.
I quite like House Sparrows, invasive colonizers though they are. They’re friendly: comic relief from a loaded world of human interactions. They come in about fifty shades of brown, the males with rich black bibs.
