Hi!
Took a few minutes to bird around our place today. Bewick's
Wren(two pair), 1 pair Bullock's Orioles, a Black-headed Grosbeak, 5
nesting pairs of Black-billed Magpies, a nesting pair of Red-winged
Blackbirds, 3 or 4 pairs of American Robins, far too many starlings,
a pair of American Goldfinches at the feeder, House Sparrows and
House Finches. From the woods we spooked one Barn Owl we
didn't know was in the area. Flying by, 1 Osprey, 1 female Mallard, 1
Belted Kingfisher and overhead a lot of Northern Rough-winged
Swallows, 1 American Kestrel and our best find of the day, a high
sailing Swainson's Hawk, that as we watched went into a stoop and
came all the way down to the trees on the edge of our property and
landed on a nest where it changed places with its mate.
We see Swainson's almost every day and long suspected they nested
in the area, now we find the nest less that 500 feet from the house.
In the winter we just thought it was an old Magpie nest. There is a
pair of Magpies nesting less than 75 feet from the hawks.

Larry and Jacque Goodhew from Walla Walla