Lazuli Bunting

topic posted Mon, May 28, 2007 - 8:14 AM by  Kevin
For our birthdays we booked a couple of nights at the Columbia Gorge Hotel. On Sunday morning we did a small hike at the Tom McCall Preserve at Rowena. The wind we incredibly fierce, which is probably normal for this hike. We weren’t birding and we didn’t see many birds but we got an awesome look at a Lazuli Bunting. I’m could have swore we’ve seen one of those before but we didn’t have it recorded, so this may have been our first sighting. Other good sightings were a Wild Turkey running up the trail in front of us and a Peregrine Falcon flying up a canyon we hiked beside.

This is a link to the preserve.
www.nature.org/wherewewor...rt6809.html

I posted a couple photos here of the place.
www.flickr.com/photos/kevinwagoner/
posted by:
Kevin
Portland
  • Re: Lazuli Bunting

    Mon, May 28, 2007 - 9:00 AM
    wow, beautiful photos!

    this is gonna sound strange........I have a lazuli bunting in my freezer. one day, when I was working in the financial district in SF I was out getting lunch and I looked down and saw this beautiful little blue bird that was dead. it had blood around its beak and I assume it flew into a window and died. I took a picture and put it in a plastic bag and took it back to work with me. I didn't bother to tell my coworkers, I'm sure they already thought I was strange, and this would've been too much for them. I took it home and put it in my freezer. I haven't decided what to do with it.....still. I don't know whether to bury it, or find a way of preserving it in epoxy resin. I'm inclined to try and preserve it. So, I will most likely do that, but I have to create the right mold for it to be in. I still feel sad for the little bird, it was as lost in the financial district as I was.
    • Unsu...
       

      Re: Lazuli Bunting

      Mon, May 28, 2007 - 9:24 AM
      Call the Bone Room or Paxton Gate and see if they have a good taxidermist. Or you could donate it to the UCBerkeley's Ornithology dept. I'm sure they would love to have it.

      I love the Col. Gorge Hotel! My mother used to take us up there for really special occasions for their famous breakfasts. They used to pour the pancake syrup from way high up onto the pancakes. Great kicks for a kid! I hear the turkeys are taking over the world. Slight exaggeration but I did hear somthing about them being around in alarming numbers this year. I saw my first Lazuli in Portland. They take your breath away. Sounds like a great weekend!

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