Rich Hoyer on his just-completed Oregon in Spring tour

It was a marvelous Oregon in Spring tour, with nearly picture-perfect weather (we magically managed to dodge rain showers one morning) and one memorable bird experience after another. The often elusive galliforms, usually among the most sought-after birds on the tour, performed marvelously, with a Sooty Grouse that magically appeared in the road where none had been before, a Mountain Quail that charged us, even posing for photos, and a Chukar that stood in the road as if waiting for us to appear and safeguard its passage.

Sooty Grouse

Mountain Quail

Chukar

Flammulated Owl is always a tricky bird, and we managed to see two (though one only in flight), but even the common birds made it to the short list of favorites, such as the family of Great Horned Owls perched at close range, one of the juveniles eyeing us with a 180-degree head turn, and gorgeous Western Tanagers in wonderful light.

Great Horned Owl fledgling