Great Horned Owl at Orchard Park, Hillsboro OR

I decided to check out the last part of the Rock Creek Trail -- the actual trailhead and 21 acre Park at the south end of the trail. Orchard Park is about 2-3 miles from my house, and is an interesting park. Not only does it have beautiful trails, bathrooms, off street parking and a playground, but it also is a disc Golfcourse (frisbee).

After I arrived I took a walk through the park, found a few interesting birds and then decided to head home....that is when I ran into one of the maintenance crew who was mowing and saw me with my camera. "Hey, did you see the Great Horned Owl"?, he said! Well, you can imagine my excitement....turned right around and followed his direcions to the site. There up in the tall dark fir forest, sat the amazing owl...my first sighting ever! He/she was asleep when I got there, but some noisy hikers woke it up...so I was able to get some photos with eyes open. Id love to come back very early in the AM, or at sunset (list of things to do!!)

This morning before I went on my hike, I went to the chiropractor for my back...needed a bit of adjusting. When I pulled into the parking lot, a Cooper's Hawk flew right in front of me and perched on a small tree. I cautiously approached and was able to get a few good shots.

Then early this morning, I went outside to check out a sighting from last night of Green Heron in a neighbor's tree. I had heard strange gurgling/cooing sounds all day yesterday...and last night I saw the Green Heron take off and do several circles around the area. This morning there were at least 4-5 of them. Some look bigger, and 2-3 look smaller. I watched for sometime and found that they were building a nest in the tree. This is so so exciting! I did not want to disturb them anymore, so only got a few pictures which are not great quality, but at least you can see them. Can't wait to see what is to come:))

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