Al spotted this Mute Swan on a walk along Phyllis Canal one day.   Returning with his camera he was able to get photos.   This is an East coast bird according to our birding books, but our local Audubon confirmed frequent sightings here in recent years.

Driving around the area to see the usual birding sites, Annamarie spotted these Great Blue Herons.   This was the first time we had seen more than two herons together, this photo has seven.   In the foreground are a few Canada Geese and hundreds of Mallards.

On the other side of this same waterway were hundreds more Mallards.

We learned of the migrating Snow Geese forty miles SW of Boise so we drove there in February.   This photo is taken from a tower across the road from the game preserve where the geese are resting on their flight North.   Annamarie is below, looking with her binoculars.

Zooming in on the middle area of what looks like styrofoam in the above photo, we see the actual geese.

Zooming in further, we see they are Snow Geese with one Mallard in their midst.

Driving home, we came across a flock of 200 or so Greater White-fronted Geese.   This was a new species for us.

Red-winged Blackbirds in our back yard feeder.

Driving on I-84 in Eastern Oregon, we spotted these Sandhill Cranes from the freeway.   There was no place to pull over so we took the next exit and were able to see these from a short road inside the bird refuge.

Near Pendleton, Oregon Annamarie spotted our first Ruddy Duck.