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Anna's hummingbird is the largest hummingbird common to our region. It is the only hummingbird regularly found in Oregon in winter, during which time it is exposed to short day lengths, limited sources of food and periods of intense cold. It is more vocal than most hummingbirds with males uttering a dry, scratchy buzz of a song that can be heard throughout the year. It is a rare to locally uncommon summer resident west of the Cascades in interior valleys and along the coast; also along the Columbia River east to The Dalles. It occurs and probably breeds into the
![annas_hb_budeau_1.jpg Anna's humminbird male](/sites/default/files/styles/232x139/public/2023-05/annas_hummingbird_michelle_dennehy_odfw_cx.jpg?itok=DhNw5vuB)
Dashing and darting about, flashing its bright white underparts, the Violet-green Swallow is one of the characteristic birds of summer. Unlike the Tree Swallow it commonly nests in niches and cavities on urban buildings and readily uses nesting boxes in residential areas. Its soft twittery call notes are a familiar pre-dawn sound as they fly about overhead. The Violet-green swallow is a very early spring migrant concentrating about streams and wetlands where emerging insects can be found until warmer weather allows them to move into more upland areas. It is a common to abundant summer resident and breeding species throughout
![1690_violet-green_swallow_leer_odfw_0.jpg Violet green swallow](/sites/default/files/styles/232x139/public/2023-05/1690_violet-green_swallow_leer_odfw.jpg?itok=pMExMjIy)
Even in the most barren and desolate reaches of the Great Basin, the cheerful song of the hardy Rock wren will contradict any notion that the desert is devoid of life. This specialist of cracks and crevices can be found almost anywhere there is exposed rock. One of its most unique features is the mysterious pebble path is constructs from its stone-cave nest to the outside entrance. Drab and pale overall, the gray head and back, white to tawny underparts, and gray tail with buff-tipped corners distinguish this species from other wrens. The Rock wren is a common breeder in
![2414_rock_wren_munsel.jpg Rock wren](/sites/default/files/styles/232x139/public/2023-05/2414_rock_wren_munsel_cx.jpg?itok=XXNFPler)
Game bird seasons in Oregon run from July 1 to June 30, which means you'll need to purchase new upland and waterfowl validations before you hunt again in the fall. If you have questions, please call ODFW licensing staff at 503-947-6101.
Find upcoming hunter safety education courses and field days.
Numerous locations throughout the state.
With short pointed wings and long narrow tails, these small falcons are well built for fast pursuit and mid-air attacks. Sexes differ in color and size, with adult males about 25 percent smaller by weight than females. Males range from blackish gray to pale blue-gray on the back with a reddish wash along sides of the breast and a banded tail; females have brownish backs. In winter, it can be found throughout the state in open or semi-open habitats, but it is most regular near major estuaries, lakes, reservoirs, and occasionally in cities where food supplies are reliable. For nesting
![9053_merlin_swingle_odfw.jpg Merlin falcon](/sites/default/files/styles/232x139/public/2023-05/9053_merlin_swingle_odfw_cx.jpg?itok=uANiZSic)
This medium-sized shorebird is the most common dowitcher in eastern Oregon and inland locations, where it sometimes gathers in large flocks feeding in shallow water. It is also the only dowitcher in the state that regularly winters. Although breeding plumage adults are reddish below and heavily patterned above, most birds seen in Oregon are duller postbreeding adults or browner immatures. During winter, when shorebirds are hard to find, a small flock of chattering dowitchers, even in plain gray basic plumage, often brightens a day in western Oregon. In migration, it can be found at almost any shallow water site in
![0280_long-billed_dowitcher_munsel_odfw.jpg Long-billed dowitcher](/sites/default/files/styles/232x139/public/2023-05/0280_dowitchers_munsel_odfw_cx.jpg?itok=C5sh9UHY)
Cryptically colored, usually solitary and somewhat secretive, the Wilson snipe is often flushed before being seen, sometimes exploding from practically underfoot and rocketing off in a corkscrew flight. This plump-bodied, long-billed bird of open marshland is primarily crepuscular, peaking in feeding activity at dusk and dawn, and often sleeping during the day. In breeding season they become more flamboyant, appearing atop fence posts and displaying their unique winnowing flights from high in the air, their outer tail feathers vibrating with an eerie whistling sound. They are uncommon and local west of the Cascades in the summer and uncommon and local
![wilsons_snipe_budeau_odfw.jpg Wilson's snipe](/sites/default/files/styles/232x139/public/2023-05/Wilson%27s%20snipe%20budeau_cx.jpg?itok=IVOvVvyX)
Features: In breeding plumage, green-winged drakes have a cinnamon-colored head with a green eye-stripe, gray back, flanks, and a bright patch of iridescent green on the rear of the wing (speculum). Hens are brown with a green speculum. Habitat: Green-winged teal are primarily winter migrants in Oregon. They are puddle (dabbling) ducks that prefer shallow areas like ponds and marshes, where they feed on or near the surface of the water by tipping up. Techniques: Teal are early migrants that begin arriving in Oregon in August but will continue to arrive into November. There are good early season hunts in
![green-winged_teals_usfws.jpg Thumbnail](/sites/default/files/styles/232x139/public/green-winged_teals_usfws.jpg?itok=iWiDjOe7)
Adult clouded salamanders are generally brown with brassy patches on their backs and gray bellies. As salamanders age, the brassy color fades. The clouded salamander is one of the lungless salamander species; they breathe through their moist skin. Mature adults can grow to just over five inches in total length. Clouded salamanders prefer forest habitats or burned areas that provide large decaying logs or stumps. They are often found in Douglas fir trees where they can find burrows in the wood, or spaces just under the bark to hide. They may also hide deep in rock crevices during dry and
![clouded_salamander_calf_creek_miles_odfw.jpg Clouded salamander](/sites/default/files/styles/232x139/public/2023-05/clouded_salamander_calf_creek_miles_odfw_cx.jpg?itok=eUis-FQX)
The bottlenose dolphin is the most common of the oceanic dolphins and can be found in all tropical and temperate oceans. Flipper was a bottlenose dolphin. Their considerable intelligence and permanently-affixed smile make them a favorite of aquarium and television shows. The U.S. Navy also uses bottlenose dolphins to find mines and booby traps underwater. Oregon is the northern extent of its range on the West Coast. They are most often seen offshore during the summer by tuna and other fishers. They are gray with light gray to white on the undersides. In size they range from six to 13
![bottlenose_dolphin_selbe_lynn_flickr.jpg Bottlenose dolphin](/sites/default/files/styles/232x139/public/2023-06/bottlenose_dolphin_selbe_lynn_flickr_cx.jpg?itok=kKhb338Y)
The song of the Yellow-headed blackbird, if it can be called a song as it lacks any musical quality, is a familiar sound in the marshes particularly of central and southeastern Oregon. The male, with its yellow head, neck, and breast, black body and wings, and white wig patches, is unmistakable. The female is more subtle with its dusky or sooty brown body plumage and yellow cheeks, chin, throat and chest, but is also distinctive. It is an abundant spring and summer resident in marshes of large alkaline lakes and wetlands in southeast Oregon, most notably the Klamath, Summer, Malheur
![yellow-headed_blackbird_2_myatt_odfw.jpg Yellow-headed blackbird](/sites/default/files/styles/232x139/public/2023-05/yellow-headed_blackbird_2_myatt_odfw.jpg?itok=4KwG3LKk)
The European starling is considered an invasive species in Oregon. It was introduced from Europe. They most closely resemble blackbirds, with which they often flock in fall and winter. While both have iridescent plumage, starlings can be told from blackbirds by their two-toned wing pattern - dark upperwing, pale underwing - and during the breeding season by the bright yellow bill. Starlings adapt readily and quickly to human habitation and are highly efficient and successful breeders. However, the abundance of the bird, the rapidity with which it has spread across North America, and its propensity to cause damage to crops
![0308_starling_juveniles_munsel_odfw.jpg European starlings](/sites/default/files/styles/232x139/public/2023-05/0308_starling_juveniles_munsel_odfw.jpg?itok=Yh1353rh)
The Turkey vulture, known locally as a "buzzard," is a common sight spring through fall throughout the state, except in the highest mountains and featureless desert expanses in summer where they are uncommon. Seeing Turkey vultures returning is a welcome sign of spring. Turkey vultures are large-winged soaring birds with overall dark plumage except for a silvery sheen on the undersides of the flight feathers. Adults have small, featherless, red heads, while juveniles have gray heads. The Turkey vulture is a common to abundant transient throughout the state and an uncommon to common summer resident except in high mountains. It
![Turkey vulture](/sites/default/files/styles/232x139/public/2023-05/349_turkey_vulture_budeau.jpg?itok=EEeMWO05)
This stocky, medium-sized shorebird is a denizen of Oregon's rocky shoreline, foraging as close to the crashing waves as possible, hence its name. It uses the rocky intertidal zone which includes jetties, offshore rocks and rocky shorelines, sea stacks, and tidal pools and is occasionally found on sandy beaches interspersed with groups of rocks, and on mudflats near the mouth of the Coquille River. It sometimes uses freshwater outfalls for bathing. Birds wintering in Oregon have the upperparts, head, neck, and breast slate gray with a whitish eye-ring. Indistinct supercilium and chin are white, wheres the belly and abdomen are
![surfbird_kohl.jpg Surfbird](/sites/default/files/styles/232x139/public/2023-05/Surfbird_kohl_cx.jpg?itok=WgHLjFup)
Features: Adult males' plumage is black except for white patches on the forehead and nape. The most distinguishing feature is the bill, a swollen white, red-orange, yellow, and black wedge. This highly visible standard advertises male's presence for up to a mile. Dark-billed adult females and subadults are dark brown above and paler brown below, with two indistinct light patches on the cheeks and sometimes on the nape Habitat: The surf scoter does not breed in Oregon but is abundant on salt water along the coast from fall through spring. Look for surf scoters in the Columbia River estuary and
![surf_scoter_andrew_reding_flickr.jpg Thumbnail](/sites/default/files/styles/232x139/public/surf_scoter_andrew_reding_flickr.jpg?itok=BMS3I1hS)
This large bird of prey is dark above, white below, and has a visible dark spot at the wrist of the wing when flying. The head is black and white. Juveniles have buffy-tipped dark feathers above. In flight, the wings have a noticeable angle or "crook." This highly migratory fish-eating species is frequently found nesting along larger rivers, lakes, and reservoirs. A large bulky nest at the very top of a live, broken top,or dead tree and more recently on utility poles, channel markers, pilings, and cell phone towers near fishable waters is good evidence of Ospreys. The Osprey breed
![240_osprey_cascade_locks_fanning_odfw.jpg Osprey](/sites/default/files/styles/232x139/public/2023-05/240_osprey_cascade_locks_fanning_odfw_0.jpg?itok=ziTOMPPT)
![Gray squirrel hunt](/sites/default/files/styles/232x139/public/2023-04/13_silver_gray_squirrel_gun_odfw_hero.jpg?itok=rrHQpIIX)
![volunteer holds a small turtle to face the camera](/sites/default/files/styles/232x139/public/2024-06/Turtle%20trapping.jpg?itok=o1mZduCG)