Southern Oregon bird fun

I forgot how many cool birds live here in Southern Oregon. Today I saw about 20 common mergansers. There were four males and about 16 females. The dogs and I startled them and you can imagine how loud it is when 20 common mergansers take off, primarily because of how long they "run" on the water before leaving it (sometimes they never quite take off). There was a great blue heron on the remains of what I believe to be an old water gauge, though I've heard rumors that a different bridge spanned the river before I was born. Either way the sky was grey, the cement covered in dark moss and the great blue heron sitting there so regally in its greyish blue plumage. It was lovely. I also saw two black phoebes. We were celebrating the solstice by the river and they were putting up quite a racket. One landed close enough that I could see it had an insect (shocking at this time of year!) in its beak. It then flew off while the other one scolded from nearby. I love it here.