February 17, 2018

February 21, 2018March 6, 2018Wood Thrush Leave a comment

The Winter Wings Festival, a fantastic yearly birding festival in Klamath Falls, Oregon, yielded me 26 new species for my 2018 Oregon list! We birded all day this past Saturday, as part of the festival, with some local experts who I believe knew how to summon specific species.

Tour leader: “We often see Ferruginous Hawks in this area. I’m sure we’ll see one today.”

a few minutes later …

Tour leader: “Look, a Ferruginous Hawk.”

The bus quickly slows to a stop, and said hawk lands on the ground for us, and we are able to admire its distinguishing features.

This happened with a few more species, including a Loggerhead Shrike (on the California side of the show, so I can’t count it toward my formal 2018 Oregon list).

We planned on birding this past Sunday, too, as part of the festival, but winter decided to finally visit Oregon, so we hit the road early Sunday morning so that we could get to Salem before dark. We did, but what took us 4 hours on Friday took us nearly 7 on Sunday.

Back to Saturday, and the details of which are as follows (I’ll let the bullets and photos speak for themselves; y’all aren’t actually reading any of this anyway):

What: Big Day Birding Field Trip, Winter Wings Festival, Klamath Falls, Oregon

When: Saturday, February 17, 2018, 7am to 4pm

Where: Lake Ewauna, Putnam’s Point, and Running Y Ranch in Klamath Falls, Oregon; Lower Klamath Lake Road, Klamath Hills, Oregon; Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge, California

Why: To bird with local experts and to bag some southern Oregon bird species

Species Total: 71
*New Birds for 2018: 29
2018 Year-to-Date Talley: 115

These numbers include the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker I saw near Beaverton, Oregon, earlier in the week; see end of post)

*List of New Birds for 2018 from the Winter Wings Festival

Greater White-fronted Goose
Cackling Goose
Canvasback
Barrow’s Goldeneye
Black-crowned Night-heron
Rough-legged Hawk
Ferruginous Hawk
Golden Eagle
Eurasian Collared Dove
Great Horned Owl
Barred Owl
Acorn Woodpecker
Prairie Falcon
Say’s Phoebe
Black-billed Magpie
Tree Swallow
Mountain Chickadee
Oak Titmouse
Pygmy Nuthatch
Marsh Wren
Townsend’s Solitaire
American Pipit
Cedar Waxwing
Tricolored Blackbird
Red Crossbill
Evening Grosbeak

Barrow’s Goldeneye; Running Y Ranch; Klamath Falls, Oregon; February 17, 2018; photograph by Linda Burfitt.

Black-crowned Night-Heron roost (total individuals estimated at 104!); Klamath River, just north of Lake Ewauna; Klamath Falls, Oregon; February 17, 2018; photograph by Linda Burfitt.

Barred Owl; Running Y Ranch; Klamath Falls, Oregon; February 17, 2018; photograph by Linda Burfitt.

Canvasback; Running Y Ranch; Klamath Falls, Oregon; February 17, 2018; photograph by Linda Burfitt.

Hermit Thrush; Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge visitors’ center; February 17, 2018; photograph by Linda Burfitt. I can’t count this species because I saw it in California, but look at this guy!

Loggerhead Shrike; Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge; February 17, 2018; photograph by Linda Burfitt. I can’t count this species because I saw it in California, but it’s a Loggerhead Shrike!!

Prairie Falcon; Lower Klamath Lake Road, Klamath Hills; February 17, 2018; photograph by Linda Burfitt

Birding Pals; Lower Klamath Lake Road, Klamath Hills; February 17, 2018; photograph by Clint Burfitt

Me and my K. Falls Birding Pals; Lower Klamath Lake Road, Klamath Hills; February 17, 2018; photograph by Clint Burfitt

Our drive back to Salem, Oregon, somewhere along Highway 58 near Crescent Lake; February 18, 2018; photograph by Linda Burfitt

Earlier that week:

Also, as planned, I stopped by Commonwealth Lake Park this past Tuesday to see if I could find the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker again. I did, or rather some other birders did already, so this was rather effortless.

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker; Commonwealth Lake Park; Beaverton, Oregon; February 13, 2018.

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker; Commonwealth Lake Park; Beaverton, Oregon; February 13, 2018.

February 12, 2018

February 13, 2018February 13, 2018Wood Thrush Leave a comment

This past Saturday, February 10, 2018, C and I headed over to William L. Finley National Wildlife Refuge just south of Corvallis to bird for the day and to specifically find the *Lewis’s Woodpecker, a striking western woodpecker who flycatches insects rather than excavated insects from a tree. The Lewis’s Woodpecker nests in tree snags and prefers open woodlands. Because of fire suppression and urban and agriculture encroachment, this habitat is not as common as it once was. To add insult to injury, the European Starling also nests in tree snags and is outcompeting the Lewis’s Woodpecker. For all these reasons, this species is in decline and is rarely found in the Willamette Valley.

After arriving to the refuge, we parked at the Ray Benton overlook, where the woodpecker was being regularly seen hanging out and flycatching in the oaks. Once we arrived, a group from Portland said that they briefly saw him, but that they lost him. They left and drove off, but then they stopped soon after! They stopped and got out of their van. They got out of their van and started looking through their binoculars. Then, somebody busted out their scope. I ran down the street, while they were motioning for me to run toward them. Gosh, I love my fellow birders (where were you in Fort Stevens State Park the other day?!!?).

They found the woodpecker and had him scoped by the time I got there, out of breath. Effortless. I’ve got to admit this was pretty nice after my X3 crossbill failure this past week. I was even able to get a documentable but awful photo of the woodpecker. We also got the woodpecker in our scope and was able to help others spot him much like the Portland group did for us.

Lewis’s Woodpecker; William L. Finley National Wildlife Refuge; February 10, 2018; photograph by Linda Burfitt (through a nice scope).

We saw 31 species at Finley yesterday, which warranted a nice, worthy eBird post. I got an additional two 2018 birds, too: *Wood Duck and a *Lincoln’s Sparrow.

We ended the day at the Philomath Sewage Ponds where we watched the sunset and looked for Cinnamon Teals (negative).

Lincoln’s Sparrow being stubborn; William L. Finley National Wildlife Refuge; February 10, 2018; photograph by Linda Burfitt

Wood Thrush ;); Philomath Sewage Ponds; February 10, 2018; photograph by Clint Burfitt.

*New Birds for 2018: 3
2018 Year-to-Date Talley: 86

February 11, 2018

February 12, 2018February 12, 2018Wood Thrush Leave a comment

My birding since Ms. Eider has comprised fits and starts, mostly, but has garnered me a few more species for my list.

This post isn’t very excited, so let’s begin with the full moon on January 31. I was hoping to see the lunar eclipse, which was supposed to be ideal in the west. I woke up at 4:30 AM, walked around my house peering out the windows, and I’m pretty sure it was cloudy, and I went back to bed.

Full moon; Salem, Oregon; January 31, 2018; photograph by Linda Burfitt.

On Sunday, February 4, we headed to Astoria, Oregon, because C had a work conference. En-route, we stopped near Cedar Mill, Oregon, at Commonwealth Lake Park where a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker was being seen regularly. Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers don’t really occur in the western U.S. I’m pretty sure I caught a quick glimpse of said sapsucker, but then I lost him. I’ll try again this upcoming Tuesday when I’m back up in that area for an eye appointment. I did, however, get two 2018 new birds at this park: a *Red-breasted Sapsucker (lifer!) and a *Redhead duck.

Red-breasted Sapsucker; Commonwealth Lake Park; Cedar Mill, Oregon; February 4, 2018; photograph by Linda Burfitt.

Redhead; Commonwealth Lake Park; Cedar Mill, Oregon; February 4, 2018; photograph by Linda Burfitt.

American Wigeon; Commonwealth Lake Park; Cedar Mill, Oregon; February 4, 2018; photograph by Linda Burfitt.

While in Astoria, I was determined to find the White-Winged Crossbills that are being seen almost daily at Fort Steven State Park hanging with a larger flock of Red Crossbills. The first two times were failures. The third time, I’m almost positive I saw (from a distance) and heard the crossbill flock fly away from one tree and disappear into another dimension. I’m certain of this. Their calls were loud sounded like they were coming from all directions until they just stopped. We sifted and sifted, but no crossbills. Different dimension. Who knew this about crossbills? Fort Stevens State Park did, however, yield me a two new 2018 species: *Raven and *Sanderlings.