My Dad was in town visiting last month. My Dad is not a birder, but he likes hiking. So a day of “hiking” was planned.
Our schedule for the day included the following:
- Hiking Alsea Falls Trail and Green Peak Falls, Trail near Alsea, Oregon.
- Stopping by Finley to look for White-tailed Kites.
- Stopping by the Philomath Sewage Ponds because who doesn’t take their Dad to the local sewage treatment facility when he visits?
Alsea and Green Peak Falls were beautiful, but the birding was quiet.
Finley delivered as always. We saw TWO White-tailed Kites from the Prairie Overlook. While at Finley, I checked my email to see if there were any recent rare bird alerts for Oregon in our area. A Dickcissel had been spotted at the Philomath Sewage Ponds earlier that morning! Record scratch! The Dickcissel is not a western bird at all. We cut our Finley visit short and headed straight to the poo ponds to see the Dickcissel. It took a good hour before she popped out of the grasses, but my Dad, I, and another group of birders got great looks at this little beauty.
My dad, Tom, taking over scope duty; Philomath Sewage Pond; October 17, 2018.
Dickcissel; Philomath Sewage Pond; October 17, 2018.
Dickcissel; Philomath Sewage Pond; October 17, 2018.
New Birds for 2018: 2
2018 Year-to-Date Talley: 246
Sauntering Birder 