To add a little "non-OBOL-friendly " content to this report, this
morning's BBC broadcast that I listened to as I was driving down to
Sutherlin between 2:45 and 5 AM featured an hour-long interview with
three former ISIS captives, about their experience. Worth listening to
if you can find it on the web, but be forewarned, it's both disturbing
(to hear about their treatment) and uplifting (if you focus on the
strength of the human spirit, and how these fellows kept their sanity
while confined to spaces as small as 1 m x 3 m including toilet, while
enduring frequent and arbitrary beatings).
-------- Forwarded Message --------
From: Joel Geier <joel.geier@xxxxxxxx>
Reply-to: joel.geier@xxxxxxxx
To: UmpquaBirds <umpquabirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Umpqua Breeding Bird Survey notes: Smoke, pintail(s), and
grassland sparrows
Date: Sun, 12 Jun 2016 18:40:50 -0700
Hi Umpqua birders,
This morning I ran the Umpqua Breeding Bird Survey route. This is part
of the North American Breeding Bird Survey, see: www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bbs/
if you'd like to learn more about it.
The Umpqua BBS route starts at the electrical power substation in Cole
Valley. The first section follows Cole Valley Rd. east through the
townsite of Umpqua to the old Stephens school site. From there the route
jogs north to end up on Green Valley Rd., then on over I-5, through
Oakland, and NW along Driver Valley Rd. along Oldham Creek until Driver
valley Rd. fishhooks back toward Sutherlin. The last few stops are in
the upper end of Driver Valley. Altogether there are 50 stops,
approximately at 1/2 mile intervals.
Usually I camp out up in the Coast Range above Millwood overnight so I
don't have to drive too far to get to the starting point. But this year
I decided to just get up really early (2 AM) and drive down from our
place north of Corvallis.
I was sorry to miss the chance to listen to Hermit Warblers singing in
the evening, and no doubt the local, hungry mosquito population missed
my annual contribution, but otherwise it worked OK, and I got there 15
minutes ahead of the scheduled starting time of 5:02 AM. However it was
kind of a strange drive: 2 hours of listening to the BBC on OPB, with
reports coming in from Orlando.
Then about a mile east of the starting point in Cole Valley, I came into
dense grass smoke. A half mile farther I saw the cause: A barn had burnt
down in the night, and a big pile of hay bales was still aflame. From
the light of the flames I could see the skeletal structure of the barn,
but it was long past saving.
At first I wondered if I should find some way to report it (I don't
carry a cell phone so this would have meant banging on someone's door in
the dark) but then I realized that there was zero chance that the
neighbors weren't aware of this smoky blaze. It wasn't threatening any
other structures, so there must have been a decision to just let the
fire burn itself out. Once a stack of hay that size catches fire,
there's not much else to do.
Indeed, once I started the route and got back to that stop 20 minutes
later, my first "passing vehicle" to record on the data sheets was a
fire truck quietly leaving the scene, apparently after coming back out
to check on the embers.
After that, the rest of the route was mostly "normal." I've tacked on
the full list below.
One strange thing was a female NORTHERN PINTAIL flying around and
calling at two sites, first about 1/2 mile east of Umpqua, then another
(or the same one?) over Calapooya Creek about 1/2 mile north of the
Sutherlin log pond. I'm wondering if I should count these as a possible
breeding species. Has anyone else been seeing pintails hanging around
the area?
This route sometimes has multiple GRASSHOPPER SPARROWS but this year I
only heard one, just outside "downtown" Umpqua (the second time I've
heard one there, since I picked up this route -- this one was on the
hillside NE of the store). I didn't find any at the west end of Crouch
Rd., or in the Driver Valley where I usually find one or two. I did find
a couple of males singing the longer, "solicitation" song at Mildred
Kanipe County Park when I stopped by there after I finished the route. I
think Jimmy B. reported some from there earlier this year.
I didn't pick up any VESPER SPARROWS until my last few stops in the top
end of Driver Valley, where I ended up with a total of three. Usually I
pick up one or two along Cole Valley Rd. or the first (Oldham Creek)
section of Driver Valley Rd. I did notice that the grass growth was
really lush in those areas, due to this year's relatively wet spring.
More than the cattle can keep up with! That makes the grassland
structure less favorable for Vesper Sparrows. Hopefully there are still
some in more upland areas, away from the roadside stops for this route.
FLYCATCHERS are a highlight of this route. This year I picked up more
ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHERS than usual, but that might be partly because a
recent trip to California left me more tuned into their vocalizations.
WESTERN KINGBIRDS are always a treat. I missed BLACK PHOEBE but I
wouldn't doubt that a few could be found if someone were to spend more
time along this route. Timing is everything!
Matt mentioned having TREE SWALLOWS nesting at his place in Melrose, not
far from this route. I picked them up at two stops, which is more than
usual (this is a "write-in" species for this route -- found in some
years but not regularly enough to keep them on the main list). So maybe
numbers are up a bit this year(?).
In the category of "misses," I didn't detect any BLACK-THROATED GRAY
WARBLERS. AMERICAN ROBIN detections seemed low -- maybe a function of
the weather.
In the category of strange pairs, at one stop in the upper Driver Valley
I watched an adult CHIPPING SPARROW and a male LAZULI BUNTING that were
flying around in tandem, from perch to perch. I guess it must have been
a low-key territorial dispute but they were hanging out together for so
long, I started to wonder what a Chipping Sparrow x Lazuli Bunting
hybrid might look like.
Happy birding,
Joel
P.S. here's the full list:
Species Total (# of stops)
Canada Goose 3 (2)
Northern Pintail 2 (2) Female(s) flying - breeding status?
California Quail 7 (5)
Ring-necked Pheasant 1 (1) NW edge of Oakland
Wild Turkey 15 (8)
Turkey Vulture 5 (5)
Red-shouldered Hawk 1 (1)
Red-tailed Hawk 1 (1)
Killdeer 1 (1)
Eurasian Collared-Dove 24 (18) Seemed like they were everywhere!
Mourning Dove 1 (1) Just one!
Vaux's Swift 1 (1) NW edge of Oakland
Acorn Woodpecker 6 (4)
Red-breasted Sapsucker 1 (1)
Red-shafted Flicker 5 (5)
Western Wood-Pewee 44 (29)
Willow Flycatcher 7 (5)
Pacific-slope Flycatcher 6 (6)
Ash-throated Flycatcher 7 (6)
Western Kingbird 18 (11)
Cassin's Vireo 2 (2)
Warbling Vireo 4 (4)
Hutton's Vireo 1 (1) Oldham Creek (Driver Valley Rd.)
Western Scrub-Jay 12 (10)
American Crow 14 (10)
Common Raven 4 (4)
Tree Swallow 2 (2)
Violet-green Swallow 6 (3)
N. Rough-winged Swallow 2 (2)
Cliff Swallow 18 (5)
Barn Swallow 5 (4)
Black-capped Chickadee 18 (8)
Bushtit 2 (1)
White-breasted Nuthatch 4 (4)
Brown Creeper 1 (1)
House Wren 6 (5)
Bewick's Wren 17 (12)
Wrentit 3 (3)
Western Bluebird 2 (2)
Swainson's Thrush 7 (6)
American Robin 38 (23) Low count?
European Starling 40 (13)
Cedar Waxwing 3 (2)
Orange-crowned Warbler 1 (1)
Common Yellowthroat 16 (15)
Yellow Warbler 1 (1)
Yellow-breasted Chat 18 (15) High count
Spotted Towhee 44 (28)
Chipping Sparrow 8 (6)
Vesper Sparrow 3 (2) All in upper Driver Valley
Savannah Sparrow 11 (7)
Grasshopper Sparrow 1 (1) NE side of Umpqua townsite
Song Sparrow 27 (21)
White-crowned Sparrow 2 (2)
Oregon Junco 7 (6)
Western Tanager 4 (3)
Black-headed Grosbeak 8 (7)
Lazuli Bunting 23 (21) Good numbers
Western Meadowlark 33 (18)
Brewer's Blackbird 40 (13)
Brown-headed Cowbird 14 (7)
Bullock's Oriole 4 (3)
House Finch 9 (7)
Purple Finch 3 (3)
Lesser Goldfinch 10 (7)
American Goldfinch 16 (12)
House Sparrow 5 (2)
--
Joel Geier
Camp Adair area north of Corvallis
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