Hi all,
The Antone CBC is now scheduled for Sunday, December 18th. This means
that birders who want to join the nearby John Day CBC (scheduled for
Saturday, December 17th) can do both counts, back-to-back.
I'm sorry that this choice of dates might make it difficult for birders
from Bend (scheduled for the same day as John Day) who would like to
participate, and it also puts us head-to-head with the Sisters CBC.
Historically birders from the Bend and Sisters area have been a really
big help on this count. So I don't want to lobby too heavily for
volunteers from that area, if either of those counts are understaffed.
We're actually pretty close already to having enough volunteers now to
do at least a minimal count, but we can certainly find room for 6 or 8
more birders who would like to experience some great north-central
Oregon winter birding.
Antone is possibly Oregon's most scenic CBC, set in the canyonlands of
southeast Wheeler County and southwest Grant County. The circle includes
Picture Gorge, Blue Basin, and several of the same geological formations
that gave the Painted Hills their name. Need I say more?
We regularly lead the state in Canyon Wrens and Rock Wrens, and
sometimes in Mountain Quail (though not recently). Golden Eagles, Bald
Eagles, Prairie Falcons, and both Northern and Loggerhead Shrikes
usually make it onto the list, sometimes with a Northern Goshawk or two.
In years with a good juniper berry crop, we can have thousands of
American Robins and hundreds of Townsend's Solitaires.
While you're warming up after the count, you can also check out the
amazing dioramas and exhibits in the Thomas Condon Visitor Center,
depicting the mammals that lived here back in the Eocene through Miocene
epochs. Paleontologists working here have also found bird fossils,
including even tubenoses(!), but unfortunately, we couldn't count them
for count week.
If this sounds interesting, drop me a line for more information on how
you can join this count.
Happy birding,
Joel
--
Joel Geier
Camp Adair area north of Corvallis
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