[obol] CLAY-COLORED SPARROWS -- two continue at Reiling Rd. site in Washington Co.
- From: David Irons <llsdirons@xxxxxxx>
- To: OBOL Oregon Birders Online <obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 1 Feb 2015 22:45:01 +0000
Greetings All,
Shawneen and I spent the morning birding the area south and west of North
Plains in central Washington County. Our first stop was the Yellow-bellied
Sapsucker site at the corner of Milne and Vadis roads just south of Hwy 26 at
the Mountaindale Rd. exit. The adult female sapsucker was located fairly
readily in a large tree (elm as I recall) along the south side of the property.
From there, were combed back roads looking for large berry patch tangles
similar to the one at the Reiling Rd. site. We found a couple and pished up
large flocks of sparrows and juncos at both. The first patch, along Harrington
Rd., had at least a dozen Lincoln's Sparrows and lots of Zonos (White-crowned
and Golden-crowned Sparrows).
After that, we went to the site at 41195 NW Reiling Road. The two Clay-colored
Sparrows that we found here in December during the Forest Grove CBC are still
present. These birds were seen somewhat regularly immediately after their
initial discovery, but I have not seen any reports since just after the first
of the year. Today, we saw them both feeding on the ground together in between
one of the berry rows. In addition to the Clay-coloreds, the Reiling Rd. site
continues to have
swarms of juncos and Zonos, with a few towhees and Song Sparrows mixed
in. There are easily a couple hundred sparrows and juncos wintering in this
berry patch. During prior visits to Reiling Rd. we had multiple Lincoln's
Sparrows, but we saw none today.
I think that the patches with heavy tangles and grass growing in between the
rows are marionberries (someone can correct me if I'm mistaken) This sort of
patch seems to hold far more birds than other patches of berries (blueberries,
red raspberries etc.), which do not have the same sort of dense cane tangles or
much vegetation on the ground in between rows. There is similar spot along
Gillihan Loop Rd. on Sauvie Island that has always been productive for winter
sparrows.
We found another nice mixed commercial berry patch with marionberries and
blueberries along Greenville Rd. (Tom's Berry Patch). It had about 75 Dark-eyed
Juncos and 30+ Golden-crowned Sparrows, plus a smattering of other sparrow
species.
One of our more interesting discoveries came along Kansas City Road. There is a
spot with a big stand of oaks on the east side of the road and brushy overgrown
fenced enclosure on the west side of the road. It's about one-half mile south
of the intersection of Kansas City Road and Clapshaw Hill Road. If you look off
to the west from this spot, there is a Great Blue Heron rookery with at least
30 nests. Today, we counted 38 Great Blue Herons in the trees around the nests.
We also had an adult White-throated Sparrow at this spot and there are Acorn
Woodpeckers in the stand of oaks.
We went out despite the grim weather forecast. Thankfully there wasn't much
rain.
Dave Irons
Portland, OR
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