[obol] Lane Coast birds
- From: Alan Contreras <acontrer56@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: OBOL <obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 12 Oct 2014 17:26:40 -0700
I birded the Siltcoos mouth, south jetty road and Lily Lake areas with Sean
Burns and (briefly) Diane Pettey today.
Siltcoos mouth was backed up at low tide, so the river bar must be closed.
However, we had a small group of shorebirds on the remaining mud accessed via
the north slough, one G Legs, a single dunlin and five Semi Plovers. Three LB
Dows were across the river. The backwater contained three Common Mergs, two
Horned and one Western Grebe. About forty Myrtle Warblers were also in the
area. We tried for small birds in the deciduous stands at Waxmyrtle junction
but found not much except some very cooperative Wrentits.
The dogpond offered a freshly dead Cackling Goose, perhaps the same singleton
that has been around there. There was a single Audubon's Warbler there among a
flock of about 45 Myrtles.
S jetty road was fairly slow today, though the estuary had well over 2,000
California Gulls. Five adult and one HY Herring Gull were at the crab dock
cove, as was a single rather washed-out looking Marbled Godwit on the rocky
spit. The nearby waters offered a Red-necked and two Horned Grebes, two Common
Loon, a few Surf and one WW Scoter. One Osprey was still around.
Five Cackularian geese were with about forty Canadas at the stables on Hwy.
101. Baker Beach Rd was fairly slow, though when I shut the car door a
Virginia Rail answered.
Sean and I walked from the horse parking at the end of Baker Beach Rd. out to
Ferry Creek, which has cut a very southerly channel right now, leaving a lot of
small backwaters and pondlets. We assumed that there was a connector trail
back to the north-south horse trail, so we could make the loop walk and come
back beside the lake. We started east along the dune line on what I will call
Deception Trail, which faded into the dense grass after maybe thirty yards. We
then crossed a mostly dry swamp, elbowed our way through thigh-high dune grass
with small gorse plants here and there, clambered across a low dune, crossed a
watery ditch using a heap of logs that had wedged in it, wandered through some
scrub willows and low pines and finally passed between two stands of huge gorse
that appeared to have been killed in order to allow a narrow gap for humans and
horses.
This route, which we dubbed the Gorsewest Passage, dumped us at the horse trail
at the base of the hill with snags on it, one of which had a large Peregrine
Falcon that kept looking down at us, unimpressed. We then went over the hill
and checked the grassy area along the nw corner of Lily Lake. This entire loop
walk offered nothing special today, but some fo the habitat is quite nice,
especially out by the creek, and I'll try it again this fall. It could easily
have longspurs and exotic motacillids. However, I think I'll backtrack rather
than take the Gorsewest Passage again.
Sean can add anything I forgot.
.
.
Alan Contreras
acontrer56@xxxxxxxxx
Eugene, Oregon
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