[obol] Prelim Results Oregon Shorebird Festival

From: Tim Rodenkirk <timrodenkirk@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, 7 Sep 2014 18:48:56 -0700
Hi All,

First I want to say mega-kudos to Roy Lowe and Dawn Harris who have done
such a fabulous job putting together this festival over the last decade.  I
would also like to especially thank Roy for spending the last 29 years (I
think it has been that long) doing an incredible job with the USFWS here in
Oregon. As birders we all owe Roy a LOT of thanks for his hard work.  I
found out from Dawn today that he will be retiring soon, we will miss you
Roy!!

They were able to round-up several great speakers as has become the norm.
 On Friday night Sarah Swanson and Max Smith gave a a wonderful
presentation on their new book "Must See Birds of the Pacific Northwest"
which is a must buy for birders here in Oregon and Washington and for
anyone planning on visiting either state- nice job you two!

On Saturday night we were treated to an very comprehensive presentation by
Joe Buchanan of Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife who has devoted many
years of his career to studying Red Knots in Washington and elsewhere
including breeding, stopover (not many sites), and wintering areas. Much of
his work has been at Grays Harbor and Willapa Bay and was fascinating!
The talk was amazingly informative and the results of his hard work and
others have resulted in a better understanding of the rare west coast
subspecies. I now understand better why this species is so uncommon/rare in
Oregon. His work continues and I wish him well with his future endeavors!

I wasn't on all the birding trips and don't know all the highlights but
will share a few:

ELEGANT TERNS- 16 flew right by the OIMB boathouse just before the evening
presentation on Friday evening, a great way to start off the festival!  On
Saturday Paul Sullivan and Carol Karlen's group were able to find 75
further up the bay with around 50 feeding right off the OIMB boathouse
again before our evening presentation started.  Russ Namitz said there were
50 still around today in the bay. Several of us drove down to Gold Beach
Saturday afternoon where we found about 700-800 Elegants also.

I was on the short 5 hr. Birdguide pelagic out of Charleston on Saturday.
 We found good numbers of most of the expected species and missed a few
too, but that is normal. Tim Shelmerdine and Russ Namitz did a super job
guiding too- they always do! The weather conditions were great and we had
spouting HUMPBACK WHALES in many locations and had great views up close of
several, saw breaching individuals, etc.  Russ Namitz spotted a SEI WHALE
also which a few had a brief glimpse of also.  A few Dall's Porpoises bow
riding was fun too.  We got out to 15 miles where there were rafts of
shearwaters sitting on the water. Our Capt. Kirt explained that this was
where the bait line was a few days before when the warm water was in
closer.  As we closed in to the shearwaters we realized that we were in the
midst of a huge school of tuna which were jumping out of the water all
around us off and on for an hour while we checked out the area. Our Capt.
and Deck Hand were rolling their eyes knowing that fishermen would have
died to be where we were but we were birders and not fishing!

A PACIFIC-GOLDEN PLOVER was found at Bandon Marsh on Saturday and Paul and
Carol had a golden-plover sp. off Millicoma on Saturday also. In addition
they found 2 COMMON TERNS off Millicoma and a LONG-BILLED CURLEW near the
boat ramp on the north spit of Coos Bay.

On Sunday (today) Harv Schubothe and his group found a YELLOW-HEADED
BLACKBIRD at the Ruff spot from a week ago on the north spit, I was able to
relocate the bird late PM today.

Dawn Harris and I took a group down to Port Orford today and spent the
morning birding there.  We then went down to Port Orford where we watched
the resident Gray Whales while eating lunch. After lunch we went over to
the visitor center/view point along Hwy 101 to use the restroom.  While
waiting for everyone to finish I saw a chickadee flock behind the restroom
in a willowy ravine. I went behind to check it out and I immediately saw
several Yellow Warblers and yelled for the group.  Dawn and Jimmy Billstine
came back and spied what at first looked like an Orange-crowned Warbler;
when I got on it I noticed a very green back and an all white lower belly
and undertail area- TENNESSEE WARBLER, cool surprise!

We then headed back north and stopped off at Knute Andersson's place near
Langlois where he and Lois Miller had the continuing EASTERN KINGBIRD
staked out for us- nice find Knute!

Fun was had by all : )  I am really looking forward to the Bandon OBA
meeting and longer boat trip out of Charleston (91/2 hrs.) happening later
in the month.  Both Tim Shelmerdine and Russ Namitz will be guiding on this
trip also and of course I will be aboard. We will also be visiting many of
the Curry vagrant traps and hope to find some more surprises both on the
boat and along the coast- hope to see many of you there.

Merry migration!
Tim R
Coos Bay
[obol] Prelim Results Oregon Shorebird Festival

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