[obol] South-central Oregon, NE California birds.
- From: Wayne Hoffman <whoffman@xxxxxxxx>
- To: obol <obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 5 Jul 2014 21:52:42 -0700
Hi -
I have been east of the Cascades the past few days:
July 3: Cabin Lake, Summer Lake, Lakeview, Dog Lake.
Highlights: Summer Lake had some returning arctic-breeding shorebirds:
Greater Yellowlegs 6
Dowitcher sp. 1
Western Sandpiper 12+
Least Sandpiper 5+
Semipalmated Sandpiper 1 worn adult
Baird's Sandpiper 2 worn adults
Bonaparte's Gull 1 imm.
Franklin's Gull lots (135 in one roost, +
scattered flybys
all adults: have they bred here?
Dog Lake
A really neat place with lot of non-managed marsh. Black Terns were
carrying food, lots of Sora and Virginia Rail noise.
July 4: Hart Mt., Warner Valley, a bit of Warner Mts.
at Hart mtn.
4 Sage Grouse.
Short-eared Owl - flying above wet meadow below hot springs, caught
thermal, soared up over 1000' then dropped down behind low ridge, in sight
(site? cite?) for over 10 minutes.
At Hot Springs campground I birded a bit in the willows and Aspens:
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 imm. (brown back) - was mobbed in flight by
swallows
Red-naped Sapsucker 1 pair feeding nestlings
House Wren 1 nest in woodpecker hole
Robin lots
Yellow Warbler ubiquitous
July 5: to AlturasCa to Modoc NWR, then to Petroglyph Point, Tule Lake,
Klamath Falls.
Visited Goose Lake State Park in AM. The park is still there but the lake
is ALL GONE. Used to be bigger than any lake in Oregon, now is dry from
end to end.
Hummingbird at park likely was Black-chinned.
My first visit to Modoc NWR - almost got caught in Alturas holiday
parade...decided not to do the Easy Rider thing. Refuge has driving tour
route - ponds with managed water levels, treeless fields...
Sandhill Cranes, BN Stilts & Avocets with small young, mallards, saw 6
Western Pond Turtles.
Along hwy from Alturas to Tule Lake was mop-up of a fire in open Ponderosa
Pine forest - railroad was used as a fire break (or likely starting line
for backfires???). At west edge of burned area was a stopped train. The
part I could see was entirely big black tanker cars. i do not know if it
was oil, but imagine one of those trains getting caught in a fire!
Petroglyph Point: 3 Barn Owls in one hole were likely full-grown young...
2 fledgling Prairie Falcons
White-throated Swifts going into crevices
House Sparrows nesting in Cliff Swallow nests.
Tule Lake - Molting drake Bufflehead seemed out of place.
Major nasty algae blooms in some of the sumps.
1 Snowy Egret
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