Hi all,
I'd like to thank Matt & Lisa Hunter and the other birders of the Umpqua
Valley for being such good hosts for the OBA meeting this weekend. It
was a well-organized event and I certainly enjoyed meeting the local
birders as well as folks who had traveled from the far corners of the
state.
One fun bird seen *between* field trips this morning was a GREEN HERON
that flew right past the Community Center in Sutherlin, and was spotted
by Pam Reid who called it out quickly enough that the rest of us who
were there could spin around quickly enough to see it.
The grasslands and oaks were certainly well appreciated. At Mildred
Kanipe Park, my estimate is that we heard at least six, probably seven
different territorial GRASSHOPPER SPARROWS in a short walk, and we saw
most of them. At one point we were surrounded by four counter-singing
birds, one of them giving his Winter-Wren-like "extended" song.
A big thanks also to Landa Baily of the Friends of Mildred Kanipe Park
(http://mildredkanipepark.org/volunteer.htm) who gave us a quick
run-down on this site and some of the issues that their organization is
working on. We were a very distracted audience as a Grasshopper Sparrow
and a couple of WESTERN MEADOWLARKS were singing right behind her! But I
think at least part of her message sunk in.
Our "birding before breakfast" field trip didn't find Grasshopper
Sparrows, but we did enjoy a spot with about five male OREGON VESPER
SPARROWS countersinging, with interjections from a couple of WESTERN
KINGBIRDS, and an interesting "non-interaction" between a pair of
nesting BREWER'S BLACKBIRDS that were feeding young, and a female
COWBIRD. We also recorded a "Vesper Roadrunner," as a Vesper Sparrow (I
think it was a female) spent some time foraging along the centerline of
Driver Valley Rd.
Later in the morning, even at a Driver Valley stop that wasn't very
productive in terms of focal species (I'd hoped it would have
Ash-throated Flycatchers again this year, but it didn't pan out like I
was hoping), everyone seemed to enjoy the generally idyllic setting,
just moseying along the road, basking in the early morning sunshine,
enjoying the hillside scenery, and listening to the other birds that
were singing.
As we finally got back into the cars, we realized that not a single
other vehicle had come by in the 10 or 15 minutes that we'd spent there.
I don't even think we heard a vehicle in the distance. It would be hard
to have that same birding experience in the Willamette Valley, even
without seeing Grasshopper Sparrows, Vesper Sparrows, meadowlarks and
kingbirds in the same day.
Jimmy Billstine and Jeff Dillon did a great job as trip leaders, with
the result that everyone had at least good scope views of these and
other good grassland birds such as LAZULI BUNTING and AMERICAN KESTREL.
I'll look forward to hearing what they found on the trails farther back
in Mildred Kanipe Park.
Happy birding,
Joel
--
Joel Geier
Camp Adair area north of Corvallis
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