[Umpqua Birds] Re: Last 3 days
- From: Beth Brown <birdbrainbrown@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "umpquabirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <umpquabirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 8 Feb 2014 16:47:20 -0800
At Martt's mini-birding trip this AM in the rain I went out Garden Valley Rd.
past the Fire station. Voyla had mentioned seeing the Ferruginous hawk on a
line just past the staton. We did indeed see a large (and unfamiliar to me)
hawk in a large deciduous tree about a mile past the firestation. Going out
Garden Valley it was on the left before the second junction with old G.V. It
had stripes on it's tail, wings that extended down almost as far as the end of
the tail. The front was lightly mottled. It did not have a white rump patch but
did have a white spot on the underwing. It remained perched so we did not see
it in flight. It was a good sized Buteo. Has anyone else seen this bird? I'd
like to have a positive ID on it.
Beth Brown
Some people are so poor the only thing they have is money.
Date: Sat, 8 Feb 2014 14:43:08 -0800
Subject: [Umpqua Birds] Last 3 days
From: matthewghunter@xxxxxxxxx
To: umpquabirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
HI Birders,
Yesterday (Friday) afternoon I helped out with Cindy Laws' UCC wildlife biology
class, with a little field trip at Wildlife Safari. It was kinda rainy, but not
too bad. Was interesting to see at least 2 male EURASIAN WIGEON still there
with the large flock of American Wigeon. I would guess they will stick around
until sometime in March or early April. Saw one PEREGRINE FALCON, but it was
very brief and no chance to get anyone else on it. Some of the students were
very impressed with seeing a Belted Kingfisher, Black Phoebe, American Coot,
and female Hooded Merganser up close through a spotting scope.
This morning about 6 other hearty Oregon birders joined me for a couple walks
in the rain looking at birds at O.C. Brown County Park, the Dixonville
overgrown quarry, and the ODFW office. Despite the rain we were impressed by a
WESTERN MEADOWLARK SINGING IN THE RAIN, a nice look at the crown of a
Golden-crowned Kinglet, a very focused feeding flock of Golden-crowned
Sparrows, a pair of Hooded Mergansers.... We got wet. The birds were busy
foraging despite the rain. It stopped raining when we were done. :-)
Thursday and today (Saturday), I've seen two adult RED-SHOULDERED HAWKS perched
together in dead or mostly-dead trees, Thursday along Melrose Road, and today
on the west side of Stewart Parkway across from the wildlife ponds. They appear
to be pairing up.
I've been astonished at the difference between the Willamette Valley
weather/snow compared to rain-only here. We both have moisture, but the cold
air mass is to the north of us right now. Anyway, with all the snow on the
Willamette Valley floor, I'm wondering if we might get any "refugees" down here
from there. Most likely would be grassland/pasture birds, such as geese,
meadowlarks, pipits, killdeer.
Happy Wet Birding,
Matt Hunter
Melrose, OR
Other related posts:
