Great to hear about all the nighthawks Janice! I wish they were more
common in the the central valleys, because they are cool birds to see/hear,
but it's nice to know there are decent numbers in the hills nearby.
By the way, for those of you who wondered why Janice was giving out padlock
combinations, ... :-) ... , the numbers are Township, Range, and
Section (TRS). It is a surveying and mapping technique used for over 200
years in the United States. I've found that people that don't get "out in
the hills" much and--these days--people under about 30 yrs of age often are
not familiar with this system, but it is widely used by government entities
and those who use maps to find their way in USFS and BLM land. In fact, BLM
names their roads based on their location relative to TRS. Anyway, if you
pick up a Land of Umpqua map, or any USFS or BLM map, they will have
Township, Range, and Section grids on them, and you can find the sections
(1 mile squares) that Janice referred to with her "padlock combinations."
:-)
Beeerrrrnnttt!
Matt
On Mon, Jun 8, 2015 at 10:00 AM, Janice Reid <jeoreid@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I heard nighthawks last Friday morning at Rader Creek out in Tyee 24-8-10
and I heard and saw lots this morning 25-8-26 Saw 2 barn owls as well
25-7-27 on the county road by Liles Lane
On Sun, Jun 7, 2015 at 10:48 PM, Matthew G Hunter <
matthewghunter@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I was out sitting on my back porch at dusk and later this evening,
listening and scanning for Common Nighthawks, which have just been arriving
in Oregon over the last week or so. I have an average of <1 nighthawks per
year at our place.
Anyway, no nighthawks tonight, but I noticed some planets in the western
sky (the big "stars" that come out before the others), and took a look at
them with my spotting scope, then looked up what they were. The largest,
brightest one, lowest in the western sky is Venus (just about out of view
now as I type). Next, up and to the left was Jupiter, with 4 moons that can
be seen as little tiny points of light with a spotting scope. Then, to the
southeast, harder to pick out among the bright stars in the SE sky, is
Saturn. I was amazed to be able to see the "globe" and the "ring" of
Saturn, both shining brightly, but distinct in my spotting scope.
I just wanted to bring to your attention to some neat things in the sky:
potential birds, and amazing planets.
I'll keep my bedroom window open in case a nighthawk flies over the house
calling.
Matt
