Hi all,
I came back to beautiful Douglas Co. to run the Umpqua Breeding Bird
Survey this morning. Last night I camped out in the Coast Range on the
ridge above Millwood,
The HERMIT THRUSHES were singing when I got there, so I thought I'd
settle back in the white plastic chair that I hauled along, drink couple
of Deschutes Brewery porters, and do a little work on my notebook
computer. Turned out, the MOSQUITOES were singing too, so I soon gave up
on the idea of sitting outside, retreated to the minivan, closed all the
windows, and then decided that I was tired enough to go to sleep even
though it was just 7:45 PM.
At 03:45 I woke up and drove down to the starting point of this route
(the big transformer pen a few miles west of downtown Umpqua). I was a
little too early since I couldn't officially start the survey until
05:02, but it was fun to listen to the pre-dawn birds as they gradually
woke up. Do towhees ever sleep?
Finally at 5:02 I got going. The most striking thing compared to June
14th of last year is that Umpqua Valley residents seem to be up and
about earlier in the morning, this year. Some of it might be
attributable to the expanded vineyards and other high-maintenance crops
near Umpqua (there was a regular rush hour right at 6 AM, when I had
five cars pass me at a single stop).
This route runs from west of Umpqua to Cole Valley, then over through
Oakland and finally out along Driver Valley Rd. until it wraps back
around toward Sutherlin.
EURASIAN COLLARED DOVES were pretty much everywhere this year -- I was
starting to think that I heard some at every stop, but checking my forms
at the end of the day, that's a slight overstatement. I missed grassland
sparrows at a few stops that have had them in the past, but seem to be
in the process of conversion to more intensive forms of agricultures.
WESTERN MEADOWLARKS however seem to be holding strong.
I only picked up one GRASSHOPPER SPARROW this year (at the west end of
Crouch Rd., though singing from the north side of Ft. McKay Rd.) but
held steady with five VESPER SPARROWS. Some of this is no doubt a
function of the 3-minute sampling period, since sparrows only sing when
they feel like it.
I didn't find anything particularly rare. Some birds that weren't on the
data forms for this route included OSPREY, COMMON NIGHTHAWK, BELTED
KINGFISHER, ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER, ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRD, ACORN
WOODPECKER, RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH, and NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW.
I'm pretty sure I've recorded all of these on this route before, but the
USGS folks who run this survey try to pare the forms down to the most
likely species, to keep it short. So this is more an indication of birds
that are a little uncommon for this route, than real rarities. However
today was a good day for Ash-throated Flycatchers, with a total of 5 at
4 different stops. The best one was singing away in full view, not far
from the intersection of Driver Valley Rd. and Elkhead Rd.
Happy birding,
Joel
--
Joel Geier
Camp Adair area north of Corvallis
