[obol] 100 species in every Oregon county-- it only took me 54 years!
- From: "Wayne Weber" <contopus@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: "OBOL2" <obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 26 May 2014 10:06:45 -0700
Birders,
On May 17th, I reached a birding landmark that I have been working toward
for many years-- reaching a life list of 100 species or more in every
Oregon county. The last holdout, as you might have guessed, was Sherman
County-- the only Oregon county with no conifer forest, and one of the
hardest counties in which to build up a big list.
My first birding in Oregon took place in 1960, on a camping trip with my
parents and my younger brother Robin, who is also a keen birder. We visited
many great Oregon birding spots on that trip including Crater Lake National
Park, Cape Lookout State Park, Sunset Bay and Cape Arago, Silver Falls State
Park, The Cove Palisades State Park (before much of it was flooded by the
Round Butte Dam), Diamond Lake, and Ochoco Lake. I had only been birding for
a little more than a year at the time, and I picked up several "life birds"
on the trip. I was so impressed by the beauty and diversity within Oregon
that I have been coming back ever since, exploring as many parts of the
state as I could. So I guess you could say that it took me 54 years to reach
the magic "100 in every county", although I've only been a serious county
lister for the last 20 or 25 years. Yes, I know that Paul Sullivan managed
to find 100 or more in every county IN A SINGLE YEAR- an achievement of
which I am still in awe. However, when you consider that I have never lived
in either Oregon or Washington, and that it takes a 6-hour drive (about 300
miles) just to get from my home near Vancouver, BC to Portland, you begin to
understand the time and effort it took to reach 100 in every county.
In April 2013, I passed 100 species in Clackamas County-- the last holdout
other than Sherman County. I had hoped to break 100 in Sherman County as
well by the end of 2013. Unfortunately, other priorities intervened, and at
the end of last year I was still stuck with an all-time total of 79 species
in Sherman. However, this year, I resolved to make a visit during the
migration season in May, which I thought gave me the best chance of adding
species quickly.
On May 16th, I stayed overnight at The Dalles, and decided to start birding
the next morning at the Deschutes River State Recreation Area, which most
birders agree is the best birding location in Sherman County. I picked up 39
species there, although migrant songbirds were few, and only 6 species were
new for my county list. Further birding along the Columbia River as far as
the John Day Dam was unproductive. I scoured the streets of Wasco to no
avail, but picked up a couple of new species (a LARK SPARROW and 4 CHIPPING
SPARROWS) on someone's lawn in Moro, plus a WESTERN SCRUB-JAY in another
part of town. From then on, things started getting better. I hadn't realized
that there were many small ponds and marshes in southern Sherman County, and
I still needed quite a few ducks and waterbirds for my list. In a fairly
short time, I picked up RUDDY DUCK, CINNAMON TEAL, NORTHERN SHOVELER,
YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD, and VIRGINIA RAIL. I was surprised to find a
singing GRAY FLYCATCHER in a small patch of sagebrush, and further birding
along Finnigan Road produced a peeping WILSON'S SNIPE and some VESPER
SPARROWS. By the end of the day, my county life list was up to exactly 100
species. Yahooo! (For those who are interested, all my data have been
entered in eBird.)
I still had a couple more days that I could devote to birding in the county
or nearby. On May 18th, I birded again at Deschutes River SRA. This time I
found 41 species, including 11 that I had missed before: of these, two (a
TOWNSEND'S WARBLER and a TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE) were new for my county list.
I then focused my birding on the southern part of the county, but tallied
only 4 more new county birds: two MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS along Wilcox Lane, a
SWAINSON'S HAWK along Ball Lane, a ROCK WREN on Highway 216 in the Deschutes
River Canyon, and most surprising, a flock of 11 migrating RED-NECKED
PHALAROPES in a small pond on Highway 97 at Stark Road.
On May 19th, I had originally planned to bird elsewhere. However, intrigued
by the brief view I had had of the Deschutes River Canyon near Sherar's
Bridge the evening before, I decided to explore the good gravel road that
leads 17 miles down the canyon into Sherman County from Highway 216. I ended
up spending half the day birding the canyon from this road, and was quite
satisfied with the birding. The canyon produced another 7 county life birds:
GOLDEN EAGLE (3 seen soaring at different points), a CHUKAR who serenaded me
from a rocky ledge, a BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER singing in alders near the
river, multiple ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHERS, WESTERN WOOD-PEWEES and
YELLOW-BREASTED CHATS, and finally a couple of SPOTTED TOWHEES (whew--
nearly missed that one!). My all-time county list ended up at 113- better
than my lists for a half-dozen other Oregon counties.
It was fitting, in a way, that I reached 100 species in Sherman County on
May 17th. That day was the 55th anniversary of the day in 1959 when, as an
11-year-old kid growing up in Penticton, BC, I decided to start a "life
list", and officially became a serious birder. Since then, I have visited
Oregon almost every year, usually on 3 or 4 occasions that total at least a
week or two of birding, and I plan to keep doing so in the future.
For the record, I reached a life list of 100 species in every county of
Washington 10 years ago- in 2004-- so I have now seen 100 or more in every
county of both Oregon and Washington. I know of only 2 other birders who
have done this-- John Gatchet and Stefan Schlick-- both of whom are fine
birders with whom I have had the privilege of being in the field. (Perhaps
there are others who have done this without any fanfare.) However, both John
and Stefan have lived in both Oregon AND Washington, which gives them a bit
of an advantage, and I have done so without ever living in either state.
So what are my future listing goals? Do I plan to try to reach 120 or 150 in
every Oregon county? Or will I try to reach 100 in every California county?
(A tall order, considering that there are 58 counties there.) No, sir-- I
think that instead, I will try to add species to my Oregon state list
(currently at only 354, although I've added 5 species in the last 6 months),
to other state lists, and to my ABA area and world lists. And, I hasten to
add, listing is only one of the aspects of birding that I enjoy. I spend a
lot of time taking part in project like Breeding Bird Atlases, Breeding Bird
Surveys, and other organized surveys, and I am spending more and more time
photographing birds as well.
In closing, I would like to thank all the Oregon birders who have helped to
make county listing easier by writing bird-finding guides (e.g. Fred Ramsey,
the late Joe Evanich, John Fitchen, Alan Contreras, Bill Tice), by posting
their sightings on OBOL, and especially Chuck Gates, whose online guide to
bird-finding in Oregon covers many small locations not mentioned in other
bird-finding literature.
Good luck and good birding to all of you!
Wayne C. Weber
Delta, BC, Canada
contopus@xxxxxxxxx
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