[obol] Baskett Slough Birds and Polk County Big Day
- From: Brandon Wagner <bmwboarder@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: oregon birding online <obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Midvalley Birding <birding@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 19 May 2013 21:36:11 -0700
Hi birding friends,
I'd like to tell a story about today. It mostly revolves around Baskett
Slough, and how many awesome birds we found there, but also a little bit
about the adventures my friend Bill Tice and I had today attempting a big
day for Polk County.
Bill woke up very early, 1am or so and was able to find a few owls while I
was snoozing in (I awoke at 3:15). By dawn, Bill had found 4 owls (Western
Screech, Barred, Great-horned and Barn) and I had found just one, a
Great-horned.
After the owling, our morning started off good with a CHAT, 2 WESTERN
KINGBIRDS and a CHIPPING SPARROW all along Farmer rd, near Baskett Slough.
We were excited, but unsure about the day because it was fairly windy out
and we were limited in our ability to hear birds. Seeing the Kingbirds was
a bonus bird though, so that was good.
We made a few more stops and weren't finding too much because of the wind.
However, at the Narrows, the wind seemed to play into our favor as we
spotted a BANK SWALLOW! This was a first time county bird for both Bill
and I! We also saw 4 BLUE-WINGED TEAL right at the narrows along with 2
BLACK-NECKED STILTS and 2 BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS nearby. We walked the
butte and found some normal birds there, not quite as many as we wanted as
it was still somewhat windy, but they were adding up. We returned to the
wetlands and found a couple WHIMBREL and a PURPLE MARTIN! Then we saw Doug
Robinson who thought he saw a DUNLIN that might be viewable from the
overlook kiosk. Well, the dunlin were there, along with WILSON'S and
RED-NECKED PHALAROPES. And a couple EARED GREBES. And after leaving and
then coming back later in the day, we also saw BLACK TERNS! It seemed like
every time we blinked there was something else cool to find at Baskett
Slough. Maybe we should have just never left the refuge.
All in all, we found 121 birds for the day. Out of sheer exhaustion we
called it quits with still a couple hours of light left. We didn't make it
up to the higher elevations, which would have likely added a few more, but
we would have still been short of the record. Maybe it was the wind, maybe
we spent too much time celebrating the Bank swallow. Whatever it was, it
was a very fun day in Polk county.
Cheers,
Brandon Wagner
Independence
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