[obol] Birdathon: La Grande to Tillamook, 6-8 June
- From: Jay Withgott <withgott@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: OBOL <obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 9 Jun 2014 14:25:42 -0700
The Wild Turkeys team has returned from its annual 48-hour Gonzo Adventure for
the Audubon Society of Portland's Birdathon 2014. Twenty-two of us traveled
from La Grande to Forest Grove to Tillamook in a brand-new route for the team.
Our 208 species is raising nearly $40,000 for Portland Audubon's fabulous
conservation and education programs benefiting the birds and people of our
region. The trip is chronicled here:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Wild-Turkeys-Birdathon-Team-Portland/208687749171050
, and you can still make pledges to our team (or any other Birdathon team)
here:
http://audubonportland.org/support/fundraising-events/birdathon/birdathon_2014
. A big THANK YOU to all of you out there who are supporting Portland
Audubon's efforts with your pledges this year!
This year the Wild Turkeys benefited from tremendous assistance from Trent Bray
and Cathy Nowak, who each went above and beyond to contribute their time,
expertise, and good cheer in helping us plan, refine, and execute our efforts
in Union County. Thank you, Cathy and Trent! (And I'll insert here a shameless
plug for Trent's professional guiding services and for his birding and nature
store, The Bobolink, which you should visit when next in La Grande!) We also
had help from Laura Navarrete, Doug Robinson, Susan Masta, Jack Hurt, and staff
at the Nehalem WWTP. Highlights in chronological order are below, and full
lists will be available on eBird.
We began Friday afternoon, 6 JUNE, by looking for -- what else? -- Wild Turkey
-- around the town of Elgin. Yet our namesake species eluded us, and it would
eventually skunk us completely, for only the 3rd time in the past 10 annual
trips. We found an AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN at the Elgin Sewage Ponds, and then
headed to Rhinehart Canyon. Rhinehart was magically birdy, even in
mid-afternoon. Our scouted NASHVILLE WARBLER cooperated with us here, and we
enjoyed multiple GRAY CATBIRDS, EASTERN KINGBIRDS, and YELLOW-BREASTED CHATS.
The Alicel Scrape was nearly dry, with only a few AMERICAN AVOCETS remaining
from large numbers earlier in the spring, so we moved on to find the
GRASSHOPPER SPARROW that Trent and Cathy first documented a year or two ago. We
observed this bird carrying food to a nest, confirming breeding this year in
Union County.
We then proceeded through Cove, adding BOBOLINK to our list, and began up the
road to Moss Springs Campground, finding COOPER'S HAWK and PILEATED WOODPECKER
along the way. Moss Springs was quieter than we'd hoped, and no woodpeckers had
three toes, but VARIED THRUSHES were here and a GRAY JAY put in a brief
appearance.
We ended the evening with a whirlwind tour through Ladd Marsh, observing a wide
diversity of waterfowl, along with BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON, WHITE-FACED IBIS,
GREAT EGRET, AMERICAN BITTERN, BLACK-NECKED STILT, WILSON'S PHALAROPE, SANDHILL
CRANE, SORA, COMMON NIGHTHAWK, BANK SWALLOW, and plenty of EARED GREBES and
YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRDS. A BARN OWL provided a nice show at dusk before we
headed into town. After dinner, a hardcore group of owlers put the "Gonzo" in
"Gonzo Trip" by sacrificing sleep for a nighttime tour of the region. Despite
the good weather conditions, however, several well-scouted species stayed
inexplicably silent, and we ended up adding "only" LONG-EARED OWL.
Saturday morning, 7 JUNE, found us on the road early, enjoying fine views of
BOBOLINKS, LONG-BILLED CURLEWS, and WILSON'S SNIPE near Union. Thief Valley
Reservoir held WESTERN and CLARK'S GREBES, 3 BUFFLEHEAD, FORSTER'S TERN, and
the most distant CHUKAR ever identified by the eyes of human beings, as well as
the astonishingly immense Bank Swallow colony on the far shore. The sage
country along the roads to and from the reservoir produced numerous SAGE
THRASHERS, along with GOLDEN EAGLE, PRAIRIE FALCON, and VESPER, LARK, and
BREWER'S SPARROWS.
BLACK-CHINNED and CALLIOPE HUMMINGBIRDS were at Medical Springs, followed by a
wonderful assortment of birds in the higher-elevation regions nearby:
SHARP-SHINNED HAWK, a drumming RUFFED GROUSE, CLARK'S NUTCRACKER, RED-NAPED
SAPSUCKER, a nesting pair of WILLIAMSON'S SAPSUCKERS, CASSIN'S VIREO,
TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE, TOWNSEND'S WARBLER, CASSIN'S FINCH, a single PINE SISKIN
(when was the last time you had one of these the past several months?), and our
main quarry, GREEN-TAILED TOWHEE, a major rarity in this part of the state.
Swinging north through "The Park", Hall Ranch, and Catherine Creek, Trent
guided us to a pair of MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS amid WESTERN BLUEBIRDS, but we failed
to find one of the few known pairs of WHITE-HEADED WOODPECKER in the region
despite a valiant effort. Near Catherine Creek Day Use area, a CANYON WREN was
a surprise, and we added VEERY to our list by song and call and a series of
brief glimpses and suggestive shadows behind the vegetation. On our way north a
LEWIS'S WOODPECKER was flycatching in a known location, and shortly afterward
we bid a fond adieu to Trent and headed west on I-84 after a wonderful 24 hours
birding the fabulous La Grande region. On our way out, we add GREAT GRAY OWL
at Spring Creek, a lifer for many in the group.
Behind schedule, we minimized our stops along I-84 but added PEREGRINE FALCON
and WHITE-THROATED SWIFT along the Columbia and spotted the COMMON GOLDENEYE
that had been reported from Deschutes River State Park. Our final bird of the
day was WESTERN SCREECH-OWL, which obligingly sat in the entrance of the
nestbox in my very own yard in SW Portland.
Heading out from Forest Grove the morning of 8 JUNE, we picked up GREEN HERON
at Fernhill Wetlands, ACORN WOODPECKER in Banks, and VIRGINIA RAIL and HOODED
MERGANSER at Killin Wetlands. The mergansers had at least 2 broods, one with 2
well-grown chicks and one with 7 smaller ones. We had great views of a DIPPER
at the bridge at Hwys 6 & 8, and then headed up Timber Road. We failed to find
Mountain Quail in the clearcuts at this site (although I'd seen one while
scouting here a few days earlier), but enjoyed a good amount of bird activity
in the morning sunshine and heard an unexpected YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT in the
clearcut south of Timber. After adding Red-breasted Sapsucker, BT Gray Warbler,
and a few others, and getting great views of Hermit Warbler and MacGillvray's
Warblers teed up singing in the sun, we headed west on Hwy 26 to the coast.
At the coast we had a wonderful seawatch/coastwatch overlooking Haystack Rock
at Cannon Beach, in spectacular weather conditions with the sun at our backs
and coffee and pastries from the Sleepy Monk coffeehouse in hand. TUFTED
PUFFINS stood at their nestholes on the grassy slope of the monolith, plunged
like footballs through the air, and bobbed on the sea surface. An astonishing
35 or more HARLEQUIN DUCKS arrayed themselves within a single scope view on the
rocks below, and most of the expected marine species such as Brown Pelican,
Heermann's Gull, Surf and White-winged Scoter, all three loons, Rhino Auklet,
etc., flew by. We also spotted MARBLED MURRELET and, as a bonus, 3 separate
CASSIN'S AUKLETS. And a subset of us witnessed a spectacular sight when an
adult Bald Eagle flew in, flushed all the birds from the top of Haystack Rock,
and GRABBED A COMMON MURRE IN MID-AIR! In the past few years I've been
terribly worried about the effect eagles are having on murre colonies, but this
particular eagle earned its breakfast and gave us a breathtaking sight.
Heading south into Tillamook County, we visited Nehalem Sewage Ponds, where the
staff very generously had agreed to let us in on a Sunday(!). The visit paid
off with three new species that propelled us past 200: PURPLE MARTIN, GREATER
SCAUP, and BONAPARTE'S GULL. We then stopped for lunch at Barview Jetty, where
we heard a WRENTIT sing from the brush.
In the meantime, team member and coastal leader Wink Gross had received a call
from Jack Hurt informing him of a RED-NECKED PHALAROPE at a tiny pond on the
Wilson River Loop, so with the clock ticking we rearranged our plans and swung
by the spot -- and lo and behold, there was the phalarope, a female in gorgeous
breeding plumage at close range beside the road. Thank you, Jack!
We then went to Goodspeed Road in Tillamook, where Wink led us to a BLACK
PHOEBE. And then, although we all craved Red-shouldered Hawk, with just 40
minutes left on the clock, we made a strategic decision to sacrifice the hawk
and leave Goodspeed early so we could make it to Bayocean Spit with time left
before our 48-hour clock ran out at 3:10 pm. It turned out to be a good
decision, as 2 WHIMBRELS and 13 BRANT were at Bayocean waiting for us,
providing species #207 and 208.
This year's team was ably led by Ron Carley, Jennifer Devlin, Mike Houck, and
Dave Ward, and we enjoyed the participation of Ron's son Nick and Bob
Sallinger's son Peter, who helped keep us unruly adults on slightly better than
usual?, maybe... behavior. This year's WILD TURKEYS roster included: Shannon
Buono, Ron Carley, Nicholas Carley Navarro, Casey Cunningham, Jennifer Devlin,
Wink Gross, Dawn Hottenroth, Mike Houck, Dan Kearns, Tim Kurtz, Debra Lippoldt,
Alan Locklear, Becki Marsh, Beth Parmenter, Jim Rapp, Bob Sallinger, Peter
Sallinger, Jay Saux, Dave Ward, Bob Wilson, Jay Withgott, and Susan Yoder. Our
thanks go out to Trent and Cathy and everyone else who supported the team,
including the many folks who pledged financial contributions to Portland
Audubon.
Here's wishing everyone a wonderful summer of birding our amazing state of
Oregon,
Jay Withgott
Wild Turkeys '11/'12/'13/'14
Secretary, Portland Audubon
Portland
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