That must be a record or close for Snow Bunts in Lincoln County.
Alan Contreras
acontrer56@xxxxxxxxx
Eugene, Oregon
www.alanlcontreras.com
Attending Christmas Bird Counts with good weather forecasts.
On Nov 22, 2019, at 5:47 PM, Roy Lowe <roy.loweiii@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
This morning I counted 84 brant along the HMSC estuary trail at Yaquina Bay
including 3 birds with green color bands and one with a black color band.
Green bands are birds that were banded on the Coleville River Delta on the
Arctic Coastal Plain of Alaska and black is from the Hooper Bay in western
Alaska.
I went out to the Yaquina Bay North Jetty to look for the reported snow
buntings. I found them in the dunes where they have been previously
reported, but the flock size has increased to 24! The skittish buntings flew
out to the jetty near the surf line and stayed awhile before returning to the
dunes. They did this twice while I was there. I observed and photographed
(attached) two snow buntings picking up and carrying around grass sprigs as
if they were collecting nesting material. Calm, sunny weather this late in
November makes everyone a little giddy.
At South Beach State Park a merlin exploded the sanderling flock I was
viewing and narrowly missed striking one after a long chase.
Roy Lowe
Waldport, OR
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