It didn’t take them long to figure out their wayward ways! Perhaps this was an
early form of courtship.
Roy
On Nov 22, 2019, at 9:02 PM, Robert O'Brien <baro@xxxxxxx> wrote:
Well, since their nesting grounds are still under snow, perhaps they will
take this grass back with them to get an early start on nesting, Way Up North.
Bob OBrien
On Fri, Nov 22, 2019 at 5:48 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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