Don and Robyn Henise found a few good birds in Coos again. On Friday they
saw a WANDERING TATTLER on the south side of the north jetty at Bandon.
There has been a single in the same location the last two winters also, but
it has proven to be very elusive and is only reported a couple times each
winter. We'll see if it can be found on the 4 January Coquille Valley CBC.
The next day they saw two TRUMPETER SWANS at the Myrtle Point marsh- the
7th Coos record.
I looked for both birds yesterday without luck. I did see a SAY'S PHOEBE
at Picture Valley road near Norway, at the barn below, where this species
has overwintered four other times since 2008 when Dave Irons and Shawneen
Finnegan found the first overwintering bird during a Coquille Valley CBC.
I check this spot every winter now. There is a lot of great habitat at
barns throughout the valley there where they could also overwinter that one
cannot get to- would be fun to have access to some of the other large
ranches.
Nearby the phoebe location I checked Johnson Mill Pond (now a county
park). There were a few thousand A. Wigeon there. A quick look found 6-10
male EURASIAN WIGEON. The flock moved around a bit and cannot be seen from
one location so I gave a range. I did not look for females, there could
easily be a few of those present also. On the walk around the pond there
was an OC Warbler and a couple Swamp Sparrows. I thought I heard a
yellowthroat too, but it started raining shortly after I heard the call and
things got quiet pretty quick- did not hear the bird again on my way out?
In North Bend on Saturday afternoon there was a RHINO AUKLET off the
Virginia St. boat ramp- pretty far up the bay for this species which
continues in number in the bay- strange fall for this species?
Merry December all!
Tim Rodenkirk
Coos Bay
