I camped in Eden Valley on the Siskiyou NF in SE Coos on Sunday night. I
was up owling by 0300 without luck on Monday morning. I heard my first of
many C Nighthawks at 0345 which was the first light of dawn. In the predawn
while driving the road in the old growth forest in Eden Valley, my low beam
headlights illuminated a roadside that was a dazzling bright red color from
the thousands of flowering red columbines- one of the trip highlights.
There were several miles of columbines in full flower with many tall plants
covered with blooms.
I started up Mt Bolivar before 0500. The NE winds were already blowing but
not enough to drown out the dawn chorus which consisted of:
Dusky Flycatchers (many), Olive-sided Flys, Western Wood-peewees,
Townsend’s Solitaires, and MacGillivray's, Nashville and Audubon Warblers.
Up top I was quickly able to find a ROCK WREN on the steep, open rocky
south slopes below the peak. I can find this species most years here but
always in June- they are not around in May when I have checked including
this year.
Beautiful flower show around the rocky peak and the usual great views of
the Crater Lake Rim, Mt McLoughlin, the top of Mt Shasta, and the valley
fog below.
Don and Robyn Henise reported no luck trying to refind the redstart in the
AM. Four of the six Coos redstart records are now from June.
Happy early summer birding all!
Tim Rodenkirk
Coos Bay
