Of all the birds these guys saw, the HORNED LARK is the most unusual. We
only have a single spring record for Coos County, a late April bird, so I
expect they are equally rare in Curry.
The Pacific Loon and Bonie Gull numbers will probably continue for another
week or more. Shorebird migration uusually peaks between about the 20th
and the first week of May, then drops off to a trickle quickly although
species diversity remains OK until about mid-May. It wil be interesting to
hear the numbers over the next few clear, windy days from ocean scopers.
Fun days!
Tim R
Coos Bay
On Sun, Apr 19, 2015 at 12:39 AM, Adrian Hinkle <adrian.hinkle@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Oscar Harper, Hendrik Herlyn, Christopher, and I birded in Curry and
southern Coos today.
Whimbrel, Black-bellied Plover, and peep flocks were moving along the
coastline all day. We also saw low flying flocks of Greater White-fronted
and Aleutian Cackling Geese in many locations.
Our first stop was Bandon Marsh, where 2000 peeps and a few yellowlegs,
dowitchers, plovers, and Whimbrel were on the mudflats.
At an overlook south of Port Orford from 10:00 to 10:40 we had one flock
of white-fronted geese, one flock of Brant, and several flocks totaling
600+ Aleutian Cackling Geese migrate by. Lots of small shorebird flocks
were, including four first-of-year Red-necked Phalaropes, were also
streaming by. Almost 10,000 Pacific Loons passed close offshore while we
were there, sometimes exceeding 300/minute. A total 1550 Bonaparte's Gulls
passed by at a steady 2200/hour.
Mid-day we checked Brookings and Pistol River. At the mouth of Pistol
River were 300 Caspian Terns and a swarm of 1600 Bonaparte's Gulls. It was
over 80 degrees in Brookings and we found few passerine migrants.
The wind was howling at the tip of Cape Blanco, but dozens of Savannah
Sparrows were moving through, several pipits were in the grass, and Chris
had a flyover Horned Lark.
Bandon at low tide towards the end of the afternoon had few shorebirds,
despite promising north winds.
Happy spring!
Adrian
