Dear Dave,
I agree with you that this is unusual. I heard Evening Grosbeaks at my
house on Mt. Scott in Happy Valley several times in early September before I
went to Europe and have seen or heard several more flocks at my house
several times in the past two weeks as well. I generally don't get Evening
Grosbeaks at my house in the fall.
Sincerely,
Tim Janzen
From: obol-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:obol-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of David Irons
Sent: Tuesday, October 20, 2015 10:47 PM
To: OBOL Oregon Birders Online
Subject: [obol] Evening Grosbeaks in the western Oregon lowlands
Greetings All,
For about a month or so now I have been regularly hearing calling Evening
Grosbeaks around the northern end of the Willamette Valley. This past
weekend while in Eugene, Shawneen had a flock of 50 Evening Grosbeaks pass
over Dan and Anne Heyerly's house just north of downtown Eugene. We looked
at recent eBird reports of Evening Grosbeaks and found that the number of
valley floor reports this fall is about equal to the total number of valley
floor reports for all previous fall seasons. By all indications this fall's
lowland incursion of Evening Grosbeaks is highly unusual and perhaps
unprecedented in recent years. I can't recall ever seeing or hearing as many
Evening Grosbeaks in the Willamette Valley lowlands during fall. The big
numbers here typically come during April and May and they are mostly absent
from the valley floor most of the rest of the year.
If you are an eBirder, I encourage you to record all sightings of Evening
Grosbeaks this fall. This incursion, along with the lowland incursion of
Mountain Chickadees may be an early indicator of other finch irruptions into
our region this winter. On a lesser scale, there have been several lowland
reports of Townsend's Solitaires, including one that visited Wilson Cady's
feeder just yesterday. Further, Pine Siskins seem to be arriving in big
numbers as well. Jim Danzenbaker sent us a photo tonight showing about fifty
Pine Siskins on the deck of his home in Battle Ground, Washington.
Dave Irons
Portland, OR
