I haven't birded the Valley much in the past month but, based on the small
sample size of my neighborhood, I'm also seeing more EVGRs and PISIs than
usual.
I would guess that the dead foliage on Western Red Cedars is
drought-related. My understanding is that 30" of yearly rainfall is the low
end of Thuja plicata's drought tolerance. Eugene has received just 14"
since January and the past two summers have been unusually hot and
desiccating. (That said, Olympia, WA is currently at 26", which is closer
to normal.) The one Western Red Cedar that I've seen doing well this year
is a dwarf variety that's in a large, regularly watered ceramic pot next to
my shed. No signs of disease and lots of lush growth this year.
Brandon
Eugene
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*Subject: Evening Grosbeaks in the western Oregon lowlands*
Date: Wed Oct 21 2015 0:47 am
From: llsdirons AT msn.com
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.
One last thing to pay attention to. Over the past year or so, I've
noticed that nearly every Western Red Cedar I see has dead foliage.
I'm not sure if this drought-related or perhaps a disease of some
sort, but in recent months I have been hard-pressed to find a Western
Red Cedar that looks healthy. Even in Olympic National Park and in the
Olympic National Forest, the cedars have lots of patches of brown
foliage. The most intense evidence of this is a broad elevational band
(between about 2000 and 3000') along Hwy 58 east of Oakridge where
nearly every Western Red Cedar is dead-topped, sometimes for upwards
of 40 feet.
Dave Irons
Portland, OR
