Yesterday morning (March 8) I took a short walk around the SE quarter of
Ford's Pond, west of Sutherlin. It was fairly cold (unlike today) with a
mild but cold wind and rain on its way. Some observations:
AMERICAN BITTERN---I accidentally flushed one from the NE bank of
Woodruff's Pond (the pond on the south side of the dike at Ford's Pond). It
flew up, quietly croaking, and flew over toward Chevy's Pond (the pond on
the east side of Church Rd.). A bird has been seen intermittently in the
area this winter.
PUDDLE DUCKS (pintail, shoveler, gadwall, green-winged teal, etc.)---are
almost nonexistent at Ford's Pond these days, while diving ducks are the
rule (Ruddy Ducks, Ring-necked Ducks, Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead, etc.). Full
pool means deeper water for diving ducks and very little shallow water for
puddle ducks. Other than Mallard, all the puddle ducks I recorded were on
Chevy's Pond, on the east side of Church Rd. Quite a contrast to when the
water level was lower and record numbers of puddle ducks were on Ford's
Pond.
SWALLOWS---It was neat to see swallows literally "coming in" to Ford's Pond
while I was there, from over the woods and pasture to the south. Most were
TREE SWALLOWS, a smattering of VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOWS, but with some
patience I was able to find one CLIFF SWALLOW and two NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED
SWALLOWS came farting by (that's a reference to their call in case you
didn't know what they sound like). Sorry if I've spoiled the elegant beauty
of this swallow for you in any way. They're one of my favorite swallows.
Complete checklist here:
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S28073700
On Ft. McKay Rd., before arriving at Ford's Pond I noticed what appeared to
be a Ringed Turtle-Dove ...type thing... obviously paler than a nearby
Eurasian Collared-Dove and a little smaller. I couldn't get close enough
for good photos, but I'm told people sometimes raise them around here and
sometimes release them.
On the home front, it appears a Lincoln's Sparrow has been wintering in our
general area this winter, as I've seen it about every couple weeks,
including yesterday (I think it was). Looking forward to this spring when
one sometimes stops by and surprises me with a song that I'm used to
hearing only in the wetlands and bogs of the Cascades!
Matt Hunter
Melrose, OR
West-central Douglas Co.
