Here is the final Horned Lark High Count Table, as amended by others.
*High Counts of Horned Larks Willamette Valley (Compiled from eBird, Bob
Obrien)*
Clark
27
Andrea Johnson
01/23/17
Multnomah
150
Greg Gillson
01/11/03
(from CBC data)
Clackamas
10
Aaron Beerman
07/19/17
~100 ~2005 Me
Marion
30
Kathleen Moon
02/23/12
Linn
320
Randy Moore
11/26/15
Lane
43
Tom Mickel
01/25/04
Douglas
1
Jimmy Bilstone
02/06/15
Jackson
41
Russ Namitz
01/30/16
On Tue, Jan 2, 2018 at 6:28 PM, Ashwin S. <orfrigatebird@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi all,
For what it's worth, the high count for Horned Lark in Multnomah County is
150 on 1/11/2003 by Greg Gillson, at the Rivergate Industrial Area.
Washington County has had an insignificant number of larks over the last
few decades, never more than a few individuals, and probably northern
subspecies (not aware of any Streaked HOLA breeding in Washington County
currently).
Multnomah County is unusual in that (almost?) all Streaked HOLA breeding
occurs off agricultural land. The two significant locations are the
Rivergate Industrial Area, where large numbers of larks have wintered, and
the Portland Airport area. The number of larks at Rivergate has steadily
declined over the last few years, but there are still several breeding
pairs there. Unfortunately, the Port of Portland has permission to develop
all sites at Rivergate in the new future (within ~5 years). The USFWS held
a public comment period last winter on whether or not to allow this, and I
did write to them in disagreement, but this seemed to have no effect on the
decision.
The PDX area will naturally become more important if sites at Rivergate
are destroyed. Broughton Beach just north of PDX hosts relatively large
numbers of larks, especially during the fall. Last November I had a flock
of 12 Streaked HOLAs there. Broughton Beach is, however, transitioning out
of suitability for larks as willows are starting to take root. I have no
idea how this will affect lark populations in the airport area, but
probably negatively, as this is a location safe from airplanes and with
plenty of food on the water's edge. Personally, I think most larks at the
airport use Broughton Beach for feeding at least seasonally, but this has
no grounding in scientific observation.
There is an ongoing effort by Metro to transform the former St. Johns Dump
just south of Smith and Bybee Lakes into a prairie. From the photos I've
seen, the results thus far have been impressive, and there have been some
visiting larks there from time to time. However, Streaked HOLAs are
notorious for extreme site-fidelity. It is dubitable that larks will
colonize the location before sites at Rivergate are destroyed, but one can
only hope.
Ashwin S.
Beaverton
