Rufous numbers at our place on the west edge of the valley north of Corvallis
have ramped up more rapidly than usual, after a long delay. This afternoon at
least four females were chasing each other around, plus one or two males.
Another "rufous" bird in the neighborhood today was a continuing Swamp Sparrow
in E.E. Wilson Wildlife Area, today in fresh breeding plumage with very bright
rufous scapulars.
About Rufous Hummingbird movements in the snow zone, while scouting some sites
south of Cougar Reservoir for the Oregon Cascades Birding Trail, in early
spring about 15 years ago, I had a male Rufous come flying right up to me to
investigate my shirt (which had some red in the pattern). There was practically
nothing blooming at that elevation on that day.
I don't recall the date but I remember that it was early enough that I ran into
6 inches of snow just a little way up the west side of that valley, while
trying to get to a Lane Co. site that might be good for nesting Fox Sparrows
and possibly Green-tailed Towhees, but was ultimately not included in the
birding trail. Memorable because I had to back our F-150 down in snow for about
a quarter mile on a winding road, before I got to a place where I could turn
around. Even with chains on it was pretty hairy.
Joel
On Wed, Mar 20, 2019 at 9:29 PM Alan Contreras <acontrer56@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I suspect that in general they use the river valleys early in the season
because there are no flowers up in the snow zone in March. We saw one
Rufous in Oakridge, el. 1200, yesterday.
