Birded around Florence this morning. The 2 MARBLED GODWITS continue at the
crab dock cove. Other than that it was devoid of shorebirds. The north
jetty mud flats had no shorebirds. Siltcoos estuary had 3 Killdeer.
At the Port of Suislaw there was a WESTERN MEADOWLARK on the hilltop east
of the campground. There's a big patch of grassy sand up there. Best
bird was a LAPLAND LONGSPUR that flushed from the top and flew off giving
its distinctive call. It looked like it circled back but never could
relocate it. GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROWS arrived this week and were present as
was one LINCOLNS SPARROW. A dozen LEAST SP were near the boat ramp as
expected.
Then headed out to the Suislaw deflation plain. There were 4 more
Meadowlarks here, so they are moving. I walked out over a mile and a half
from the parking lot about as far north as I could go. I heard a GREATER
YELLOWLEGS overhead despite a total lack of water on the dplain. At my
furthest point north there was group of Canada Geese. Nearby a
PACIFIC-GOLDEN PLOVER was working through the tall grass. It had a very
buffy supercillium and flushed when a harrier flew by. It flew high and
overhead, repeatedly giving a 3 note call as it passed, clinching the ID.
