I spent half a day birding coastal Lane Co. today. I did two main things, a
morning seawatch and an early afternoon check of the Waite Ranch area, a
nonpublic area where I do surveys.
The seawatch was ok in heavy surf and some mist but good morning light, nothing
rare but the Pacific Loon movement that has been slow and patchy this fall was
definitely underway today; I saw about 2,000 in 45 minutes. Lots of southbound
Cal and Heermann’s Gulls. There was some alcid movement, but conditions did
not allow i.d. I saw no tubenoses.
Loons in the channel (4 common, 1 Pacific) started cackling at each other about
10:00.
Speaking of Cackling, I saw about 200 Aleutians head south, and maybe 300 DC
Cormorants. At one point I could hear cacklers but only see cormorants, which
was a bit strange.
A Brant was hanging at the north edge of the large cove south of the crabbing
pier. It was so close to the rocks that I didn’t see it at first, so if you
are in that area look for rocks that preen themselves.
I had the pleasure of watching a Red-necked Grebe fly around for a while fairly
nearby, not an everyday thing. It came in off the ocean, looking for a place
to land in the river: gear down-nope, not there, another 10 yards, gear
down-well maybe not quite right either and finally landed. It was flying more
or less straight at me the whole time, a chance to see the truly odd white wing
markings.
Numbers of yellow-rumps continue to climb - my sense is that the peak is a
little late this year. Several small pure flocks of Audubon’s were embedded in
the Myrtles, that is normal in mid-fall in this area. Meadowlark numbers seem
remarkably high - they were never out of view along four miles of South Jetty
Road. This is a normal site for them, but not so many.
The pipit flock at Waite was down from last week’s 300 to a more civilized 45.
The White-tailed Kite was there, easily visible from the gate. Also present
were an adult male and three imm harriers, some standard-model ducks and
sparrows, Black Phoebe and one unexpected wad of Small Greenish Birds: two
Orange-crowns hanging with an imm. Yellowthroat. Oddly, eBird flagged the
Orange-crowns but not the Yellowthroat, the opposite of what I would expect in
November. Yellowthroats are usually gone from coastal Lane by mid-October.
This one is in an area where it might winter; I put up some pink flagging for
the CBC team - mere weeks away now.
Coming upriver I saw an adult and I mean monstrously day-glo red-orange
Red-shouldered Hawk at the D&D Dock a few miles upriver from Cushman.
Alan Contreras
acontrer56@xxxxxxxxx