Obolinks,
A relatively warm (56-60 degrees), calm, and thinly overcast and dry day was
a good choice to complete this five-hour 60-miler. I did the route by
myself, and I think that is probably why some of the species numbers are
low. While driving and looking to the left and forward for raptors, and
also trying to stay on the road, I was limited in my ability to look out the
right side of the vehicle while driving. Without a spotter on that side, the
numbers were bound to be low.
Lane #1 is generally the fields and farms surrounding Fern Ridge Reservoir.
The boundaries are roughly Cantrell Rd./Hwy. 126 on the south, Territorial
Rd. on the west, Hwy. 36 on the north, and Green Hill Rd. on the east.
Hawk numbers are/were as follows:
Red-Tailed Hawk - 15
American Kestrel - 16
Northern Harrier - 10
Bald Eagle - adult - 17
Bald Eagle - sub-adult - 16
Red-shouldered Hawk - 1 (a new low when present)
White-tailed Kite - 1
Peregrine Falcon - 2
Prairie Falcon - 1
In addition to the above raptors, about 20 Tree Swallows were working the
air over the Royal Ave. area, and 9 Horned Larks were feeding out in the
grass seed field southeast of the goose checking station/parking area where
K.R. Nielsen Rd. bends at 90-degrees by the railroad tracks. If you stand
near the driveway entrance to the parking area and look to the southeast
toward a green/aqua colored metal barn on the distant hillside, the larks
were approximately 150-200-yards away in a part of the field with very short
and sparse grass. I have never seen Horned Larks in this particular field
before, although I have been with other birders that have heard them there.
My hearing isn't what it used to be.
I did not see any swallows in this East Coyote area, but I did see one Bruce
Newhouse that was with a group of officials that are planning some habitat
improvement on some former farmland in this area, and what they are going to
be doing sounds pretty exciting. Perhaps Bruce can fill us in.
Good Birding,
Dan Heyerly, Eugene
