More finch news:
Despite there being no snow in the mountains, finches have started to
descend to lower elevations. Common Redpolls have made it to the floors of
the Grande Ronde and Baker Valleys. 13-20 were at North Powder Pond in
northern Baker County this morning. A flock of 16 White-winged Crossbills
were found on the south side of La Grande. Russ Morgan and I stumbled into
at least 13 Cassin's Finches in southern Union County too.
While not finch related, looks like we got a push of Harris's Sparrows,
with one at a private residence in Wallowa County and another at North
Power Pond.
Looking to be an eventful winter!
Cheers,
Nolan Clements
On Sun, Nov 14, 2021, 4:08 PM Nolan Clements <nolanclements@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Hi OBOLites,
Good finch action continues and is increasing in Northeastern Oregon.
Several days ago 40 Common Redpolls were at Jubilee Lake, Union County.
Yesterday approximately 40 White-winged Crossbills and 40 Common Redpolls
were found at Woodward Camp, Umatilla County. Those number continued today.
An additional 10 White-winged Crossbills were found at Jubilee Lake today.
More Redpolls were reported at much lower elevations today. 1-2 several
hundred feet above La Grande at Morgan Lake, 1 in a backyard in La Grande,
and a small flock at Thief Valley Reservoir.
I've also noted above average numbers of Evening Grosbeaks, Cassin's
Finches, and Pine Siskin, but only average numbers of Red Crossbills at the
moment. So far very few reports of Pine Grosbeaks.
High elevation Engelmann Spruce cone crop is very good and Grande Fir also
appears to have a decent crop. Overall finch numbers seem to be increasing
so it's looking to be a really good winter these awesome arctic species.
Good birding,
Nolan Clements
