Oregon birders,
Nearly all the bird species mentioned by Joel and Harry are stereotypical
California species-- species which breed through much or most of California,
and have done at least since the earliest ornithological explorations. However,
one of these, the Great-tailed Grackle, is a newcomer even to California. The
first record of Great-tailed Grackle in California was in the Colorado River
Valley in 1964. When I made my first visit to that part of California in 1970
(near Imperial Dam), I was highly surprised to find Great-tailed Grackles
there. None of the bird-finding guides or standard ornithological references
indicated that they should be there. This species has had a much bigger range
expansion than the other ones mentioned.
The regular occurrence of Great-tailed Grackles in Oregon is quite
recent—recent enough that I have not yet seen one in Oregon! It appears that
they may be breeding in Malheur County in the southeast as well as in Jackson
County. (Yes, I’ve seen GTGR both in BC and in Washington, but they sure don’t
breed there!) One of my priorities for 2019 is to finally add GTGR to my Oregon
state list.
All this just goes to emphasize how dynamic bird populations are, with
never-ending changes in breeding (and wintering) ranges. There have been some
major range contractions as well, such as Western Bluebird (disappeared from
all of southwestern BC and much of western WA), California Condor, and
Yellow-billed Cuckoo. The longer you watch birds, the more things change.
Wayne C. Weber
Delta, BC, Canada
contopus@xxxxxxxxx
From: obol-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:obol-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of ;
Harry Fuller
Sent: Friday, January 11, 2019 7:57 AM
To: clearwater@xxxxxxxx
Cc: Midvalley Birding Midvalley; OBOL
Subject: [obol] Re: Nice January walk in California? No, Polk County, Oregon
Other birds coming up from the south: Great-tailed Grackle now nest in Jackson
County as do Mockingbirds and White-tailed Kites. The California Towhee,
Wrentit and Oak Titmouse are well-established there as well as breeding BG
Gnatcatchers...I suspect many of these species move up the coast first and then
follow rivers inland...not coming over the 4300 foot high Siskiyou Pass...but
once in the Rogue or Umpqua or Willamette Valley they should thrive. Nuttall's
may have a harder time because it is highly dependent on oaks and cottonwoods,
not common along the coast or in Siskiyou and Modoc Counties on the northern
Cal border. THere is some suspicion but no proof yet that Cak Thrashers are
also breeding in Jackson County. I am currently working on an update to a
federal publication of 1975, Birds of Jackson County...two major trends stand
out: 1) we know a hell of a lot more about birds there now (i.e. where the
Great Grays and Spotted Owls nest), 2) several species have moved north and
gotten established...I've seen Red-shouldered Hawks as high as 4500'
elevation...Anna's Hummingbird in 1975 was considered a rare summer visitor,
now males stay year round along with s few females who don't migrate out.
In 1975 there had been no record of even a sighting of Red-shoulder or kite in
Jackson County!
On Fri, Jan 11, 2019 at 5:21 AM <clearwater@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi all,
Yesterday afternoon I was out for a stroll through vineyards and and oak woods
on a small winery between Dallas and Monmouth, in sunshine and pleasant 50 F
temperatures.
A RED-SHOULDERED HAWK was sneaking around the woods along a small creek.
A BLACK PHOEBE was chirping and catching insects around the barn.
I heard ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRDS grinding away at their song, at three different
spots along the walk.
Two or three decades ago, all three of these species were more associated with
northern California and the southwest corner of Oregon. Now they are part of
our regular local avifauna in the mid-Willamette Valley.
Turkey Vultures have also become a frequent though still uncommon sight on
warm, sunny days in winter, and Acorn Woodpeckers colonies are widespread.
We're still missing Nuttall's Woodpecker, Oak Titmouse, and California Towhee,
at least for the time being.
--
Joel Geier
Camp Adair area north of Corvallis
--
Harry Fuller
author of: San Francisco's Natural History: Sand Dunes to Streetcars:
https://ecowise.wordpress.com/2017/04/20/sfnh/
author of Great Gray Owls of CA-OR-WA:
https://ecowise.wordpress.com/2015/05/08/the-great-gray-owl-book/
author of Freeway Birding: freewaybirding.com
birding website: http://www.towhee.net
my birding blog: atowhee.wordpress.com
