We went there because Mary Lee Sayre had found larks and a possible longspur
there a few days back. I had never been there before.
The site is exactly what you describe and it has one other important feature:
it is the first large open grassy area that birds coming DOWN the upper
Willamette/Salt Creek canyon come to. It’s at the extreme eastern end of
Oakridge next to the fish hatchery road. After that, forest.
So birds that either can’t find open ground in the snow or have flown too far
upslope in overnight migration and crossed the summit are very likely to plop
down exactly where we found them. The area was also full, relatively speaking,
of meadowlarks and bluebirds, both of which Mary Lee thought were unusual there.
Alan Contreras
acontrer56@xxxxxxxxx
Eugene, Oregon
www.alanlcontreras.com
http://osupress.oregonstate.edu/book/edge-of-awe
On Mar 19, 2019, at 9:55 PM, rriparia@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
Thanks for the note Alan.
Certainly an interesting location for those birds to be, but something about
that location I hadn't considered until I thought about what you noted. But
it seems to make sense. And that is that birds hang out where they are
comfortable.
Over on the east side people, birders, tend to spend time in an "oasis" or
island of lush green surrounded by dry landscape. In Oakridge, you spent time
in an island of low vegetated landscape (I presume), surrounded by forest.
The birds you mentioned, the Say's Phoebe, Horned Lark, and Vesper Sparrow
prefer the more open places on the eastside (although I have run across
Vespers in Lodgepole stands on the east side). The point is that the paradigm
seems to fit the idea of an oasis in Oakridge, surrounded by forest.
So, I'm wondering Alan, we're you thinking of the industrial area as an oasis
and purposely went there? Would you consider it an "oasis", a location that
would attract birds that favor more open habitat?
Another thing I thought about is route to breeding area. Horned Larks
winter by the thousands in the Klamath Basin. I see variations in plumage, so
those wintering will disperse and scatter to many different locations. The
larks you saw may be moving westward to the valley.
The phoebes seem to using the last open area as they move up slope, and are
below the snow. Or were they moving northward, through the basin on the east
side, came to a landscape of just snow, and headed west to a pass and made it
to that area in Oakridge. I think it is more likely the former scenario, of
the Phoebe moving up slope and are hanging out before pushing onward. If
that's the case, I'd think coastal birds moved north on the coast moved
eastward along drainages, into the valley, and then are headed over the
Cascades by using yet another drainage to reach a pass. It would be
interesting to visit that location every year, or several times a year.
Interesting group of birds for Oakridge, and made me think of a few things.
Kevin Spencer
Klamath Falls, Oregon
rriparia@xxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:rriparia@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent from my Verizon LG Smartphone
------ Original message------
From: Alan Contreras
Date: Tue, Mar 19, 2019 6:10 PM
To: Oregon Birders On Line;
Cc: lanebirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:lanebirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>;
Subject:[obol] Oakridge and Willamette Pass birds
Daniel Farrar and I decided to do something a little different in today’s
good weather so we birded the morning around Oakridge with Mary Lee Sayre. We
then checked Hills Creek Dam and went up to the Salt Creek-Willamette Pass
area.
The morning was great birding. Mary Lee showed us around the city-owned old
industrial park at the east end of Oakridge and it was very birdy. We saw a
remarkable 8 SAY’S Phoebe, five in the industrial park (three together and
two others singing) and three more just below it at the pond by the side of
Salmon Creek at the dead end of Coho Street. That’s easily the most I have
ever seen in one day, let alone a bit over an hour, in western Oregon. There
could have been more; 8 is a conservative number.
Also at the Industrial Park were two VESPER Sparrows with one Savannah (an
interesting side by side comparison of color and size) and four HORNED Larks
that Mary Lee found a couple of days ago. I have several photos of the larks
to send to lark people. They look very pale and plain.
Also present in those two areas were 7 Western Bluebird, dozens of swallows
(a mix of VG and Tree), one RUFOUS hummer, four Lincoln’s Sparrows at the
creekside area, two Dippers along the creek and a Virginia Rail at the pond
in the industrial park.
After lunch we went up the hill. This was generally slow and we failed to
find the Gray Jay and Mountain Chickadee we hoped for. Along with things
starting with “Sage.” Siskins were widespread in small numbers, otherwise
the warm, windy afternoon produced a very thin soup. The cone crop looks good
but there were no crossbills at all. The Salt Creek Falls road is only open
to the ski trail sno-park
In the late afternoon we checked the Dexter Reservoir causeway. Most of the
winter ducks are gone; two Eared and one Horned Grebe were highlights. All
of them had a fair bit of spring color.
The devastation from recent heavy snowfall is extraordinary. From Lookout
Point Dam to just above Oakridge, hundreds upon hundreds of trees along the
roads have been knocked down and eventually cut back from the highway. The
highway guardrails have been bent nearly flat from tree impacts in so many
places that the torn-up sections were impossible to count. In some sections
ALL of the trees near the highway are flattened. 25 miles of smackdown. I
have not seen anything like it before.
Daniel can add anything I forgot.
Alan Contreras
acontrer56@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:acontrer56@xxxxxxxxx>
Eugene, Oregon
www.alanlcontreras.com <http://www.alanlcontreras.com/>
http://osupress.oregonstate.edu/book/edge-of-awe ;
<http://osupress.oregonstate.edu/book/edge-of-awe>
