Hello All!
Here's a few sightings from the past couple days:
On Friday, I snowshoed from Salt Creek Falls to Diamond Creek Falls with a
buddy from Bend. Bird activity was quite minimal despite the beautiful
weather. The highlight up there was a pair of Dippers at the top of Salt
Creek Falls. I highly recommend the trail, if you're interested.
On the way back to Eugene, I stopped by Dexter Reservoir and scoped the
waterfowl form the causeway. There was a really nice assortment of diving
ducks, highlighted by Canvasbacks and Common Goldeneyes, which were
actually new Lane County birds for me.
The weather was still decent when I got back to town, so I headed out to
the airport to see if I could finally track down a Say's Phoebe out there,
but instead I found its cousin, a Black Phoebe, along Merryman Road. The
really dense wall of fog seemed to keep most passerines rather subdued.
Saturday morning I set out to conduct the Brownsville Raptor Route, but I
was met yet again by really dense fog, unable to see more than 50 yards in
some areas. I tried to wait it out, but it did not want to budge, so I
decided to poke around Lane on the way back home. I pulled over along
Alvadore Road to check out some gulls when a (the?) Say's Phoebe popped up
right in front of me! It turned out I was only a half mile north of where
one has been seen off and on over the course of this month along Franklin
Road, so I assume it's the same bird. And, as the phoebe flies, it's only
~2.5 miles from there to where one was seen near the airport on Saturday,
so that could have been the same bird, too.
Sunday afternoon I returned to Brownsville for the Raptor Route. It was a
peculiar day, with overall numbers down. I missed three regulars: Northern
Harrier, Rough-legged Hawk, and Prairie Falcon. However, I did have four
non-regulars: one Sharp-shinned Hawk, two Coopers Hawks, one Merlin, and a
route first for me - a Great-horned Owl. I've really been wanting an owl
for that route, so that was a fun addition.
Good birding!
--
Joshua Little
http://littlebirder.blogspot.com/
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/littlebirder/>
