[obol] Re: Only 2 Vesper Sparrows for Polk County blitz?
- From: David Irons <llsdirons@xxxxxxx>
- To: "joel.geier@xxxxxxxx" <joel.geier@xxxxxxxx>, OBOL Oregon Birders Online <obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 28 Jun 2013 14:56:22 +0000
In response to Joel Geier's query:
I'm wondering if there are still more data to be entered, or did the
total number of Vesper Sparrows found in Polk County last weekend really
end up at just two?
Joel,
Shawneen and I spent the entire day in and out of habitats–actually better
qualified as former habitats/sites–where 30 years ago Vesper Sparrows would
have been expected. It took some amount of work to find places that had what I
would consider suitable habitat. Too much of the landscape was covered with a
monoculture of wheat, vineyards, or the dense dark rye or fescue grass (I'm not
an agronomist). We even tried Christmas tree farms, where I've found this
species on occasion as well. At the end of the day we came up empty, as did
most of the other teams doing the Polk County blitz. I know Vesper Sparrow song
well and spent more time than I care to think about listening, but not hearing
their wonderful song.
I don't have the quantitative data to back it up, but from my vantage point it
would appear that Vesper Sparrow is in real trouble, if not mostly extirpated
from the northern half of the Willamette Valley. No one has found them breeding
in Washington County in several years. They've been gone from Multnomah for as
long as I can remember and I have never known of a reliable place to find them
in Clackamas (surely they formerly inhabited the southwest corner of the
county). Try as I might, I haven't been able to find them of late in Yamhill
County either. Years ago, I would have considered Polk to be a stronghold of
sorts, but based on last weekend's detections, those days seem to be in the
rear-view mirror.
Equally troubling for me was the lack of Western Meadowlarks. We only heard one
all day and that was on the north end of Baskett Slough NWR, which was outside
of our assigned township. When we volunteered to help, we specifically
requested a sector that would put us in the open country grasslands and grassy
slopes. I had hopes of perhaps finding a pocket of Vespers or Grasshopper
Sparrows that no one had yet encountered.
As far as I know, the data entry for the Oregon 2020 Polk County blitz is all
but complete. Neither the data nor my more casual observations seem to paint an
encouraging picture.
Dave IronsPortland, OR
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