[obol] Re: Only 2 Vesper Sparrows for Polk County blitz?
- From: Joel Geier <joel.geier@xxxxxxxx>
- To: David Irons <llsdirons@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 28 Jun 2013 10:49:53 -0700
Dave & all,
Thanks for the reply. I was kind of afraid that might be the case.
On a positive note, I can add two more Polk Co. Vesper Sparrows to bring
my total for this year to 9 or 10, after checking a weedy patch of young
Xmas trees (along Berry Creek Rd., where Doug Robinson had mentioned
finding some in May). Two males were countersinging there this morning
at 8:55 AM. This location is within 200 yards of the Benton County
line.
The other Vesper Sparrows have all been been within four miles of the
Benton County line: Airlie Rd (3 or 4 birds), Sauerkraut Rd (3 birds),
and Luckiamute State Natural Area (1 bird). The first two locations are
weedy plantations of young Xmas trees (generally <3 ft high). The LSNA
bird was in some new shrub plantings which have a similar habitat
structure.
Benton County seems to be the main bright spot in the Willamette Valley.
I've found about 40 to 50 Vesper Sparrows in Benton Co. this year, most
of them on two large properties that are being grazed by cattle (OSU's
Soap creek Ranch) or cattle and sheep (Bald Hill Farm). There also seem
to be decent numbers on some cattle ranches in the Kings Valley/Price
Creek area, and in oak savanna/grazing land near Wren. A few are also
using weedy young Xmas tree plantings in the Bellfountain/Alpine/Monroe
area, though they seem to be spaced more widely in those habitats.
Linn Co. still has some Vesper Sparrows, but as Bob Altman has been
reporting, numbers seem to be down in traditional spots like Belts Rd.,
Peterson Butte, Ward Butte etc. Richardson Gap seems to have dried up
for Vesper Sparrows.
I got completely skunked on two runs of a route in Yamhill Co. and
northern Polk Co. (Sheridan-McMinnville area). A route in the
Marion/Turner area also came up dry (though I was able to pick up a
"stakeout" VESP farther east at Union Hill Rd., thanks to Jeff Harding
who found a pair there during his Scio BBS route).
A route in the Junction City/Cheshire area of Lane County has been just
a little better, with a couple of singing males (associated with
goat/sheep/cattle pastures). I haven't visited sites farther south and
east in Lane Co., but rumors are that even Mt. Pisgah isn't yielding as
many Vespers as it used to.
WESTERN MEADOWLARKS seem to be doing well in the immediate vicinity of
Baskett Slough and Finley NWRs, and in the Brownsville area in Linn co.,
but otherwise they are indeed hard to find. I heard one in the hills SW
of Turner (Marion Co.) yesterday, and one was still sitting on a wire in
Richardson Gap (Linn Co). There seem to be a few in the Cheshire area
(Lane Co.) too, and around McMinnville (Yamhill Co.).
While I'm at it, I should also mention that HORNED LARKS are still
holding on in the Waldo Hills area (Marion Co.), where I found four
singing yesterday in very young grass-seed fields.
Good birding,
Joel
On Fri, 2013-06-28 at 14:56 +0000, David Irons wrote:
> 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. ...
>
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