This evening (Saturday) I found a Rock Wren hanging around the boulders
along the fence near the entrance to the Water Treatment Plant in
Cottage Grove (next to the Row River Nature Park/Turtle Ponds). Seen
for several minutes from just 20 feet away, it was alternating between
foraging in the gravels and perching on boulders doing "deep knee
bends". It then went into the raised rock flower beds of iris bordering
the gate. A few minutes later it was on the boulders along the paved
entrance drive and at 8:08pm it disappeared into the iris again. Lots
of bobbing action but no singing. It seemed at ease and "at home" there
so I'm hoping to photograph it tomorrow.
A bird story made Wednesday's C.G. Sentinel newspaper reporting that a
pair of nest-building Osprey near the Nature Park was causing power
outages. After EPUD removed the nest 3 times, the city volunteered an
abandoned electric pole in the water treatment plant grounds as an
alternative site. EPUD placed a platform and a bunch of "starter
sticks" on the pole and by last Friday the Osprey were reportedly
occupying it. I was happy to see the pair on their newly installed
platform this evening with a nest taking shape (which is when the Rock
Wren hopped up on a boulder in front of me).
There are at least 8 occupied (some incubating, some still building)
Osprey nests between Cottage Grove Lake and Walker (halfway between C.G.
and Creswell), a distance of about 11 miles along the Coast Fork of the
Willamette (this includes the new nest at the town park). I don't know
how many more might be found along the Row River east of town or at
Dorena Lake.
Tori Morgan
Cottage Grove
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