Add in also the Loggerhead Shrike that Shawneen, David Mandell and I found last
Saturday in the large field ene. of the east end of NE Portal off NE 185th.
Dave Irons
Beaverton, OR
Sent from my iPhone
On Mar 27, 2019, at 8:41 AM, Jay Withgott
<withgott@xxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:withgott@xxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
I had a lovely jog through Sandy River Delta yesterday morning, 26 March.
Highlights included the following:
* Three (3) LOGGERHEAD SHRIKES. Definitely 3; each was hunting in a focused
manner in different widely-spaced areas and seen within a short space of time.
* 2 VESPER SPARROWS, in far eastern portion of area.
* 3 Say’s Phoebes
* 1 Common Yellowthroat, FOY
* 37 Western Meadowlarks
Checklist here: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S54248888
I then took a spin through the Swigert PseudoSage and other Troutagonia spots,
but found only a Say’s Phoebe, 15 more Meadowlarks, and a Two-wheeled T.
andersoni. Together we walked across the Amazon parking lot to the spot where
folks had photographed a window-striking Burrowing Owl the other day. An Amazon
employee came running out the door to ask what was up with all the people with
binoculars swarming around lately. We told her about the owl and had a friendly
chat, but I couldn’t resist telling her how great a birding area this “USED to
be before it was developed.” To me the Troutagonia area is a good example of
the phenomenon whereby biodiversity declines get masked by more-intense
coverage of smaller and smaller habitat islands. The great community of
terrific birders in the Portland area continues to find rare birds by combing
through this area, giving the likely false impression that bird numbers are
doing OK. And of course the birds of most interest in the Feb-to-April window
are those East-side semi-vagrants that spill over through the Columbia Gorge,
which would arrive here regardless of the size of the habitat areas available.
Which brings me back to Loggerhead Shrikes. This must be a record year for them
in the Portland region and the Gorge. So far in the past week or so, judging by
eBird reports, there have been records of what have likely been 8 birds in the
Portland & Gorge area of Oregon, 5 more on the Washington side, and 3 more
further N or S in WA & OR. The Portland-area records include the following:
1 at Powell Butte, 3/22
1 in Gresham, 3/23
1 at Sundial Rd., 3/20, 3/26
1 at Swigert Rd., 3/20
1 at Troutdale WWTP, 3/20
1, 2, then 3 at Sandy River Delta, 3/18-3/26
The “invasion” is likely not over yet.
Jay Withgott
Portland
