They may be there due to the fires.
On Sep 7, 2017, at 11:26 PM, Nathaniel Wander <nw105@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
This will sound mad, but I believe there were two Townsend's Solitaire's in
the courtyard of my Pearl District building about 4PM today (Thursday).
I kept hearing a very distinct, high-pitched <ik> that I didn't immediately
recognize. I live on the third story of a four story building that
completely encloses a courtyard densely planted in trees, bushy plants and
wildflowers. Looking across the courtyard, I briefly saw a slender, grayish
bird perched upright on the opposite rooftop, but it flew off above the roofs
to the west.
The calls persisted though and soon a similar bird flew to about the same
perch. As it lighted I was able to get binoculars on it, but the view,
through a somewhat ashy screen wasn't very good. It was smaller and
slenderer than the scrub jays that typically haunt this courtyard, very
upright and it appeared to have a lighter patch on its wing, though it seemed
whitish rather than buffy. It too flew on to the west, though I continued to
hear the <ik> call for at least another five minutes: I judged it might be on
the west-side roof out of my line of vision.
I heard the call perhaps 10-12 times more after I went down into the
courtyard, but never got a sight of the caller. When it no longer repeated,
I went out to Jamison Square, west of my building across NW10th Avenue. I
never heard the call again and the only birds in the park were House Sparrows
and Rock Pigeons.
If these were solitaire's, the only possibility I can imagine is that they
were driven down by the fires in the Gorge . Our courtyard might pass for a
small pocket canyon to a couple of disoriented thrushes. The trees are all
deciduous, though, so they mightn't stick around long.
Nathaniel Wander
Portland, OR
"Don't work towards freedom. Make the work the freedom."
