Birded the Wheatland Ferry Boat launch area on the east side of the river 9:00
to 10:30 this morning. There is a trail on the right side of the boat launch as
you face the river that leads into the woods. In less than 1/4 mile it comes
out onto a graded dirt road around the rock crusher company lake. On weekends
the crusher is shut down so you can walk along the west side of the lake. The
lake is filled with birds - today geese, mallards, wigeons, common goldeneyes,
cormorants, buffleheads, scaups, merganser. The road is quite wet but not too
muddy. Four Wilson's snipe foraging through the mud and I first saw the phoebe
along the brushy area next to the road. Later saw it hunting around the parking
lot, see photo
https://www.flickr.com/photos/95273919@N05/23965701473/in/dateposted-public/ ;.
This is a great little area adjacent to Willamette Mission State Park. Saw a
yellow-breasted sapsucker in the same spot early last summer and an osprey
diving into the lake another day.
Identified today:
american robin - many
fox sparrow - 1
golden-crowned kinglet - 5
belted kingfisher - 1
bushtit - 20
brown creeper - 1
canada goose - 100
cackling goose - 200
black-capped chickadee - 12
ruby-crowned kinglet - 1
spotted towhee - 1
song sparrow - 2
double-creasted cormorant - 20
common goldeneye - 10
common merganser - 1
western scrub jay - 2
black phoebe - 1
american wigeon - 5
wilsons snipe - 4
mallard - 4
golden-crowned sparrow - 1
hermit thrush - 1
downy woodpecker - 1
hairy woodpecker - 2
bufflehead - 10
lesser scaup - 20
american kestrel - 5
white-crowned sparrow - 6
A good day of birding.
Glen Taylor
