Just to add to this discussion, I can't speak for the west side of the
Willamette valley, but I live in the hills east of Silverton, essentially
the Cascade foothills, and I hear Sandhill Crane flocks every October
flying over. And I am not home that often, so I can imagine I miss many
flocks that may pass over.
Roger Freeman
East of Silverton
On Wednesday, October 14, 2015, David Irons <llsdirons@xxxxxxx> wrote:
Paul,
Crane movements through the Willamette Valley seem to be mostly if not
entirely confined to the eastern part of the trough. In all my days of
running Schwan's routes in Yamhill County (nearly five years) I never heard
or saw Sandhill Cranes. We get birds over Portland's West Hills, probably
funneling along the north-south section of the Columbia (Woodland, WA south
to Portland) and then the flight path seems to shift east passing over
Silverton, Lebanon, Brownsville and Marcola east of Springfield. I've
always presumed that cranes move to the east side of the valley to take
advantage of the combination of thermals coming off the valley floor and
the uplift over the western foothills of the Cascades. When I lived in
Eugene I would regularly see and hear cranes over the Coburg Hills and up
against the eastern edge of the valley, but rarely had them farther to the
west.
Dave Irons
Portland, OR
------------------------------
From: paultsullivan@xxxxxxxxxxxx
<javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','paultsullivan@xxxxxxxxxxxx');>
To: obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx');>;
YamhillBirders@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
<javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','YamhillBirders@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx');>
Subject: [obol] testing an hypothesis #2
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 2015 21:17:12 -0700
To test whether the reports of Sandhill Cranes migrating over Portland
could be seen in Yamhill County (where the species is really hard to find)
I went to the east end of Parrett Mt., then Chehalem Mt. from 12:25 – 3:25
this afternoon. The vantage point has a great view of Wilsonville all the
way to Mt. Hood.
Result:
No cranes
I’ve done a couple watches from there previously with the same result.
Carol & I did see 6 Sandhill Cranes flying over Burgerville in Newburg on
Mar. 4, 2007.
Paul Sullivan
