Welcome, Joel, & I appreciate your humor. Feedback requested, please, in
case an area birdcount is of interest-. (I'm too far out for anyone to come
here with or without shoes-South-East Douglas Co.) I have 50 acres owned
outright + another 100 or so on life estate, adjacent to cleared farm land,
BLM, etc. Riparian (year round creek), forested mountain (madrone/oak,
douglas fir, myrtlewood) & meadow. Mostly common resident/migrant birds
(pardon bird name spelling): Kingfisher; Great Blue Heron; Mountain & Valley
Quail (many); Anna's, Rufous, & Calliope hummers; Black-headed Grosbeaks
(many); American & Lesser Goldfinches (many); juncos; mourning doves;
band-tailed pigeons(many); wood ducks; mallards; red shouldered hawks; red
tail hawks; turkey vultures; Western Bluebirds; Steller jays (many); owls;
woodpeckers; spotted towhees; Lazuli Buntings; Bullock's orioles; mountain
chickadees; varied thrush; and a bunch of vari-colored house finches &
stuff". Everything is common. I'm limited by having only Vortex Diamondback
8x42 binocs & a 65mm Ultima scope & tripod (plus a lousy camera), so my
contributions will be non-stellar. Let me know by emailing me directly if a
local count would be of any benefit to your project.
-------Original Message-------
From: Joel Geier
Date: 04/25/15 17:26:49
To: Umpqua Valley Birders
Subject: [Umpqua Birds] Migration Count on weekend of May 9th/10th: Umpqua
Valley edition
Hello Umpqua birders!
This is my first posting on your list, so I guess I should introduce
myself.
My family and I have lived in the Corvallis area of the mid-Willamette
Valley since 1996. I'm not a big "chaser" -- my idea of chasing is if
someone reports a bird close enough to my house that I can get to it
without getting in a car or even putting my shoes on. As Matt can tell
you, I've found some fairly decent birds without shoes. There are some
birders who still don't even recognize me with shoes on.
Anyway you probably won't see me in Douglas County if someone finds a
stray Hoopoe or something like that. However, you might see me out in
the Umpqua/Sutherlin/Driver Valley area later on in June, since I
volunteer for a few Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) routes every year, and
one of them is the Umpqua BBS route.
My major interest is grassland bird conservation: Western Meadowlarks,
Vesper Sparrows, Grasshopper Sparrows, Horned Larks, Common Nighthawks,
Western Kingbirds and that sort of thing. Oak woodland birds are close
behind. You might also run into me during May or June in connection with
work for the American Bird conservancy, focused on these birds (working
with Bob Altman).
When I drive south to work on those projects, I'll try to keep you
informed of any good birds that I see. Though possibly some of the birds
that I consider to be "great birds," you might see as common. But maybe
it's good to hear from an "outsider" once in awhile, just to appreciate
some of the habitats that might be easy to take for granted if you live
there year-round.
Possibly the most important thing for birds in the Umpqua today --
considering bird species of conservation concern -- is that you still
have fairly extensive ranching going on.This is really important for
some of these grassland birds. But I'm droning on here ....
Anyway, what I wanted to get to is this:
The Oregon spring migration count is coming up May 9th & 10th. This
count, known as NAMC (North American Migration Count) has been going in
Oregon for 23 years now, making it our longest-running count after the
Christmas Bird Count and the Breeding Bird Survey.
This is possibly the easiest bird count to contribute to, even easier
than CBCs. There are two main ways to contribute:
AS A FEEDER COUNTER: Just keep track of birds that come to your feeders
(or that you see/hear in your yard as you're keeping an eye on the
feeders). For each species or identifiable form that you detect (for
example, male or female Rufous Hummingbirds), report the peak number of
individuals that you see at any single time. Also record how many hours
you spent paying attention.
AS A FIELD COUNTER: Go out birding, whether by car, on bicycle or on
foot. For each species that you find, keep track of the total number of
individuals (or try to estimate, if you encounter big flocks). Also
report the number of hours & miles that you spend birding by car, hours
& miles on foot, etc.
"Birding by car" includes the typical way many people go birding, where
you drive for a mile or two, get out and check an interesting patch of
habitat for birds for a few minutes, then drive on, etc.
COUNTY COORDINATORS are the people who make this all work, by
coordinating coverage of different parts of their respective counties,
encouraging birders to get out in the field, and collecting the data
after the weekend.
Ron Maertz has coordinated for Douglas County for many years, but this
year he decided that he's put in enough time on this project. I'm very
thankful to Ron for his long-term efforts.
If you're interested in picking up this role, please let me know
It's not as scary as it might sound -- you don't need to be a super
expert on birds, just familiar with what species are expected to come
through Doug Co. this time of year. After that it's mostly a matter of
cajoling and getting your fellow birders fired up about spending a day
(or half day, or even a few hours) in the field.
So please let me know if you're interested, or at least curious.
And round about June, if you see a middle-aged guy with binoculars, a
faded brown fedora, and with or without shoes standing and listening
along a roadside somewhere out by Umpqua, "downtown" Oakland, or Mildred
Kanipe Park, that's probably me, I'll be glad if you stop by and say
hello.
--
Joel Geier
Camp Adair area north of Corvallis
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Info on birds in Douglas County: www.umpquabirds.org
