I have not posted much recently, not that I have not been birding. I was hoping 5 pelagic trips this fall would provide some exciting reports, but no such luck. My efforts to get a great photo of a Buller's Shearwater was a disaster, proof in the photo below. This one was on a Newport pelagic in early October.
I did see a few South Polar Skuas, and lots of jaegers to study. I could not get over the size of the claws on this skua. Nasty.
Humpback Whales put on a great show on all the trips out of Westport and Newport.
The main reason for this report is to point out a great spot to bird in Tillamook. Kilchis Point Reserve. See map below.
This Great Egret was poking around the wetlands at the reserve on Sat Oct 28th.
There is a nice trail through the woods which ends at a view point along the bay. It was high tide this morning, lots of ducks were just offshore. Northern Pintail and Mallard. For shorebirds, perhaps best to visit when tide is a tad lower.
Large flocks of peeps were flying around just out of range but these four Greater Yellowlegs were working the shoreline.
View of the high tide mark. Low tide has all this water gone and mudflats out in front of you.
Looking out to Bayocean Spit. For the ducks, you might want to pack a scope.
It is about a mile walk from car to viewing area along bay. Fox Sparrows were the main bird seen here on Saturday. There just has to be something good hiding in here.
Dogs are welcome. Huck loves this trail. Lots of informational signs are placed along the walk.
After the reserve I went out to a foggy Bayocean and walked to the south jetty and back. Least Sandpipers, a Dunlin and Ring-billed Gulls in the fog.
A Eurasian Wigeon in the fog.
Always a reliable group of Least Sandpipers live out on the beach for the winter, nothing rare spotted on Saturday.
Black Turnstones were on the rocks.
Yesterday (Sunday 10-29-17) I did my annual late fall hike in the area north of FR 44 in the Mt Hood forest. I go there in search of American Three-toed Woodpeckers, Black-backed Woodpeckers and Northern Pygmy-Owls and to see if any lingering summer birds are around. Failed on all efforts on Sunday, but enough other birds to keep it fun.
This old clear-cut (see star above) is a reliable spot for calling in Northern Pygmy-Owls. I usually can whistle in what I assume are a young family. I have had up to three at the same time, I was very disappointed to have zero responses the entire day. Only birds I could find here yesterday were two Golden-crowned Sparrows.
The highlight of this hike for me is visiting Fivemile Butte. There is a nice clearing on top. During the summer, Mountain Bluebirds and Rufous Hummingbirds use the area, I have looked for Fox Sparrows nesting up here, but have yet to find any. Below is pic showing Mt Hood and the shrubs on top of butte.
You can rent the fire tower on Fivemile Butte. Not sure what season, but I think it is $50 per night. Someone had rented it Saturday night. The tower is tucked in the trees to the right of center. right between the two taller trees in the background.
Most of the trail had Chestnut-backed Chickadees in the trees. It always amazes me what a sharp elevation line Mountain Chickadees adhere to, you see none until bam you cross an elevation line and there they are, yesterday it was 4600 feet, a typical elevation for them.
It is a good time of the year to count Larch trees in the forest.
Both the Bottle Prairie Trail and the Fivemile Trail are set up for mountain bikers. They go along the trail at high speeds but are always very polite and slow down when they see Huck and me. Often they are slamming on the brakes because they think they are about to hit a bear.
That is it. Check out Kilchis Reserve next time you visit Tillamook. Great spot. Thanks for the visit.
I went down to Lake county this last weekend to bird the Fremont National Forest and Summer Lake Wildlife Area. All points mentioned here are marked in blue stars, the red balloons are points I hit on last years trip or are general road interchanges and locations.
My plan was to hit Fremont NF on Saturday then go to Summer Lake on Sunday then back home. I decided to drive down FR 28, birding as I go. FR 28 leaves Silver Lake as East Bay Rd, it is the road just before you enter the town of Silver Lake. The nice thing is FR 28 is paved the entire way. So you can drive down the spine of the Fremont on a nice paved road. My plan was to leave FR 28 at FR 3315 and cut down to Paisley and up to Summer Lake, a nice loop. On Friday I left Portland at 5:30 pm, at 11:30 I camped at a side road for the night and did a short bird hike in the morning. I then went to East Bay CG at Thompson Reservoir on Saturday morning. I went there looking for shorebirds, nothing but good numbers of Spotted Sandpiper were found. Once again I grabbed Tess, one of my daughter's dog sitting clients, for the trip. This is a typical shoreline that Tess is sniffing, I was thinking Willets or other long-legged birds would like this spot.
East Bay Campground and boat launch is on left. The campground was almost full but as I drove over 70 miles in the forest I saw one car and a pair of hikers. The only other people I saw were the campers at the campgrounds.
A few gulls were up at the reservoir. The narrow tail band and area of black on the wing mean it is a first year Ring-billed Gull.
When it landed I could see the dark secondaries and the pale gray coverts. A very contrasting pattern.
A few adults were flying around as well.
The baby Eared Grebes were taking it easy.
A few Forster's Terms were catching fish.
Hard to walk by an Osprey without stopping for a look.
Chipping Sparrows are everywhere in these forests.
The morning was getting late and the mutts had blown off some steam playing in the water, so I took off to my main birding spot for the day, an old trail down FR 28.
Eastbay Campground, Lake, Oregon, US Jul 29, 2017 8:00 AM - 9:20 AM Protocol: Traveling 1.0 mile(s) Comments: walked along shore in both directions, did not look in woods for song birds. 26 species (+1 other taxa)
Canada Goose 40 Mallard 2 Bufflehead 6 Ruddy Duck 4 duck sp. 30 other side of lake. looked mostly large mallard type Eared Grebe 8 Western Grebe 4 Double-crested Cormorant 15 American White Pelican 25 Turkey Vulture 3 Osprey 2 Bald Eagle 2 Red-tailed Hawk 1 Sandhill Crane 1 Wilson's Snipe 1 Spotted Sandpiper 8 Ring-billed Gull 4 California Gull 2 Caspian Tern 1 Forster's Tern 3 Hairy Woodpecker 1 Western Wood-Pewee 4 Tree Swallow 5 Mountain Chickadee 2 Red-breasted Nuthatch 2 Chipping Sparrow 3 Dark-eyed Junco 10
The Hanan Trail starts where FR 28 crosses the Sycan River. It ends over at Coffeepot Spring on FR 3315.
Lots of water was flowing in the area from the springs.
It is a beautiful trail to bird along. If any warblers nest along here, they were quiet or gone, just a few Butterbutts noted. I was hoping to encounter hummingbirds, but only hummer seen was at a brief stop on drive from reservoir to trail, a Calliope.
Up near the headwaters of the Sycan. These waters make it to the Pacific, just over that hill is the Great Basin.
Dragonflies ( or Damselflies?) and butterflies were everywhere.
The dogs had plenty of water and areas to explore, but the intense sun at 7200 feet in elevation had them mostly hanging in the shade.
Green-tailed Towhee.
This Red-tailed Hawk was fascinated by the three of us. It kept an eye on us, perhaps we were the only human-canine pack it had ever encountered.
As always, the White-crowned Sparrows at this elevation proved to be oriantha. I note eBird no longer has this subspecies as a rare bird in this area.
A big breakfast was about to be enjoyed.
Here is a short audio of an oriantha White-crowned doing two chip notes.
What a beautiful bird hike, next time I might camp at the trailhead and hit this spot in the early morning rather than 10:40 am.
Hana Trail From Sycan TH to head of river, Lake, Oregon, US Jul 29, 2017 10:40 AM - 2:20 PM Protocol: Traveling 3.5 mile(s) Comments: sunny slight breeze, 22 species (+1 other taxa)
After the hike and a lunch break, where I flushed a Red-shouldered Hawk from a tree, I wanted to see what birds were at Campbell Lake and to give the dogs a chance to cool off in the water. In the hot afternoon, only birds out were Mountain Bluebirds and Chipping Sparrows.
Next two videos are for dog-lovers only.
"I am not a fish, Bob"
After the swim, I went back to the FR 3315 junction and headed down toward Paisley looking for a nice spot to camp. I found a nice open area in between Hadley and Sandy Buttes. Below is a shot of Summer Lake at 6:30 am Sunday morning.
This turned out to be a nice birdy spot. I heard a Great Horned Owl calling at night and this American Robin was up with me singing away.
I was doing a big loop in between the buttes early in the morning, I flushed this Northern Goshawk up off the ground onto a low tree branch.
Only other time I was closer to a goshawk was at a family house near the Mianus Gorge in New York. A goshawk rushed down on me while I had my then 2 year-old daughter on my shoulders. We ducked just in time before it roared over us.
Hadley Butte camp site west loop, Lake, Oregon, US
Jul 30, 2017 6:20 AM - 7:40 AM
Protocol: Traveling
2.0 mile(s)
18 species
Sooty Grouse 1
Northern Goshawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Mourning Dove 2
Williamson's Sapsucker 2
Red-breasted Sapsucker 2
Downy Woodpecker 1
Hairy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 5
Western Wood-Pewee 5
Red-breasted Nuthatch 2
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
House Wren 3
American Robin 5
Chipping Sparrow 6
Dark-eyed Junco 20
Western Tanager 5
Cassin's Finch 6
Back at the car a frog had taken over the dog dish.
I finally made it to Summer Lake, I went on the loop looking for shorebirds. Wilson's Phalarope were everywhere.
One way to look for the odd phalarope is to know that Wilson's lack a wing stripe and have all white rumps. Red and Red-necked Phalarope both have an obvious wing stripe and have dark centers to their rump.
Wilson's Phalarope.
This one had already molted into basic plumage.
I do not add a bird to my life-list until I feel I can id the bird in most cases. So I saw 6-7 Short-tailed Shearwater before it was added. Despite me studying hundreds of Wilson's Phalarope on Sunday, I should remove it from my list.
I saw this lone bird out on the marsh. In person, I could not really see if it was walking on the grass or wading, I thought it was big, maybe bigger than the 40 Greater Yellowlegs I had just seen. And it had a curved bill. Funny thing is if a Killdeer or some such beast was standing next to it, I would have skipped it as another Wilson's Phalarope. But nothing was there for scale and I misjudged the size. I was toast from that moment on. It is an obvious Wilson's Phalarope once you reset your brain and forget about all the mistakes you made in initial notes. Beats me why I saw a curved bill, bright sun, distortion, whatever. I did not believe the photos when I saw them. I have done that before with young cowbirds, see it once , easy id,, come back later and in a different set of conditions, brain freeze.
I was happy to get back to where all the birds were down-sun, Long-billed Dowitcher.
Lots of Tree Swallows to study.
The Yellow-headed Blackbirds were all rather scruffy looking.
A Peregrine Falcon was on guard at the exit.
Summer Lake Wildlife Area, Lake, Oregon, US
Jul 30, 2017 9:00 AM - 11:30 AM
Protocol: Traveling
12.0 mile(s)
50 species (+2 other taxa)
Canada Goose 30
Trumpeter Swan 1
Gadwall 2
Mallard 10
Cinnamon Teal 15
Northern Shoveler 15
Northern Pintail 2
Green-winged Teal 10
Bufflehead 4
Ruddy Duck 10
duck sp. 120 too far out in sun to id most ducks
Eared Grebe 10
Western Grebe 8
American White Pelican 1
Great Egret 10
White-faced Ibis 15
Northern Harrier 3
Swainson's Hawk 3
American Coot 3
Black-necked Stilt 4
American Avocet 100
Killdeer 60
Least Sandpiper 75
Western Sandpiper 15
peep sp. 100
Long-billed Dowitcher 4
Wilson's Phalarope 200
Spotted Sandpiper 5
Greater Yellowlegs 40
Lesser Yellowlegs 2
Ring-billed Gull 10
California Gull 4
Caspian Tern 1
Forster's Tern 5
Eurasian Collared-Dove 6
American Kestrel 3
Prairie Falcon 1
Western Wood-Pewee 2
Black-billed Magpie 2
Tree Swallow 300
Barn Swallow 30
Cliff Swallow 30
Sage Thrasher 3
European Starling 5
Common Yellowthroat 2
Savannah Sparrow 140 constant contact with species over entire drive
Song Sparrow 40
Red-winged Blackbird 50
Brewer's Blackbird 20
Great-tailed Grackle (Western) 2 known birds
Brown-headed Cowbird 2
House Sparrow 8
Lots of great birds in a beautiful area of the state. I urge everyone to wander the Fremont Nat Forest, certainly try birding the Hanan trail. Well worth the effort.
Tess snuggling for the long drive home, this is so not Huck. He eventually moved.
Thanks for the visit. Pelagic trips just around the corner.
