October 28, 2018

November 30, 2018Wood Thrush Leave a comment

Oregon gets snow buntings, but they are not common and I think always trigger a rare bird alert. In fact, right now (November 29), there’s a whole pile of snow buntings on the on Del Rey Beach, Clatsop County. I’m not there right now chasing them because a) it’s dark out, and b) I got a snow bunting on October 28, 2018, on Marys Peak in Benton County!

Admittedly, I would love to have chased this pile of buntings today. My time and energy though, at least until December 31, must be reserved to finish this big year strong.

My snow bunting on Marys Peak on October 28 stuck around for a few days, allowing me to get up there with my friend Lindsey on the weekend. The bunting was just hanging out there on the gravel road next to the weather station. The wing flicks were spectacular. My photos are not unfortunately. The lighting was low and fog was around us.

After a quick trip to the Philomath Sewage Ponds to stalk the seeded sparrow area (hoping for a white-throated sparrow), we called it a day and headed back to our meeting spot in Corvallis. BUT FIRST …. turkeys in a field of the side of the road! Bird 250. Please don’t ask me why it’s take me so long to see wild turkeys. Just don’t.

New Birds for 2018: 2
2018 Year-to-Date Talley: 250

October 20–21, 2018

November 22, 2018Wood Thrush

Despite knowing we really couldn’t beat the sewage pond experience from a few days ago, we took my Dad to the Oregon Coast. Ho hum ;(

On Saturday, October 20, we hiked Cascade Head just north of Lincoln City. I wasn’t expecting to get any new species during this hike, but a Hermit Thrush surprised me! Did you know there’s a Canadian band called Thursh Hermit? Now you do. I saw them a few times way back in the late 90s when I was running around chasing bands instead of birds (actually, I did both!).

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The next day, my Dad opted for a solo visit to the Newport aquarium, and Clint and I birded the area around the aquarium, specifically the South Jetty, to see if the Great Pacific Ocean could grant me a new species or two. It did! I saw four Red-necked Grebes. I also saw a a handful of Common Loons, a species I didn’t think I’d even see this year but have seen a handful of times.

The Clailborne Pell Bridge (aka the Newport Bridge); east of the South Jetty; Newport, Oregon; October 21, 2018.

Common Loon; South Jetty; Newport, Oregon; October 21, 2018.

Red-necked Grebe; South Jetty; Newport, Oregon; October 21, 2018.

Red-necked Grebes; South Jetty; Newport, Oregon; October 21, 2018.

New Birds for 2018: 2
2018 Year-to-Date Talley: 248

October 17, 2018

November 22, 2018December 3, 2018Wood Thrush Leave a comment

My Dad was in town visiting last month. My Dad is not a birder, but he likes hiking. So a day of “hiking” was planned.

Our schedule for the day included the following:

Hiking Alsea Falls Trail and Green Peak Falls, Trail near Alsea, Oregon.
Stopping by Finley to look for White-tailed Kites.
Stopping by the Philomath Sewage Ponds because who doesn’t take their Dad to the local sewage treatment facility when he visits?

Alsea and Green Peak Falls were beautiful, but the birding was quiet.

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Finley delivered as always. We saw TWO White-tailed Kites from the Prairie Overlook. While at Finley, I checked my email to see if there were any recent rare bird alerts for Oregon in our area. A Dickcissel had been spotted at the Philomath Sewage Ponds earlier that morning! Record scratch! The Dickcissel is not a western bird at all. We cut our Finley visit short and headed straight to the poo ponds to see the Dickcissel. It took a good hour before she popped out of the grasses, but my Dad, I, and another group of birders got great looks at this little beauty.