[obol] Census Count: Fernhill Wetlands, Washington County, Oregon on August 21, 2006

[greg at thebirdguide.com]

This report was mailed for Greg Gillson by http://birdnotes.net

Date: August 21, 2006
Location: Fernhill Wetlands, Washington County, Oregon

Percentage of sky covered by clouds: 0%

4:30 to 6:30 p.m. concentrating on shorebirds.

Birds seen (in taxonomic order):

Semipalmated Plover                 6 [1] 
Killdeer                           20
Greater Yellowlegs                  4 [2] 
Lesser Yellowlegs                   2 [3] 
Spotted Sandpiper                   5
Semipalmated Sandpiper              1 [4] 
Western Sandpiper                  40 [5] 
Least Sandpiper                    65 [6] 
Baird's Sandpiper                   1 [7] 
Pectoral Sandpiper                  1 [8] 
Purple Martin                       4 [9] 

Footnotes:

[1]  Semipalmated Plover: 2 adult, 4 juvenile
[2]  Greater Yellowlegs: all juvenile
[3]  Lesser Yellowlegs: all juvenile
[4]  Semipalmated Sandpiper: juvenile. Dark ear covert; greenish-gray
     legs, definitely webbed toes; bill blunt-tipped but fairly long,
     thus likely female; scapulars brownish with back subterminal
     anchors and off-white margins, final two scapular feathers with
     foxy tips; tertials dark-centered with pale margins except upper
     two tertial feathers (innermost) with foxy margins. Thus there
     were 4 foxy-orange feathers all together, two scapulars and two
     tertials. Still, this was not an obvious bird.
[5]  Western Sandpiper: all bright juveniles except one which was a
     duller juvenile.
[6]  Least Sandpiper: all bright juveniles except for one adult.
[7]  Baird's Sandpiper: bright juvenile.
[8]  Pectoral Sandpiper: juvenile female, much smaller than nearby
     Killdeer.
[9]  Purple Martin: 2 adults and two younger birds, still present
     since early summer. Didn't see in spring, but they must have
     bred here. They fly high and range widely, returning every 10-15
     minutes.

Total number of species seen: 11