[obol] Antone Winter Bird Count results 18 Dec 2006

[Joel Geier]

Hello All,

Eleven hardy volunteers joined yesterday's Antone Winter Bird Count in
SE Wheeler and SW Grant Co., in chilly but sparkling clear conditions.
The cold weather (5 F during pre-dawn owling, warming to 28 F at Antone
Junction and 35 F at lower elevations along the John Day River) gave us
exceptional access to the higher elevations, since dirt roads which are
often muddy stayed frozen most of the day, and the snow cover was scant
and dry.

The most unusual bird was a RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER right at Cant Ranch
in the Sheep Rock Unit of John Day Fossil Beds National Monument (in
Grant Co.), found by Sarah Herve and Shirley Hoh and seen well by both.
Interestingly this is just 9 miles east of Juniper Butte in Wheeler Co.,
where Donna Lusthoff found one in November, 1993.

Other species unusual for winter included a LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE just south
of Picture Gorge (found by Jeff Harding, photos), two ROCK WRENS
wintering near the Blue Basin trailhead (found Bill Warburton and Brenna
Knowles), a HERMIT THRUSH in Squaw Creek Canyon (found by Matt Smith,
Regan Dunn and Tom Rodhouse). Two AMERICAN CROWS along Mountain Creek
(seen by Jeff) were also unusual for the area.

Compared with the seven year history of this count, we exceeded or tied
the previous highest counts for 18 other species (previous record in
parentheses; cw = count-week only):

PIED-BILLED GREBE        1  (cw)
Wild Turkey              7  (cw)
Great Blue Heron         4   (4)
Northern Harrier         4   (3)
Red-tailed Hawk         19  (15)
Rough-legged Hawk        2   (1)
Western Screech-Owl      2   (1)
Great Horned Owl         4   (3)
Northern Saw-whet Owl    2   (2)
Northern Flicker        26  (14)
Clark's Nutcracker       3   (2)
Red-breasted Nuthatch   17  (12)
Pygmy Nuthatch          12   (5)
CANYON WREN             15  (13)
Golden-crowned Kinglet 103  (38)
European Starling       78  (66)
White-crowned Sparrow   66  (38)
Oregon Junco           475 (357)
Slate-colored Junco      4   (4)
Red Crossbill           57  (10)

The high numbers of chickadees, nuthatches, kinglets and crossbills are
largely thanks to the efforts of Matt, Regan and Tom who took full
advantage of the road conditions in upper Squaw Creek and Frank Creek
Canyons.

The high wren and sparrow/junco numbers despite cold conditions can be
attributable to our highest-ever amount of coverage on foot. The five
teams walked a total of over 40 miles, led by Bill & Brenna who hiked 10
miles of trails in the park, and the Squaw Creek team which covered 15
miles in "motorized ride & tie" fashion, using Matt's pickup in place of
a horse. Despite good numbers the sparrow/junco flocks seemed to be
very homogeneous; SONG SPARROW was the only other sparrow species found.

This was also a high year for COMMON MERGANSER (11), BALD EAGLE (7),
AMERICAN ROBIN (2350), TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE (128), NORTHERN SHRIKE (4 if
we count one shrike sp. which was most likely a Northern), and COMMON
RAVEN (53).

MOUNTAIN QUAIL coveys were found in Squaw Creek Canyon and two places
along Antone Rd., for a total of 19 (middling numbers for this count).
Mardi Jensen, Wil Geier and I enjoyed watching six scurry one at a time
across the road, not more than 5 yards in front of the car -- beautiful
new "lifers" for Mardi.

Species that have been found in most previous years, but missed this
year, were Downy & Hairy Woodpecker, Steller's Jay, Winter Wren, and
House Finch. 

Wil and I had exceptionally good luck on our pre-dawn owling, with two
screech-owls, two saw-whets, and three Great Horned Owls in just over
one hour. Wil also heard what may have been a LONG-EARED OWL responding
to my imitations: two repetitions of a low, three-hoot sequence;
possibly cows up on the hillside but we need to compare with tapes when
Wil gets home from school today. We also heard two Northern Pygmy-Owls
respond to tooting in the daytime (that is, Wil heard two and I
eventually heard one of them after it came in close enough for my older
ears).

Good birding,
Joel

--
Joel Geier
<joel.geier at peak.org>