[obol] NE Oregon birds

[Alan Contreras]

I just returned from a four-day birding trip with Trask Colby to NE Oregon.
Summary below.

NO Spruce Grouse despite three hours at McCully Creek and three hours above
Moss Springs.  In fact no grouse at all at either site, the first time I
have been into the Wallowas without seeing any.  We saw a Ruffed at the
Boise-Cascade loop north of Enterprise.

Great Gray Owl was seen well on a side road off Spring Creek Road. Only the
second I have ever seen.  A little flighty. Pygmy Owl was hard to find: ONE
bird in two days of hooting.

STILT Sandpiper with yellowlegs at Hot Lake s of LaGrande Aug 18. A Solitary
Sandpiper (Aug 18) and one Least at the large roadside ponds along Hwy 3
north of Enterprise just s of the Boise-Cascade tour loop turnoff a couple
of miles.

A female WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL was with an odd flock of migrants in a
shrubby patch at the extreme north end of the long first switchback on the
gravel road north of Moss Springs Aug 19.  The flock consisted of a female
Black-headed Grosbeak (this is way up in the true fir/spruce zone), at least
one Evening Grosbeak, yellow-rumps, juncos, a couple of loosely associated
woodpeckers (Three-toed and probably Hairy), Gray and Steller's Jays, a
couple of robins, a Hermit Thrush and some chickadees.  Trask may remember
more.  Seemed like an odd place for a Bh Grosbeak - it had reddish under its
bill that I attributed to berry juice. We drove in .6 miles and walked the
first few switchbacks.  The road could easily be driven in as far as we
walked in a high-clearance vehicle, with some rocky spots at the corners.
However, we would never have found the crossbill or 3-toed had we driven.

Red Crossbills essentially absent at all sites.  Just a couple of flyovers.
Finches in general absent or very low, likewise cones.

Two Chestnut-backed Chickadees between Kamela and Meacham Aug 16.  I had
never seen them in Union Co before, only at Wallowa lake.  Trent Bray says
that they are rare but regular to this area.

Common Nighthawks were completely absent except in the city of LaGrande.

At least *80* kestrels along Leap Lane (18 miles) northwest of Enterprise
Aug 18.  They seemed to be after beetles and grasshoppers, but some appeared
to be family groups.  I've never seen so many Kestrels in an hour before.

Huge movements of Vesper Sparrows (flocks of 20-40 birds and a steady flush
of smaller groups), with smaller numbers of Savannah and Chipping Sparrows,
also along Leap Lane.

Two flocks of Gray Patridge along western part of Leap Ln.

-- 
Alan Contreras
EUGENE, OREGON

acontrer at mindspring.com
OREGONREVIEW.BLOGSPOT.COM
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