[obol] Backyard Birds in Eugene March 7-8

[bcombs at dialoregon.net]

On March 7, two WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS visited my feeder.  They have not
been present this winter, so the sighting indicates that some movement was
going on that day.  An ANNA’S HUMMINGBIRD came to my feeder to drink at
6:19 p.m.  Sunset was at 6:08 p.m. on March 7.  In the wee hours of March
8, I heard over the security equipment a sound that was suspiciously like
a single SWAINSON’S THRUSH flight call, but it is early for them to be
flying over.  I don’t know what else it could have been.  I have heard
them other times over the security equipment – including one spring
evening while I was reading an e-mail indicating that they were flying
over Portland at that very moment.  When they first arrive in the area,
Swainson’s Thrushes are generally fairly quiet and secretive, so I wonder
whether early arrivals of this bird are usually missed.  I heard a
KILLDEER a while later.  The sound was unmistakable and unlikely to have
been from a starling at that hour of the morning.


Barbara Combs   Obie '70
Eugene OR