[obol] Curry County: Leach's Storm-petrels 9/2/2007

[Anne & Dan Heyerly]

Obolinks,

 

Anne and I headed south on Sunday night after a good time and some good
birds seen at the Oregon Shorebird Festival in Charleston/Coos Bay/North
Bend/Bandon. Thank you Dawn Grafe for putting on this festival. Great job!
Thanks also to the field trip leaders (Russ Namitz, Eric Clough, and Paul
Sullivan). We had a good time.

We birded down the coast to Brookings on Sunday afternoon. Well after dark
we headed for the South Coast Lumber Mill at the corner of Carpenterville
Rd. and Hwy. 101 just a mile or so north of Brookings. At approximately
1026pm we saw the first LEACH’S STORM-PETREL fluttering about one of the
yard lights at the mill. After moving around a bit along the edges of both
Hwy. 101 and Carpenterville Rd. we found a spot along Carpenterville Rd.
where most of the bright lights themselves were blocked but we still were
afforded good views of the lit up space above the mill yard itself. The
steam coming off the dryer at the back of the mill yard was a good backdrop.
The birds were not visible all the time, but over the next approximately 30
minutes we got extended looks at two birds (possibly three) that were flying
around like agitated nighthawks that left no doubt as to what we were
looking it. It was a clear night with no fog.  One of the mill employees
said that during foggy nights the birds sometimes fly into the buildings and
stun themselves. 

We were bummed at first since it was so clear and all we were seeing were
moths flying around the lights. We got excited when we realized that one of
the fliers was not a bat, but indeed a bird with a  forked tail, white rump,
and patterned back like a Leach’s Storm-petrel should be.

There is a wide shoulder along Hwy. 101 right at that intersection, and
there are plenty of good vantage points to look into the air space over the
mill yard without trespassing.  The employee in the gate shack that we
talked to was pretty cool with the whole thing, but it is probably a good
idea to let him know what you are doing if you try for these birds.  He
probably thought we were crazy, but he did know what birds we were looking
for!

Other birds seen along the south coast were approximately the same as during
the Shorebird festival weekend. Here are a couple of highlights.

Bandon in mid-afternoon on 9/2:  a flock of approximately 75 WHIMBRELS were
heading southwest from Old Town. They suddenly wheeled toward the beach a
little east of Coquille Point and we lost sight of them. We then picked them
up again a bit further south and the flock size was approximately half again
that size (over 100).

We saw scattered Red-necked Phalaropes at almost every stop along the coast.
Also there were one or two Marbled Murrelets at most stops, but nothing like
the numbers at Cape Arago as reported by Russ Namitz, et. al.

That’s it. Great weekend: three new Oregon birds (White-winged Dove,
Eurasian Collared Dove – can’t avoid it any longer, and Leach’s
Storm-Petrel).

Good Birding,

 

Dan Heyerly

Eugene


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