[obol] Lane Coast Birds

[Alan Contreras]

I spent the day in coastal Lane County.  Got to Siltcoos outlet at 7:45 on
the theory that I would be on the sand ahead of the dogs.  Wrong.  Two dogs
were one minute ahead of me, as was one Merlin.  Nothing else out there.

South Jetty road was fairly birdy, with two more Merlins (seen together,
perhaps the first time I have seen two flying more or less together) and a
Red-shouldered Hawk. the dike had a Pectoral, Long-billed Dow and a juv
White-fronted Goose (it has one of these almost every fall). Small birds
were thin along the dike, maybe 25 Yellow-rumps in the whole area, only two
Myrtles.  The deflation plain was extremely empty except for one flock of 25
Am Pipits, 9 GB Herons and a few ravens.

Shorebirds were very thin.  Three Westerns all day.

Small numbers of Ruby-crowned Kinglets were at all sites and Fox Sparrow
numbers have increased.  There has also been a noticeable increase in Song
Sparrows on the outer coast.  Plenty of Savannahs still moving through.

Wigeon have arrived in the Siuslaw.

A single Cackling Goose was sitting on the dry grassy bluff over the ocean
north of Big Creek.  Does anyone know what research is going on there with
lots of little red marker flags anda couple of staked plots?  I want to wak
through there looking for longspurs, but not if I'd mess up somebody's
project.

A few Herring Gulls were around, my first of fall.  A Yellowthroat was
present at the north side of Stonefield Beach creek.  That is a regular site
for them in migration; they are regular as singles in coastal Lane through
mid-October.

A Red-shouldered hawk was a couple of miles east of Cushman.

-- 
Alan Contreras
EUGENE, OREGON

acontrer at mindspring.com
OREGONREVIEW.BLOGSPOT.COM

Nostalgic for Nixon....