[obol] "skimming" Curry Co. (no joy so far). Other comments follow.

[Jeff Gilligan]

Owen Schmidt and I have looked today from  the Winchuk R. mouth to Gold
Beach without seeing the Black Skimmer.  We have checked the Pistol R. mouth
twice.  

We will probably bird from Bandon to Florence tomorrow.

Who knows - it could be at the Columbia River mouth by now.


On Oceanview Drive, south of Brookings, there is a Spanish-style house next
to one of the Hastings bulb farm buildings.  It has a variety of eucalypts.
One is about to burst into bloom. When I was on the recent Santa Barbara CBC
a eucalypt had something like 34 species over several hours, including
orioles, a Summer Tanager, and a Tennessee Warbler.

A eucalypt in Green Valley, AZ that typically blooms in early to late
December gets swarms of birds.  I recommend the Brookings tree to anyone who
can check it out perhaps in a week when the flowers are open.

Acacia balleyi (common name?) is also about to bloom in Curry Co.  I recall
seeing a patch with Terry Wahl south of Langlois a few years ago.  He
mentioned that Colin Dillingham had pointed it out and said that the species
attracts warblers in winter in California when it blooms.

We saw 12 E. Collared Doves on a line together near the Winchuk R.

Black Phoebes seem more common than ever.