[obol] Barnhouse Springs & NE Ochoco Mtns (Wheeler Co.)

[Joel Geier]

Hello folks,

Our family spent Wednesday through Friday at Barnhouse Springs in the NE
Ochoco Mtns of Wheeler County, where we were joined by Steve & Kelly
Dougill and their kids on Thursday night. This campground is on the
densely forested northern slope of the Ochocos, where ponderosa pines
share space with Douglas firs and larch.

Several hours before dawn on Thursday (3 July), Becky and I and our son
Wil woke up to hear a BARRED OWL calling persistently from the west side
of the campground. This spot is just a mile or so east of the creek
drainage where a Barred Owl was heard in 2006, so it looks like the
species is now established in the area.

On Friday morning, Steve, Wil and I ran the Barnhouse Breeding Bird
Survey (BBS) route which starts in the Mountain Creek valley and runs up
into the Ochocos above Barnhouse Springs, then heads SE toward Black
Canyon Wilderness. With dog Heidi and Wil's cat Radagast along for the
ride, we believe that we may have set a record for diversity of
household pets on a BBS (we're prepared to bring a chicken next year, if
there's a serious challenge). We were also fairly proud of our time of 7
minutes to change a flat tire and continue with the route. 

Otherwise the route went smoothly, with no snow or downed trees.
Highlights included:

- A DUSKY GROUSE flying over FR 1250 on the north side of Bear 
  Mountain, and
- A SMALL OWL (Screech or Flammulated?) flying over FR 12 below
  Barnhouse Springs,
- A BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKER calling near Cottonwood Springs (not far
  from last year's location), also one two PILEATED WOODPECKERS calling
  near the Rock Creek trailhead.
- RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS at two stops (elevations around 5800-5900 ft),
- A FOX SPARROW singing near where Double Corral Creek crosses FR 12
  just south of Buck Point (around 5700 ft), and
- A LAZULI BUNTING singing from atop a lodgepole pine near Black Canyon
  Wilderness (a surprise for me at least, though Steve says he's seen 
  some in similar situations in the Cascades).

We also heard several possible HERMIT x TOWNSEND'S (or HERMIT?) WARBLERS
which were singing a more Hermit-like song, among the dozens of regular
Townsend's Warblers that we heard along the route. However we didn't
manage to get a look at any of them, since we had to keep moving along. 

In camp at Barnhouse Springs, I was able to get a partial look at a
warbler that was singing a similar song from atop a tree, on Thursday
morning. It had black streaks on the sides of the breast (as on a
Townsend's), but lacked yellow on the breast (as on a Hermit). I didn't
get a clear look at the side of the face but did pick up some yellow, so
I'm pretty sure that it wasn't a Black-throated Gray Warbler (which are
usually lower down in the junipers, and have a different song, in that
region). 

Around the campground, we enjoyed flyovers by COMMON NIGHTHAWKS and up
to eight VAUX'S SWIFTS. I heard one WHITE-HEADED WOODPECKER (usually
regular around this campground) but we never saw one. My daughter Martha
(age 9) spotted a RUFFED GROUSE sneaking over the road while we were out
looking for wildflowers (columbines, iris, ladyslippers, and lots more
were in bloom -- Kelly Dougill might have the full list)

In past years Barnhouse campground has been a reliable spot to hear
Flammulated Owls calling spontaneously, just by spending the night in a
tent. However, this time we didn't hear any during the two nights that
we were camped out.

After logging much of the surrounding forest over the past decade, the
Forest Service has now permitted a timber sale right in the campground.
About ten large-diameter trees have been felled and are lying on the
ground, just waiting to be limbed, bucked, and hauled away. I did a
quick estimate of the rings on the fresh stump of one big Douglas-fir,
right by the springs, and came up with a very rough count of 230. It may
have been a seed forming in a cone, when the ink was drying on the
Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776.

There are still some large-diameter ponderosas that will remain (perhaps
20 within the campground), but the canopy is now mostly open rather than
mostly closed. It looks like all of the small-diameter "fire-ladder"
trees are being left -- so much for "healthy forests," I guess. I
suppose that someone must have decided that the big old trees were
"hazard trees," and the fact that they're valuable saw-timber was just a
coincidence.

Anyway, with Barred Owls taking up residence, and fewer large-diameter
trees still standing, Barnhouse Springs may be a less reliable spot for
Flammulated Owls in the future.

Good birding,
Joel

--
Joel Geier
Camp Adair area north of Corvallis