[obol] Lower Columbia Birders trip - 3/2/2008

[Mike Patterson]

Lower Columbia Birders trip - 3/2/2008

We took our first of the month trip today out to Brownsmead
beginning the day with cold temperatures and showers and 
finishing up with a bit of sun.  We were hoping for early
spring migrants and found TREE and VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOWS in
several fair sized flocks, and a RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD.

We flushed a BARN OWL from a tree on Fisch Rd and there are
still plenty of waterfowl around.

There was a "special" Goose Season hunt going on and we got
to see a CANADA GOOSE get shot.  I was sport a white with
black letters collar - 30XJ.  The bird it was paired with
was also collared and flew off by itself.  It may or may not 
have picked up a few pieces of shot.  We could see messed up
secondaries on the right wing, but it appeared to be flying
without difficulty.

Birds seen (in taxonomic order):

Canada Goose
Cackling Goose
Tundra Swan
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Cinnamon Teal                       8 [1] 
Northern Pintail
Green-Winged Teal
Canvasback
Ring-necked Duck
Greater Scaup
Lesser Scaup
Bufflehead
Hooded Merganser
Common Loon                         1
Pied-billed Grebe
Horned Grebe
Western Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret                         1
White-tailed Kite                   1
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Peregrine Falcon
Virginia Rail
American Coot
Killdeer                            1
Common Snipe                        1
Mew Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Western Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Barn Owl                            1 [2] 
Rufous Hummingbird                  1 [3] 
Belted Kingfisher
Hairy Woodpecker
Steller's Jay
Western Scrub-Jay
American Crow
Common Raven
Tree Swallow                       21 [4] 
Violet-green Swallow               75 [5] 
Black-capped Chickadee
Bewick's Wren
Winter Wren
Marsh Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
American Robin
Varied Thrush
European Starling
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Fox Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Red-winged Blackbird
Brewer's Blackbird
House Sparrow

Footnotes:

[1]  Svensen Island
[2]  Flushed from a tree on Fisch Rd
[3]  Working some early blooming flowers along Fisch Rd.
[4]  undercount; mostly scattered in among the VG's
[5]  probably undercount; several largish flocks 

Total number of species seen: 65

-- 
Mike Patterson               
Astoria, OR                    
celata at pacifier.com  
 
Thoughts on an errant albatross
http://www.surfbirds.com/blogs/mbalame/archives/2008/02/gbbc20082019.html