[obol] Lane County NAMC - Coastal Red-necked Phalaropes, too

[Barbara Combs]

Robin Gage and I went to the coast via Highway 36 for the May 10, 2008
Lane County North American Migration Count.  We found a WHITE-TAILED
KITE along the highway in the same area where we found one a couple of
years ago.  The coast turned dreary, windy, and misty by about 11:30
in the morning.  It was impossible to see very far out into the ocean.
 At Heceta Lighthouse, at the beach formerly known as Devil's Elbow,
two RED-NECKED PHALAROPES flew in and floated around just a few feet
off the beach.  More than 500 COMMON MURRES crowned the tops of the
two sea stacks there.  At the Sea Lion Caves overlook, we observed
RHINOCEROS AUKLETS flying in and out of the cave entrance.  No gulls
or cormorants were on the hillside.  We stopped by the marsh at Baker
Beach Road and spent some time looking for the Northern Parula but did
not find it.  It would be possible to miss call notes of other species
amid the incessant singing of the MARSH WRENS there.  Seventeen BROWN
PELICANS flew north across the Siuslaw River bar in the late morning.
At Siltcoos Beach, we found a NORTHERN HARRIER terrorizing the beach's
inhabitants, and heard numerous distress calls from a pair of SNOWY
PLOVERS as they flew around the beach trying to stay away from the
harrier.  A flotilla of about 170 AMERICAN COOTS lingered in Siltcoos
Lake near the dock at the end of Pacific Avenue.  A beautiful
alternate-plumaged COMMON LOON was in one of the arms of Woahink Lake.
 We found GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROWS in three separate locations, from
the valley to the coast.  We often miss this species on the spring
NAMC, as most have usually left by the second Saturday in May.

We were unable to find any Purple Martins at Cushman.  EUROPEAN
STARLINGS were ruling the roost.

I would appreciate receiving reports from any other birders who birded
in Lane County on Saturday, May 10, for inclusion in the compiled
report of all of Lane County's birding efforts on our NAMC day.

-- 
Barbara Combs obie '70
Eugene OR