[obol] Ash-throated Flycatcher yardbird creswell

[Sally Nelson]

Dear Obolinks,

It is so nice to be getting emails from OBOL again. I missed the sense of
community when they didn't arrive.

I counted 55 yardbird species today (2 miles west of Creswell), including
the Ash-throated Flycatcher. I wouldn't have seen it if I hadn't trudged
down the long driveway at 4:00, still over 90 degrees, at the very time he
flew across  and perched in a young pine so I got a good look at him. He is
not the first ever seen here, but they are completely unpredictable and
ephemeral, so always a special treat. He's probably at Mt. Pisgah east by
now!

Other recent arrivals are Lazuli Bunting and Willow Flycatchers. A small but
noisy flock of Townsend's warblers were in the fir trees. Not new, but
still...migrants. Swainson's Thrushes have started full songs today. And the
Steller's Jays left the nest this morning.

I was impressed by all the W. Tanagers, Warbling Vireos, OC  and Wilson's
Warbs here and other places reported previously, because many were NOT in
usual fallout places/migrant traps, and they arrived virtually at once. My
biggest Tanager flock previously was about 8, but this year we were way into
double digits. There were at least 30 hawking insects back and forth through
the sun between two sets of trees on 5/11...and that was just one little
piece of the slope that I could see.

Fun, isn't it?

Sally Nelson
nelson_sm at centurytel.net
Creswell (s. of Eugene), OR