Subject: RE: recent bird sightings
Date: Sep 25 20:35:00 1995
From: "Michelsen, Teresa" - TEMI461 at ecy.wa.gov




A recent report:

>The same day, we found small groups of Boreal Chickadees, many White-winged
>Crossbills, and single Black-backed and Three-toed woodpeckers on Freezeout
>Ridge, north of Roger Lake. The woodpeckers, along with at least 3 Hairys,
>appeared to be moving fairly rapidly through the forest as a feeding flock
>with a flock of Gray Jays! Maybe they were heading for a burn somewhere.

I spent the last week in Oregon, and hiked above Oregon Caves one day to an
elevation of about 5200 ft. There I also saw what can only be described as
a feeding flock of Gray Jays with several Hairy (and possibly other)
woodpeckers. Unfortunately, these birds were WAY above us in VERY tall
trees and were hard to see. Also got my first good looks at Pink-Sided
Juncos.

Other notes of interest: When camping near Yaquina Bay, also saw the Great
Egrets recenty reported there. At our campsite, which was right on the
ocean, had (among other things) Pink-Sided Juncos, Fox Sparrow (fuluginosa),
and Townsend's Warbler (in with chickadees and kinglets). The combination
of which struck me as fairly "wintery" for this time of year on the coast,
although maybe Oregon's coast gets fall and winter birds before Seattle
area.

On Sauvie Island, had large flocks of both barn and violet-green swallows,
as well as several hundred winter-plumaged goldfinches feeding on a large
sunflower patch. Flocks of sandhill cranes were arriving, and there
appeared to be a fair number of great egrets as well. The far shore (where
all the birds were, of course) was hard to see due to heat waves over the
water. There was a large flock of geese, brown with lighter fronts, there.
I don't think they were Canada Geese, since the loud noises coming across
the water were not anything like Canada Geese I have heard (we did hear some
CGs elsewhere on the island). Which led me to wonder, were these likely
Greater White-Fronted Geese? This was my first visit to Sauvie Island, so
don't really know what to expect, especially this early in the
Goose/swan/egret/crane season. The bird list provided by rangers lists a
"Whistling Swan" as something that is fairly common on the island. What is
this referring to? It's not in my guidebook.

As always, i would be interested in any enlightening comments on the above.

Teresa Michelsen
temi461 at ecy.wa.gov