Subject: Oregon Birding Trip Report (long)
Date: May 28 12:28:00 1996
From: "Michelsen, Teresa" - TEMI461 at ecy.wa.gov





Hi everyone! Here's a report of my recent trip to Oregon:

Thurs May 16: After teaching a class in Olympia, went up the Capitol area
to watch the Vaux's swifts that had been reported on the Internet (thanks
Burt!). Between
about 8:30 and 9 pm, approximately 100 swifts swirled around overhead and
made repeated passes at a chimney of a red brick house. They formed into a
vortex and settled by groups into the chimney. About 40 people turned out
to cheer them on, waiting until every last one was inside for the night.

Friday May 17: Headed to Corvallis for a conference. After the conference
had a pleasant walk with Justine along the Willamette River to check out the
bird life. Highlights included Black-headed Grosbeak with nesting material,
a crow harrassing a turkey vulture (which was probably too near its nest),
and a kingfisher streaking down the river. Back to Silverton for the night.

Saturday May 18: Stopped in at Cooley's bearded iris farm for their open
house. It was quite rainy, so didn't stay too long, but admired many
beautiful irises. Headed across the Cascades to Bend. Rained most of the
way, but did stop off near the summit, and saw Mountain Chickadees,
Audubon's Warblers, Barrow's Goldeneyes, and Chipping Sparrows. Continued
down to Bend, and explored two very nice riverside "parks", more wild areas.
Nice birds there included droves of swallows, a couple of mergansers, a
peregrine falcon, very close-up views of pygmy nuthatches (a lifer), and
singing house wrens.

Sunday May 19: Visited the high desert museum just south of Bend. Highly
recommend this museum for its native american art, recreations of early
western life, and wildlife. The evening grosbeak "invasion" that has been
occurring along the coast was also in evidence here. Several warblers
passed through, including Audubon's and my "mystery" warbler of the trip.
It was either a black-throated grey warbler or a black-and-white. Black and
white would be very unusual, but it really sounded NOTHING like a
black-throated grey. So I haven't written it down but am still puzzling
over it. Continued east to the Hinds-Burns area in southeast Oregon. On
the way to Malheur Wildlife Refuge, checked out the flooded fields east of
Hinds. These turned out to be a bonanza of wading birds, including
Black-necked Stilts, American Avocets, Long-billed Curlew, Sandhill Cranes
(sitting on nests), Red-necked Phalaropes, Willets, Great Egrets,
White-faced Ibises, along with many ducks and geese, including many pairs of
nesting Cinnamon Teal. Stayed at Frenchglen Hotel, a historic building in
Frenchglen, a tiny town at the south end of the refuge. Dinner was
family-style, and it being the height of songbird migration, dinner birding
stories were like the "fish" stories one might hear in a coastal bar (the
one that got away, etc.)! Word was heard of a red phalarope, but the bird
could not be relocated.

Monday May 20: One of the few truly sunny days on the trip. All around the
evening before and in the morning was a strange sound, over the fields of
grass, a hollow hooting sound. Turned out to be the sound a Common Snipe
makes with its wings while performing its mating flights, very spooky at
night. Also heard (but did not see) soras and rails in the fields. Enjoyed
a hike up Page Springs Canyon, where numerous interesting birds were in
residence. A Townsend's Solitaire was nesting in the eaves of the restroom
at the campground!! and its babies had already hatched. Further up the
canyon were house wrens singing, flocks of yellow warblers, some townsend's
and wilson's warblers, a flock of cedar waxwings, a flock of lesser
goldfinches, several yellow chats and a lazuli bunting. All over the refuge
were flocks of swallows, including cliff swallows. These sound like an old
creaky door when they "sing". A double-crested cormorant was swimming in
the creek. Kind of a weird sight for a NW coastal person. While hiking
along a stream near an old ranch, I heard a strange grunting coming from the
foliage under a large tree. Though I could not see it well, it appeared to
be two deer, one possibly giving birth - I looked it up later and it was the
right time. Visited the Diamond Volcanic Craters, an interesting geologic
area just east of the refuge. Few birds encountered here included cliff
swallows, lark sparrows, and western meadowlarks. Near the end of the day,
I encountered a large pond where, for the first time ever, I have had good
looks at horned and eared grebes together in breeding plumage (very
beautiful). Also flying overhead were black terns, which are neat-looking
birds with black bodies and grey wings.

Tuesday, May 21. Rainy and cold most of the day (hard to drive around with
your windows down)! Spent most of the day driving through the marshes.
Lots of cinnamon teal and other waterfowl. Searched in vain for the
bobolinks and trumpeter swans. The swans are nesting so have been fairly
hard to find. Added a few birds to the trip list, including Spotted
Sandpipers. Did have good luck finding Savannah, Vesper, and Brewer's
Sparrows in the juniper and sagebrush uplands. Ended up at the refuge
headquarters, well known for its unusual songbird migrants due to lots of
riparian plantings. Nicely rounded out the songbird list with Solitary and
Warbling Vireos, Tanagers, Orioles, a Black-chinned Hummingbird,
Orange-crowned Warbler, and a Ruby-crowned Kinglet. There is also a large
colony of groundsquirrels, which are kept primarily because they support a
pair of Great Horned Owls, which try as I might, I couldn't find. On the
way out of the refuge north toward Burns, I spotted a White Pelican, and a
very large Pronghorn Antelope grazing in the fields.

Wednesday, May 22. Drove north out of Burns through Malheur National Forest
to John Day country. The drive through Malheur NF was very beautiful; I
highly recommend this area to anyone for camping. It is fairly high
elevation though, as I found out when it started to SNOW!! I had just
headed up a side road, that would lead to some meadows further up, when I
decided I better turn around since the snow was starting to stick (I had
taken my chains out of the car thinking it was going to be HOT). Just as I
was turning around, I saw a flash of blue - a male mountain bluebird,
sitting on a fence rail in the snow. Despite the lighting, the bluebirds
were a brilliant blue against the white of the snow - a sight I won't soon
forget. Searched all day for white-headed, three-toed, and black-backed
woodpeckers and sapsuckers, which were supposed to be plentiful. But it was
snowing and I had little luck finding much of anything. Finished up the day
at John Day National Monument, Sheep Rock Unit (at a slightly lower
elevation) where there was a brief respite from precipitation. Saw my first
golden eagle, being chased by two ravens. This area is also wonderful,
geologically speaking, and I definitely recommend it. Decided to finish up
the day with a long hike up a basin formation. I forgot how hard it is to
climb up at altitude! But the views were beautiful, climbing through
variously colored sedimentary formations (containing fossils, which you
can't see). The layers were variously red, white, and a blue-green. The
water flowing down from these hills was a strange pasty mint-green from the
clay. Saw brilliant tanagers, lark sparrows, and after hiking into the
basin, heard rock wrens and canyon wrens calling. There was very little
vegetation except at the bottom of the basin, so the poor rock wren had to
fly all the way down to the bottom, pick up each bit of grass, and hop
slowly all the way up the mountain to where his mate was continually calling
to him.

Thursday May 23. Continued over to another John Day Unit, Painted Hills.
Did the hikes in there, it was also spectacular, with again variously
colored layers of rock, though quite different from the first area. Few
birds, mostly lark sparrows, meadowlarks, and interestingly, quite a few
kestrals, which I had very good views of as they hovered over the grasses
looking for prey. Continued the drive through Fossil, Condon, and The
Dalles, to the gorge. Drove to Cascade Locks, where I decided to treat
myself on the last night of my vacation with a riverview room and a hot tub!
Also went over to the Washington side for dinner at the Skamania Lodge (run
by the Salish Lodge).

Friday May 24. Drove back to Seattle, stopping off for a nice lunch in
Olympia with a friend. Checked on our pileated woodpeckers, who are nesting
in a snag in our ravine, and found that some violet-green swallows have
decided to nest in a birdhouse my husband made for my birthday. So there's
a lot going on here too, and I'm glad to be back!

Bird List:

*=life bird
(h) = heard only

Horned Grebe
Eared Grebe*
Western Grebe
American White Pelican
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
White-faced Ibis
Mute Swan
Canada Goose
Mallard
Northern Pintail
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Shoveler
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Canvasback
Redhead
Lesser Scaup
Barrow's Goldeneye
Bufflehead
Common Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Turkey Vulture
Northern Harrier
Red-Tailed Hawk
Golden Eagle*
American Kestrel
Peregrine Falcon
Ring-necked Pheasant
California Quail
Virginia Rail (h)
Sora (h)
American Coot
Sandhill Crane
Killdeer
Black-necked Stilt
American Avocet
Willet
Spotted Sandpiper
Long-billed Curlew
Common Snipe
Wilson's Phalarope
Franklin's Gull
Ring-Billed Gull
Black Tern*
Mourning Dove
Vaux's Swift
Black-chinned Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern (RS) Flicker
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Western Wood-Pewee
various misc. empids
Tree Swallow
Violet-green Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Cliff Swallow*
Barn Swallow
Steller's Jay
Scrub Jay
Black-billed Magpie
American Crow
Common Raven
Mountain Chickadee*
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Bushtit
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Pygmy Nuthatch*
Rock Wren
Canyon Wren (h)
Bewick's Wren
House Wren
Marsh Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Mountain Bluebird
Townsend's Solitaire
American Robin
Cedar Waxwing
Loggerhead Shrike*
European Starling
Solitary Vireo
Hutton's Vireo
Warbling Vireo*
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Yellow-rumped (Audubon's) Warbler
Black-throated Grey Warbler (h)
Common Yellowthroat
Wilson's Warbler
Yellow-breasted Chat
Western Tanager
Black-headed Grosbeak
Lazuli Bunting
Green-Tailed Towhee*
Spotted Towhee
Chipping Sparrow*
Brewer's Sparrow (h)
Vesper Sparrow
Lark Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Red-winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
Brewer's Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Northern (Bullock's) Oriole
House Finch
Pine Siskin
Lesser Goldfinch*
American Goldfinch
Evening Grosbeak
House Sparrow

114 + unidentifiable empids