Hi OBOL & Tweeters:

Just wanted to give a quick summary of the
results of the Breeding Bird Survey I do in
Lake County, Oregon. It starts on the Silver
Lake Ranger District of the Fremont National
Forest and ends on the Deschutes National
Forest near HWY 31. Most of the habitat is
lodgepole pine, and lodgepole mixed with
ponderosa and grand fir. It was 32 degrees
F and clear when I began the morning of
June 24, and dipped to 28 degrees before
finally climbing to an ending temp of 57 F! As
usual at the first station I was serenaded by
coyotes, cows, and nighthawks, but this year
the great horned owls were missing from the
quartet. Had a total of 26 species, the top
five (counted at the most stops) being:

yellow-rumped warbler 36 stops
mountain chickadee 35 stops
hermit thrush 32 stops
dusky flycatcher 28 stops
chipping sparrow 27 stops

The tallies for some of my favorite species
were:
Townsend's solitaire 6 stops
green-tailed towhee 11 stops
black-backed woodpecker 4 stops
western tanager 15 stops
olive-sided flycatcher 5 stops
white-breasted nuthatch 4 stops

Missing this year besides the owls were
ruby-crowned kinglets. Red crossbills were
very scarce - 4 birds total.

Had 3 roadside nests: yellow-rumped
warblers feeding young, black-backed
woodpeckers feeding young, and mountain
chickadee.

Brown-headed cowbirds were at 3 stops.

And going on at least 4 years in a row now
(Steve Summers had this route before I did),
a singing black -throated gray warbler was
at the very last station in a pure ponderosa
stand; actually this year there were 2
singing males. Quite a sight!

Kelly A. Bettinger
Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife
Habitat Management Program
Species-Habitat Project
600 Capitol Way North
Olympia, WA 98501-1091
360-902-2604
bettikab at dfw.wa.gov