Columbia Estuary Report - March 8, 1998

RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRDS finally turned up at the neighborhood feeders.
I saw my first on Friday, but Mary Chandler at the feeder next
door said they'd been around since at least Wednesday. Average
arrival in Astoria is March 3 (mode hovers around Feb 22, however).
They're late.

The Lower Columbia Birders Association took their monthly outing
at Brownsmead this Saturday. Weather was on the cool side with a
wind from the SE, but generally pleasant. A RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD
was working the new growth of blackberries at the Twilight Eagle
Sanctuary. A probable NORTHERN GOSHAWK flew across the road at
Svenson. We found TREE SWALLOWS easily at most stops. A few
VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOWS were mixed in around the Ziak refuge. The
nearly black ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK can still be seen on Jackson Rd.

There were at least 7 GREATER YELLOWLEGS on the road out to Aldrich
Point. A noisy, but unseen VIRGINIA RAIL was ticky-ticky-ticking
with hormonal vigor. A pair of AMERICAN DIPPERS were doing a dance
of love on Big Creek next to the fish hatchery.

Clatsop Beach from Sunset Access to Del Rey produce about 1400 DUNLIN
and 400 SANDERLINGS. Among the dead things were the wings and keel
of a dead raptor. The size and bluntness of the wings leads me to
believe it is a NORTHERN GOSHAWK. When the wings have properly
dried, I will scan them and let you all help me speculate.

The dead bird report follows:

Brandt's Cormorant 1
Northern Fulmar 9
Glaucous-winged Gull 1
Black-legged Kittiwake 6
Common Murre 2
raptor sp. 1




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* Mike Patterson, Astoria, OR * 2000 mockingbirds = 2 kilomockingbirds
* mpatters at orednet.org *
http://www.pacifier.com/~mpatters