Columbia Estuary Report - 4/6/2002

The Lower Columbia Birders went on our monthly bird outing
today. We managed to run up a list of 73 species in cold,
drizzly weather.

Two ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOWS were with TREE, VIOLET-GREEN and
BARN SWALLOWS at Wireless Rd. SAVANNAH SPARROWS were heard
at Wireless Rd, Lewis and Clark Ponds and the South Jetty
dunes. Several groups of GREATER YELLOWLEGS were seen over
the course of the morning; the largest group of at least 19
was at Trestle Bay.

We spent quite a while watching the ocean from parking lot
"C", South Jetty of the Columbia River. There was a
conspicuous northward movement of RED-THROATED LOONS, COMMON
MURRES and SURF SCOTERS. There were at least 1000 SURF SCOTERS
on the water, along with WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS, RED-NECKED GREBES,
and all three common loon species. We also saw small flocks
of BRANT and BONAPARTE'S GULLS and at least 2 MARBLED MURRELETS
in alternate plumage.

--
Mike Patterson
Astoria, OR
celata at pacifier.com

http://www.pacifier.com/~mpatters/bird/bird.html