Subject: Brownsmead, Clatsop Co. 02/02/2002
Date: Feb 2 12:53:00 2002
From: Mike Patterson - celata at pacifier.com


Lower Columbia Birders trip to Brownsmead, Clatsop Co Feb 02, 2002

We spent a pleasant morning, with mostly cloudy skies and a light
SE wind, surveying the Brownsmead area.

A good sized flock of SNOW GEESE were on an island (Snag Island?)
visible from the observation deck at the Twilight Eagle Sanctuary.

A pair of WHITE-TAILED KITES is actively courting and apparently
defending territory along Bughole Rd. PEREGRINES were seen at
Twilight Eagle Sanctuary and the Ziak Refuge. One of the PEREGRINES
was very pale and probably a _tundrus_ type. We did pretty well
with raptors today, generally. The expected February increase in
sub-adult BALD EAGLES was evident.

Two TREE SWALLOWS were seen on Brownsmead Dike Rd. where it
intersects with Jackson Rd. We decided they were migrants.

Birds seen (in taxonomic order):

Pied-billed Grebe
Western Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
SNOW GOOSE 100 [1]
Canada Goose
Tundra Swan 20
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-Winged Teal
Ring-necked Duck
Greater Scaup
Lesser Scaup
Bufflehead
White-tailed Kite 2 [2]
Bald Eagle 13
Northern Harrier 3
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 14
American Kestrel 3
Merlin 1
Peregrine Falcon 3 [3]
Killdeer
Least Sandpiper 40
Mew Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Western Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Belted Kingfisher
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Steller's Jay
Western Scrub-Jay
American Crow
Common Raven
TREE SWALLOW 2 [4]
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Brown Creeper
Winter Wren
Marsh Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
American Robin
Varied Thrush
European Starling
Fox Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Red-winged Blackbird
Brewer's Blackbird
House Sparrow

Footnotes:

[1] A long way off, probably Snag Island
[2] Actively courting and defending territory at Bughole Rd.
[3] Both seen over Ziak's Refuge; one very pale probable
_tundrus_
[4] On Brownsmead Dike Rd at Jackson

Total number of species seen: 57


--
Mike Patterson When I despair, I remember
Astoria, OR that all through history
celata at pacifier.com the way of truth and love have always won.
There have been tyrants, and murderers,
and for a time they can seem invincible,
but in the end they always fall.
Think of it...always.
- Mahatma Gandhi

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