Hi Tweets,

When we visit Ashland, OR for the Shakespeare Festival we take advantage of
the location to bird an area we don't otherwise get to very often. We drove
south from Salem last Thursday 10/16 and stopped at ANKENY NWR just a short
distance off I-5 between Salem and Albany. In about 45 minutes we noted the
presence of large numbers of dabbling ducks -- mostly Mallard and Northern
Pintail, but also including small numbers of Gadwall, Green-winged Teal, and
Northern Shoveler. There were also 2 Western Grebes, and 10 Pied-billeds. So
many ducks bring raptors, and we saw 4 Red-tailed Hawks, 4 Northern
Harriers, a young Cooper's Hawk, 2 American Kestrels, and 2 Bald Eagles. A
late flock of 50+ Barn Swallows was a surprise. We also found a large flock
of (c 200) Cedar Waxwings exploiting available berries, and about 30
American Goldfinches gleaning seeds from thistles. The only shorebirds we
noted were 2 Greater Yellowlegs, about 24 (presumably Long-billed)
Dowitchers, and 3 noisy Killdeer.

At FERN RIDGE NWR west of Eugene we saw lots of Great Egrets, American
Coots, Canada Geese, and many of the other usual suspects. We also observed
a pair of White-tailed Kites hunting near Fir Butte and found a Green Heron
at a nearby wooded pond.

ON Friday 10/17 we birded at TOUVELLE COUNTY PARK on the Rogue River north
of Medford. This is a delightful place, furnished for our visit with 15
Greater Yellowlegs, an Osprey and a female kingfisher perched over the
river, herons and egrets in the water, raucous scrub jays, Acorn and Downy
Woodpeckers and flickers flying about, Yellow-rumped Warblers and Bushtits
collecting insects on the streamside trees accompanied by a lone Lincoln's
Sparrow and a skulking pair of Wrentits. At the treatment plant down the
road we found lots of Savannah Sparrows, Mallards, shovelers, Green-winged
Teal, and about 30 Wood Ducks.

On Saturday 10/18 we drove over the Cascades to LOWER KLAMATH NWR just south
of the California border. We were elated to find water in the ponds where
we had found none two years ago, due to drought and the nasty water politics
that divide people in that arid region. Lower Klamath had lots of dabblers,
four Lesser Scaup that breed there, and three Sandhill Cranes. But TULE
LAKE NWR on the east side of Sheepy Ridge from Lower Klamath was our prize:
thousands of dabblers with some divers mixed in, Pied-billed, Eared,
Western, and Clark's Grebes, several dozen white pelicans, thousands of
American Coot. In and around the trees at refuge headquarters we found a
couple dozen Yellow-rumped Warblers, plus flickers, robins, Savannah,
Golden-crowned, White-crowned, and House Sparrows, Rock Wren, Hermit Thrush,
California Quail, and waxwings. And as we headed south along Sheepy Ridge
we saw the RAPTORS, some heading south along the ridge, many foraging over
the fields. We found 50+ Red-tailed Hawks, 50+ harriers (one of them living
dangerously by harassing a Golden Eagle), a Prairie Falcon, and a
Sharp-shinned Hawk. Over a field near the 6 mile mark of the auto tour route
10 Short-eared Owls foraged in a freshening wind that buffeted them about,
as long lines of Canada Geese flew high overhead. We ran out of time and
regretfully broke off birding at 4:00 pm to get to the theater in Ashland
with 57 species for the day at Lower Klamath and Tule Lake, and 77 for the
trip.

One depressing note: I spent a few minutes talking at the refuge
headquarters with a worried employee. The water politics polarizing the
community around the Klamath refuges have led to the U.S. government
employees becoming scapegoats for the lack of water, and refuge personnel
are careful to make sure the people they speak openly with come from outside
the area. This employee fears the demise of the Tule Lake Refuge, since
most of the water is allocated for agricultural use and the rest -- a small
portion -- goes to Lower Klamath. Tule Lake gets no water from the system,
and will simply dry up when there is insufficient rainfall, leaving the
birds high and dry. The employee expressed hope that Portland Audubon is
working on the situation to see that the birds at Tule Lake got some water,
and I promised to check on that. The loss of this refuge would be a great
pity.

Paul Webster
Seattle
paul.webster at comcast.net