As I've seen little or no mention on 'Tweeters' of the way too easy FALCATED
DUCK along the east side of I-5 at the "Premier RV Park" just north of Eugene
at the Coburg Exit, I'm just posting a mention here to any birder mainlining
north or south between BC and California, it's definitely convenient and worth
a quick stop! And if you're in that big of a hurry to get to where you are
going, you don't even have to get out of the car! It's an easy 'tick' even from
the freeway but not recommended given the insanity of heavy high speed
traffic all in a rush to seemingly blow through Oregon as fast as possible. I was
enroute to Florence and the central Oregon coast on Saturday, Jan 22, and
viewed the bird at 10:30am. Great start to a great long 4-day trip although
otherwise not so much for birds.

So, take the I-5 Coburg Exit and follow the obvious signs to the "Premier RV
Park." As a common courtesy and request of the management, please be sure to
stop and check in at the registration office and just say you'd like to see
their distinguished guest. They will be happy to tell you where to find the
FALCATED DUCK (adult male Eurasian Widgeon there too) which is in the small pond
on the south side. You don't really even need a scope and I just drove up and
saw the bird instantly along side the widgeon and my window mounted scope
worked perfect for even better viewing. You can of course get out and set up the
tripod as the ducks there are comfortably sedate. Mornings seem to offer
most consistent viewing as the bird is quite free flying and origin is of some
debate (generally thought to be wild I think) and it may wander off on occasion
although this little pond seems to be it's home puddle most of the time. If
contemplating a trip, keep checking OBOL (Oregon Birders On Line) for regular
to irregular updates on the duck's status.

It's also very photogenic and easy for you photophiles. He's a real beauty
and the only photos I could find of this bird on the Internet (so far) can be
viewed at:
<A HREF="http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Geyser/9066/current.html">CURRENT
SIGHTINGS</A>
http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Geyser/9066/current.html

Pursuit of my latest obsession/compulsion, rocks for tumbling and polishing,
was the primary mission of this beach trip. I think I might have 'heard' a
seagull or two -- hard to know when the focus is on what's at one's feet
although I did half expect to stumble on to one of those beach wrecked Horned Puffins
which are being reported lately, but there were none. The agate haul was a
little more than I estimated to say the least. Thinking maybe I'd picked up
200, maybe three, I got home dumped the catch and counted out 1,109 agates! The
real prize however nice are the agates, beautiful marine fossils, and other
beach stones, was a magnificent highly agatized fossil 2-lb whale vertebrate.

Richard Rowlett
Bellevue (Eastgate), WA