I was out of town for the big blow in California I think I'm glad!
During the past four days I've found very large flocks of Pine Siskins
feeding ON THE GROUND in several places. I checked the sites out in a
couple of cases and found that the ground was covered in Alder seeds.
Juncos and Purple and House finches were also feasting on the bounty. A
flock of 18 Townsends Warblers (AMAZING!) were working the
moss/bark/epiphytic fern litter that is in abundance in the fir boughs
around the yard and they were accompanied by a single Ruby Crowned Kinglet
who was very vocal and scolding. A large flock of Robins (100+) was working
the leaf litter in the neighborhood. In this flock were a number of smaller
and paler than normal birds similar to the description of the possible
Eyebrow Thrush did the colder than normal November in Alaska (including
the SE) push these birds south and the windstorm bring them out into the
open?

I found 3 Mallards crushed under a fallen Alder tree in the wetland down the
street the raccoons found them first so I had mostly feathers, but the
cause of death was unmistakable. I found a pair of Red Breasted Sapsuckers,
a Hairy, 2 Downy, and a Pileated Woodpecker in a single Big Leaf Maple at
one time just across the street from the house. I found a pure
Yellow-Shafted flicker on a telephone pole in the Old Town area of
Newcastle, where earlier this year I had a Lewis's woodpecker every day for
almost three weeks. There seem to be a lot of Ravens around. (I was in San
Francisco last week and saw many more Ravens than I remember being around
during the 60's 70's and 80's). I haven't had a single Red Tail observed
from the house since last Thursday where I usually have 3-5 per day. The
strangest observation to me was a covey of 13 California Quail feeding on
fallen apples like so many thrushes just to the west of the Newcastle golf
and country club. Opportunity or desperation?

Big losses for me during the windstorm 3 huge snags (Maple, Alder) went
down next to the water tank across the street. I used to be able to sit at
my bedroom window and scope the birds here including home records for Wood
Duck, Townsend's Solitaire, Belted Kingfisher, and both Kingbirds. The
"nesting" snag (a Hemlock drilled full of dozens of holes) in the green belt
to the rear of the yard also went down (well, got split in two) where will
the Chickadees and Swallows nest this year? My neighbor's house was sliced
up like a birthday cake by some big Douglas firs that fortunately skipped a
direct hit on my house. My home weather station was destroyed by flying
debris but not before the anemometer recorded a 92 MPH blast of wind at
11:11 PM on Thurdsay. Birds are bouncing back always fun to see what a
severe event brings.

One last note I drove my usual 22 mile bird route today and counted over
600 places where trees had fallen next to or across the road that is about
one every 200 feet of travel and I drive a number of areas with few to no
trees next to the road the destruction along ridge areas in particular was
impressive!

Cheers and good birding




Rob Conway
Newcastle and Preston, WA

robin_birder at hotmail.com

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