Tweets -

Yesterday, Tuesday, May 15th, I went down to the oak savannah near
Oakville to look for the Acorn Woodpecker, and spent two hours walking
through the Scotch Broom burn on the east side of the Oak savannah, and
observing ito the savannah.

Early on, I was glimpsing one in flight occasionally. I may have seen
two Acorn Woodpeckers. I know I saw a male; at 1235 I saw it fly in
from the west and swoop up into the upper crown of a mature Garry Oak.
I got a good, but partial, look at it perched on a branch; the large,
red head crest and white cheeks and throat were vivid. The lower part
of the body was screened by foliage. After a few minutes the bird
shifted position out of view and I shifted from using my telescope to
my binoculars to gain a broader view.

Immediately I saw one again fly in from the west and swoop up into the
upper crown of a mature Garry Oak, providing a vivid view of the white
wing patches, but the tree adjacent (on the south) to the tree I had
been observing. I quickly located this bird with my 'scope, again
seeing only the upper body, and that screened by foliage. This time
could see no red crest patch, only the white cheek and throat pattern.

So...I think I saw a male and a female, but didn't see them at the very
same time, so I could be mistaken. I heard no vocalizations.

What I found to be fascinating is that the structure of the habitat
here is so very much like the structure of the habitat in the central
Sierra Nevada where I used to live and see these birds. The Garry Oak -
Douglas-fir savannah is so much like the Black Oak - Ponderosa Pine in
the mid-elevation Sierra, and the Valley/Live Oak - Ponderosa/Digger
Pine savannah at the lower elevations. Even the Scotch Broom burn here
reminded me of the open chaparral in the Sierra foothills.

Full list observations below...


------- Forwarded message follows -------
Subject: Chehalis River Valley, Grays Harbor County, Washington
on May 16, 2007
Date sent: Wed, 16 May 2007 20:26:34 GMT

This report was mailed for Doug Canning by http://birdnotes.net

Date: May 15, 2007
Location: Chehalis River Valley, Grays Harbor County, Washington

Low temperature: 26 degrees celsius High temperature: 30 degrees
celsius Prevailing wind speed: 1-5 km/h Percentage of sky covered by
clouds: 0% Precipitation: none

Observing from 1100 to 1310 the Oak - Douglas-fir savannah northwest of
intersection of Blockhouse Road & Elma-Gate Road, one mile southeast of
Oakville.

Birds seen (in taxonomic order):

California Quail (Callipepla californica) 5 [1]
Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) 2 [2]
Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) 1 [3]
Acorn Woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus) 2 [4]
Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus) 1
Steller's Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri) 1
Common Raven (Corvus corax) [5]
Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis) 2 [6]
American Robin (Turdus migratorius) [7]
European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) [8]
Spotted Towhee (Pipilo maculatus) 2 [9]
White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys) [10]

Footnotes:

[1] In Scotch Broom burn.
[2] In flight headed north.
[3] In savannah.
[4] I know I saw a male; I think I also saw a female.
[5] Heard three times.
[6] Heard.
[7] Common: calling, singing, foraging.
[8] Common: apparently flycatching.
[9] In Scotch Broom burn.
[10] Common: singing near constantly

Total number of species seen: 12
------- End of forwarded message -------

*******************
Douglas Canning
Olympia, Washington
dcanning at zhonka.net
*******************