Subject: [Tweeters] Birding in WA, OR, and CA 9/23-10/5 (long!)
Date: Oct 7 21:55:24 2008
From: Paul Webster - paul.webster at comcast.net


Hi Tweets,

Barbara and I just returned from our annual fall road trip. We went earlier this year than usual because the reports from Malheur were good and we wanted to make the drive up Steens Mountain - where there were reports of Black Rosy-finches - before snow closed the road for the season. We began with a swing into Eastern Washington to try for an interesting migrant or two at Washtucna and Windust Park, but this time we had to be content with the standard birds.

After three and a half days at Malheur we drove south through Fields to US 140 in northwest Nevada, stopping at a couple of spots on the Sheldon NWR- the wild burros are cute! - just before US 140 goes back into Oregon. The area felt very remote and the scenery was spectacular. We birded some around Lakeview, Klamath Falls, and Medford before dropping into California to bird Arcata and Crescent City. On October 3rd the first big fall storm drove us north through Gold Beach to Bandon, OR, where we had good birding around the Coquille River Estuary. We finished with a stop enroute to home at Fern Ridge near Eugene where after a couple of hours we got fine views of the Wood Sandpiper. We covered just over 2600 miles in our Prius that delivered a bit over 50 mpg. Our trip list totaled 165 species. Highlights follow below.

Our 60 species in Washington reflected limited hours in the field: a late-afternoon hour at Lind Coulee on Sept 23 before mosquitos and flies forced us out, two hours each the next morning at Washtucna and Windust Park. At Lind Coulee we found dowitchers, both yellowlegs and Pectoral Sandpipers, plus herons, geese, and dabbling ducks. On the 24th Basset Park in Washtucna was a busy place, though most of the little passerines were Yellow-rumped Warblers, but we also found Orange-crowned and Wilson's and other birders steered us to an early Golden-crowned Sparrow. At Windust Park there was a Winter Wren in the shrubs by the Snake River, and we saw Varied Thrush, Lincoln's Sparrow, Orange-crowned Warbler, and lots of YRWAs.


We found 135 species in Oregon, because we spent most of our days there (Sept 24-30 and Oct 3-5) even though the miles we covered took a lot of time - Oregon is a huge state! We added six new birds to our Oregon list: Black-throated Blue Warblers and Pectoral Sandpipers at Malheur, Trumpeter Swans between Frenchglen and Fields on SR 205, Eurasian Collared-Dove at the Chevron Station in Hines, storm-tossed Elegant Terns near the mouth of the Rogue River at Gold Beach, and the Wood Sandpiper at Fern Ridge. One of the best birds may have been the Red-breasted Sapsucker at Frenchglen.


The drive up Steens Mountain would have been the scenic highpoint of the trip, even if we hadn't seen any birds. There were raptors riding the thermals along the rim at 9500 feet - perhaps a migration route for some of them. We spotted Golden Eagle, Prairie Falcon, Sharp-shinned and Cooper's Hawks; the latter scared away a ball of 50-60 finches, that probably included Gray-crowned and Black Rosy-finches, but it was a bit too distant for us to be sure. I also got buzzed by a Northern Flicker at the rim, and we spotted our first pure Yellow-shafted Flicker up there.


U.S. 395 south from Pendleton is a beautiful drive and the old but still good Evanich guide to the birds of Oregon steered us to the Starr Campground south of John Day where a spring attracted small birds and woodpeckers - a half dozen flickers, 2 Williamson's Sapsuckers, 2 White-headed, 2 Pileated, and 1 Hairy Woodpecker. Altogether we had 9 woodpecker species on the trip.


We spent Oct 1-3 in Northern California. Arcata and Humboldt Bay offer fine birding anytime, and Crescent City and Point St George have been good for us, too. But we saw only 87 species this year, perhaps because the winter birds hadn't arrived yet. Still, we found a new bird for our California list - a Parasitic Jaeger chasing terns near the mouth of the Klamath River.


Thanks to the birders at Eugene Audubon who organized a watch so out-of-towners didn't have to worry about car break-ins at Fern Ridge, and to Alan Contreras who steered us toward good birds at Malheur. And it was Khanh Tran's descriptions and photos of Steens Mountain that sent us up there!


Good Birding!

Paul and Barbara Webster
Seattle
paul.websterATcomcast.net