Great Horned Owl, photo: Len Blumin.  This one was at Point Reyes, California.

There was one more try at a “close-up” shot of Short-eared Owls.  There was a quartet of these ground roosting birds in the now familiar teasal field at Medford Airport.  They are clearly better at staying clear of us than we were at getting close enough for a clear shot.  There was a flock of Western Bluebirds at the edge of the field.  They were more oblivious of the camera as they fed in thwe weeds and on the ground.  It was great morning light and the blue–I know there’s no blue in their feathers–was vivid against the pale green of the spring weed crop.

The next owl viewing came on the Jefferson Natufre Center bird walk yesterday.  This is along the Bear Creek Greenway south of Medford and I-5 Exit 27. Our owl was perched very much like the one Len captured above, and he was sleeping peacefully until we happened by.  The numerous local Scrub-jays either had tried their mobbing and given up, or had yet to notice the large dark shape next to the tree trunk about thirty feet up.  At one time the owl opened his eyes to look us over, got disintereeted quickly in the ground-hugging mammals scurrying about, and went back to sleep.

Accipiter alert

We knew there had been an accipiter in and out of our garden this winter.  Little piles of Mourning Dove feathers one time, Steller’s Jay feathers beneath a feeder another time.  But this week I was eyewitness to an attack.  A Cooper’s  Hawk came directly down at a Mourning Dove feeding on the ground.  The dove took off in an arc, escazping without a feather lost.  The empty-taloned hawk looped up into the little willow, then hopped further up and finally disappeared back up the hill.  The whole incident took about five seconds.  Then the only hint of what had happened–the very empty and quiet garden.  Not a single bird at any feeder.

On the Jefferson walk we saw a Sharp-shinned Hawk. It came in about twenty feet overhead, making a direct line across a narrow weed field and into the trees along the creek, there it disppeared in the limbs and tree trunks.  he small head hidden down betweent he wing “shoulders” and the blunt-ended tail were the field marks we saw as it went past.  The Sharpie’s flight is usually three to six wing beats, then a short glide, then wingbeats again.

The hawks–along with their larger cousins, the Cooper’s and rhe Goshawk– do breed in the Rogue Valley area, and many winter here.  They’re secretive around nesating time, as the BNSA reports: “The bird is best seen, and most frequently studied, on migration, when large numbers of individuals concentrate along major migratory corridors and bottlenecks, particularly in the East.”

Well, the little accipiters are well watched on their Pacific Coastal migrations as well.  Golden Gate Raptor usually counts more Sharpies on daily basis than other species.

Wondrous moments

This week Kate and I watched a pair of Bushtits weaving their little sack of dried grass in preparation for egg-laying.  The tree they selected hasn’t even begun to bud yet so their nest is exposed to jays and other observers.

For the first time this pre-spring I saw an Anna’s Hummingbird feeding from flowers.  A manzanita bush ona south facing slope had a few open blossoms and the hummer was at them in the wintry sunshine.

Springish happenings: six Turkey Vultures riding up the morning thermals to a shoulde rof Ostrich Peak, south of Ashland, then actually flapping those big wings as they moved further north.

Four Tree Swallows feeding high above a damp patch of ground near Medford Airport.

Bewick’s Wren and Wrentit singing in the rirparian spots they favor.  A Northern Flicker calling and drumming and calling some more across the street from out house.  Song Sparrows beginning the spring sing.

Gnats, flies, small butterflies, crocus, even one Dutch iris in bloom.  Willow catkins about to open, the forsythia seething with yellowness about to happen.  The Wood Ducks now mostly in pairs, not flocks.  Any day I expect the Mountain Chickadees to leave our lowland garden though I’m told to expect at least one more snowstorm in March.  Two adult Red-tailed Hawks sitting side-by-side on tree limbs. 

Location:     Newbry Park & Greenway, Talent
Observation date:     2/27/08
Notes:     No activity at Bushtit nest. Wrentit was calling, not seen.
Number of species:     28

Canada Goose     8
Wood Duck     6
Gadwall     4
American Wigeon     4
Mallard     12
Ring-necked Duck     4
Bufflehead     6
Hooded Merganser     1
Pied-billed Grebe     1
Cooper’s Hawk     1
Ring-billed Gull     2
Rock Pigeon     65
Northern Flicker (Red-shafted)     2
Western Scrub-Jay     3
Black-capped Chickadee     1
White-breasted Nuthatch     1
Golden-crowned Kinglet     1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet     3
Hermit Thrush     1
American Robin     8
Wrentit     1
European Starling     35
Yellow-rumped Warbler     1
Spotted Towhee     2
Song Sparrow     1
Golden-crowned Sparrow     3
Red-winged Blackbird     14
Lesser Goldfinch     15

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org/Klamath-Siskiyou)