Two Sandhill Cranes, bugling as they fly over Howard Prairie.
Four White Pelicans fishing on Howard Prairie Lake. We learned that a quarter-million fingerling fish had just been put into the lake yesterday. Yum. In one small cove about two dozen Common Mergansers were gathered and fishing, along with three female Buffleheads. And then was this guy at the Howard Prairie Resort, just hanging out, dwarfing all the Ring-billed Gulls. 
This pelican was very relaxed, a motor boat passing within ten feet did get him to stand up, but then he resumed his nap. Probably tired from digesting all those little raw fingerlings. Apparently these White Pelicans do not breed, these are pelicans just stayin’ cool.
These two Kestrel, female on the right here, were nesting once again in dead tree near Howard Prairie Lake. They’re sharing it with a colony of Starlings, also eager to take advantage of the many holes alre
ady drilled in this tree.
This is the female Kestrel and she appeared to be annoyed that a Starling had gone into a particular hole just to the left of this perch. She had flown down from the treetop just after the Starling disappeared into the hole at this level.
I made this circuit with Dick Ashford and Bob Black. They were scouting for their Birdathon trip tomorrow to help raise money for Rogue Valley Audubon. [Later they could report their field trip netted over sixty species on this route.] We got over 70 separate species by 3 p.m. And we had several good sightings. Clear, close-up views of Wilson’s Snipe. We heard both their courtship calls and heard their wing-whir sounds. At one point they had us believing their was a diurnal Screech-owl, but it was the Snipe calls.
We all agreed that any day in the field with views of both eagles is a good day. Our first Golden was at Howard Prairie, the Bald was near Hyatt Lake. The Hyatt Lake Osprey were both calling from atop their nest tree, its trunk still surrounded by ice. The White-tailed Kite appeared to be on a nest south of Highway 66 at the southeast corner of Emigrant Lake down at about 2500 feet. Most unusual, there is a Red-shoulderd Hawk once again nesting, or at least calling, in the woods along the ditch road north of Howard Prairie. This is over 4500 feet in elevation. The RS Hawk is usually a riparian bird here, and not all that common tough Dick has a pair once again nesting near his home. That’s appropriate, Dick is our hawk-eyed raptor expert hereabouts.
VESPERS AND FINCHES
I saw and heard my first-ever Oregon Vesper Sparrows at a county campground on the northeast edge of Howard Prairie Lake. None of us recognized the musical three-part song. But at a later location we got serenaded by a Vesper Sparrow perched nearby on a fence post, and singing repeatedly. No better way to see a lifer, several flitting across the short grass just newly emerged from ground just newly emerged itself, from snow that was still there two weeks ago. And several times we’d get our Vesper song.
On the way down to the valley we drove along Tyler Creek Road, there we had both vireos in the same wooded marshlet. On the valley floor we turned up Enigrant Creek Road and began to climb, quickly getting into a habitat dominated by a few oaks and dense ceanothus underbrush. Here we saw the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, a scarce bird here, present only in such habitat. That’s also where we saw our snigng Nashville Warbler. He’s a logn way from Nashville,and he sang without a country music twang.
Then down on Buckhorn Springs Road there were well-stocked, well-loved feeders in a yard.
Streaky birds are Pine Siskins, the other guys are American Goldfinches.
Location: Howard Prairie Circuit
Observation date: 5/2/08
Notes: Includes Tyler reek Road and resevoir on Keene Creek.
Hyatt Lake still mostly frozen over. It’s above 5,000 feet in elevation. Howard Prairie at about 4500 feet.
Number of species: 51
HP–Howard Prairie. HL–Hyatt Lake. T–Tyler Creek Rd.
K–Keene Creek
Canada Goose 34 HP,HL
Wood Duck 3 HP
Mallard 8
Greater Scaup 2 K
Lesser Scaup 2 K
Bufflehead 5 K
Common Merganser 35 HL
Western Grebe 20 HP
Clark’s Grebe 2 HP
American White Pelican 20
Double-crested Cormorant 35
Turkey Vulture 8
Osprey 3 HP. HL.
Bald Eagle 1 HL
Red-shouldered Hawk 1 HP
Red-tailed Hawk 2
Golden Eagle 2 HP. T.
American Kestrel 2 HP, nesting.
Killdeer 4
Ring-billed Gull 40 HP
California Gull 2 HP
Mourning Dove 2
Anna’s Hummingbird 2
Rufous Hummingbird 2
Acorn Woodpecker 25
Northern Flicker (Red-shafted) 2
Western Kingbird 2
Cassin’s Vireo 1 T
Warbling Vireo 1 T
Steller’s Jay 4
Western Scrub-Jay 2
Common Raven 4
Mountain Chickadee 1 HP
Red-breasted Nuthatch 3
Bewick’s Wren 1
Mountain Bluebird 4 HP
American Robin 12
European Starling 15
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon’s) 8
Spotted Towhee 2
Chipping Sparrow 8
Vesper Sparrow 20
Lark Sparrow 1
Song Sparrow 1
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon) 10
Red-winged Blackbird 6
Western Meadowlark 8
Brewer’s Blackbird 4
Red Crossbill 5 HP
Pine Siskin 8 HL
American Goldfinch 5
Location: Emigrant Lake
Observation date: 5/2/08
Notes: Includes Buckhorn Springs Road and Emigrant Creek Road, as well as milepost 10 on Highway 66, east of Emigrant Lake.
Number of species: 43
Canada Goose 4
Mallard 2
Northern Shoveler 1
Common Merganser 3
Western Grebe 2
Great Blue Heron 1
Green Heron 1
Turkey Vulture 2
Osprey 1
White-tailed Kite 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
American Coot 2
Ring-billed Gull 4
Mourning Dove 2
Anna’s Hummingbird 1
Rufous Hummingbird 1
Lewis’s Woodpecker 15
Acorn Woodpecker 6
Western Kingbird 1
Western Scrub-Jay 6
American Crow 4
Common Raven 2
Tree Swallow 6
Cliff Swallow 18
Barn Swallow 4
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
American Dipper 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
Western Bluebird 2
European Starling 8
Nashville Warbler 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon’s) 4
Black-throated Gray Warbler 1
Spotted Towhee 2
Chipping Sparrow 1
Red-winged Blackbird 6
Brewer’s Blackbird 20
Brown-headed Cowbird 1
House Finch 4
Pine Siskin 25
Lesser Goldfinch 15
American Goldfinch 25
Categories:
Tags: Bald Eagle, Gnatcatcher, Golden Eagle, Mountain Bluebird, Orprey, Sandhill Crane, Vesper Sparrow, White Pelican
