A field trip for my OLLI birding students.  I think the 8AM start time scared off some of the birders.  By 9AM we had seen Pileated Woodpecker, Calliope Hummingbird and a brilliantly colored, loudly singing Nashville Warbler.

Just before we left Tolman Creek Road one of the group spotted a small gray bird working its way through the manzanita.  Not a Bushtit this time, but a feeding Blue-gray Gnatcatcher.  It was the first time I’d seen this species on the west side of I-5 in Jackson County.  The species is probably a recent arrival in southwestern Oregon.  First breeding attempt was reported in Jackson County in 1963.

At Emigrant Lake we had good views of a pair of Western Bluebirds, there were some lingering ducks.  An Osprey circled high above the water.  Up at Milepost 10 a Lewis’s Woodpecker held still for us.  And a Western Meadowlark sang from some hideout.

Location: Tolman Creek Rd. Observation date: 4/25/09 Number of species: 15 Turkey Vulture 1 Band-tailed Pigeon 7 Mourning Dove 1 Calliope Hummingbird 2 Pileated Woodpecker 1 Common Raven 1 Black-capped Chickadee 1 Bushtit 1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1 American Robin 2 Nashville Warbler 3 Yellow-rumped Warbler 1 Spotted Towhee 2 Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon) 2 Purple Finch 1

Location:     Emigrant Lake
Observation date:     4/25/09
Number of species:     26

Canada Goose     6
Wood Duck     6
American Wigeon     8
Mallard     8
Green-winged Teal     5
Great Blue Heron     2
Green Heron     1
Turkey Vulture     4
Osprey     1
Red-tailed Hawk     1
American Coot     1
Lewis’s Woodpecker     1
Western Scrub-Jay     2
American Crow     1
Common Raven     4
Tree Swallow     15
Violet-green Swallow     1
Barn Swallow     1
Western Bluebird     2
European Starling     4
Yellow-rumped Warbler     1
Red-winged Blackbird     4
Western Meadowlark     1
American Goldfinch     6