MORE FROM NORTHERN JACKSON COUNTY

Male Barrow’s Goldeneye, but not the usual crisp black and white we see most often. Here’s the explanation in dense jargon from Birds of North America Online, their description of a juvenile male Barrow’s: “Male. Head near fuscous, lower neck medium or light gray; upperparts mostly various dark grays, feathers with light gray margins, scapulars fuscous (and short), rump more brownish. Lower breast and belly off-white. Upper breast, sides, flanks, and vent to tail darkish gray-brown. Tail dusky brownish; feathers with notched ends. Primaries and primary-coverts blackish brown (coverts with paler margins); secondaries 1–4 blackish brown, S5 broadly marked white at tip, S6–10 white; S11 white with black-brown patch on inner web. Greater wing-coverts have dark base with broad white tips; lesser secondary-coverts black with pale gray to whitish tips. Other upper wing-coverts gray-brown to dull black. Tertials dull black.” Couldn’t have said it better myself. This is a youngster molting into adult plumage.

This stunning American duck is named for a British military and political figure, Sir, John Barrow, secretary of the British admiralty . He sent several of the 19th century expeditions to the Arctic so he gets this namesake duck, Point Barrow and even the American town of Barrow, Alaska.
Here we see the male with a female Barrow’s. They seen here in the rapid current of the Rogue River.

Two adult eagles were in a tree not far from the carcass, and a lone juvenile was on the ground even closer as an adult took a meal there.

Western Bluebird along Brophy Road.
Lost Creek Lake, Jackson, US-OR
Jan 24, 2013 11:15 AM. 16 species. Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) 4
Eurasian Wigeon (Anas penelope) 1
American Wigeon (Anas americana) 75
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) 20
Northern Pintail (Anas acuta) 6
Green-winged Teal (Anas crecca) 40
Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola) 25
Ruddy Duck (Oxyura jamaicensis) 120
Western Grebe (Aechmophorus occidentalis) 1
Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus) 1
Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus) 1
Steller’s Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri) 5
Common Raven (Corvus corax) 2
Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis) 1
American Robin (Turdus migratorius) 120
Hammel Reservoir, Jackson, US-OR
Jan 24, 2013 10:00 A. 6 species. American Wigeon (Anas americana) 60
Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis) 30
Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola) 15
Common Merganser (Mergus merganser) 25
Ruddy Duck (Oxyura jamaicensis) 15
Western Meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta) 6
Rogue River–Holy Waters, Jackson, US-OR
Jan 24, 2013 10:30 AM. 14 species. Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) 12
Eurasian Wigeon (Anas penelope) 1
American Wigeon (Anas americana) 75
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) 20
Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis) 40
Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola) 15
Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula) 8
Barrow’s Goldeneye (Bucephala islandica) 4
Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus) 5
Common Merganser (Mergus merganser) 35
Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) 2
Rock Pigeon (Columba livia) 3
Steller’s Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri) 4
Common Raven (Corvus corax) 2

Brophy Road Loop, Jackson, US-OR
Jan 24, 2013 2:15 PM. 19 species. Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) 250
Tundra Swan (Cygnus columbianus) 10
American Wigeon (Anas americana) 20
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) 6
Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) 1
Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) 5
American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) 2
Lewis’s Woodpecker 2, Acorn Woody 1
Common Raven (Corvus corax) 2
Western Bluebird (Sialia mexicana) 30
American Robin (Turdus migratorius) 200
European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) 80
American Pipit (Anthus rubescens) 60
Golden-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia atricapilla) 45
Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) 12
Western Meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta) 15
Lesser Goldfinch (Spinus psaltria) 8
American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis). 1.

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