BIRD NOTES
by Jim Rogers
Jim Rogers has been birding and compiling bird count records in Curry County for over 30 years. He regularly shares his observations with KAS members in the Bird Notes column of the Storm Petrel.
Click here for archived notes, or here for the Christmas Bird Counts
Winter/Early Spring 2010
Many thanks to Tim Rodenkirk for sharing his records with us!Dec. 1 – Sprague’s Pipit – Terry Wahl saw briefly on the Wahl Ranch in the Elk River estuary where he saw one last year. This bird of the Great Plains had never before been recorded in Oregon! On the same day Terry and Knute Anderson found a Northern Shrike and a very early (or late) Turkey Vulture, as well as an over-wintering Say’s Phoebe and a Ross’ Goose.
Dec. 7 – Knute spotted a Rough-legged Hawk headed south. Tim Rodenkirk found a Golden Eagle in the Bethel road area on the Coos/Curry Co. line. Also, Rick McKenzie reported an over-wintering Gyrfalcon on his ranch on the county line.
Dec. 11 – Tim found over 100 Black Scoters between Blacklock Point and Floras Lake.
Dec. 27 – Port Orford Christmas Bird Count. We found 129 species plus one we couldn’t count, Mute Swan, because it doesn’t breed in the West. However, we did find two Trumpeter Swans, a rare bird in Oregon. Thirty Tundra Swans in the Floras Lake area was about the usual number that winter there. A flock of 39 White-fronted Geese was a goodly number. They were last seen Feb. 7. Brown Pelicans are certainly making a comeback with 193 being seen on the P.O.CBC and over 1,000 on the 3 Coos/Curry CBCs. A couple of Shearwaters couldn’t be positively identified as to species, but they were likely Short-tailed as that’s the usual species wintering on the Oregon Coast. The usual over-wintering Osprey was a welcome find, as were 13 Red Phalaropes. These birds of the open sea are sometimes found in the Port Orford area during winter storms. A total of 5 Heermann’s Gulls was not unexpected though, since they hang out with Brown Pelicans, one might wonder why there aren’t more in the winter. A total of 537 California Gulls was more than usual. A lone Palm Warbler wasn’t unexpected, though they are considered to be extremely rare throughout the west. Six Brown-headed Cowbirds was likewise not unexpected, but still a rare find in the winter. Had the weather been a bit more conducive to birding we probably could have found another dozen or so species.
Jan. 3 – A Glaucous Gull and a Ruddy Turnstone were found in Brookings by Alan Contreras, Tim Rodenkirk and Lauren Harter.
Jan. 8 – Lauren Harter found a Heermann’s Gull in Gold Beach and 5 in Brookings.
Jan. 9 – Another Trumpeter Swan was found in Curry County, this one in Pistol River, discovered by Neil Holcomb.
Jan. 10 – Tim R. counted 1800 California Gulls in Gold Beach.
Jan. 16 – Tim R. brought a field trip group from Cape Arago Audubon Society down to northern Curry County, where they found the first Turkey Vulture of the year, the 2 Trumpeter Swans, left over from the CBC, 20+ Brown Pelicans, and a large flock of Western Bluebirds.
Jan. 30 – Lois & Knute found a flock of 30 Lapland Longspurs in the Floras Lake area. At about this time a female Hooded Oriole turned up at Horst & Alice Pfand’s house in Port O. where it remains to this day (April 11).
Feb. 17 – Tim R. reported that the Gyrfalcon, Ross’ Goose and Trumpeter Swans were still here.
March 22 – Sheila Chambers reported her first Violet-green Swallow and Osprey.
April 4 – Don Munson noted that he had swarms of hummingbirds at his home a few miles up the Chetco and it was snowing hard. I’d think the old guy was losing it, but it snowed hard here in the north county as well!
Please let me know of your interesting bird sightings – chlaparl@wildblue.net
created: 2010-04-12