Bird Notes - Summer, 2006
by Jim Rogers

Lots of shorebirds have been passing through on the fall migration. Record numbers of Red-necked Phalaropes have been observed all along the coast. Don Munson noted a couple of Pectoral Sandpipers at the mouth of the Rogue along with several Baird’s Sandpipers during the first week of September. We only see these two species during the fall migration. Don also found a Willet at the mouth of the Rogue on August 10, a fairly rare bird in Curry County.

Back in mid-June Lois Miller found an Ash-throated Flycatcher in the Beaver Marsh on Cape Blanco. These are fairly common in California and the Southwest, but Curry County is about as far north as they go. Lois also reported that she has Red Crossbills coming to her feeder. She often sees them in the tops of the fir trees in her yard, but never at a feeder.

Probably the second best bird to be seen in Curry Co, this summer was the Blue Grosbeak found at Pistol River by Don Munson and Buzz Stewart in early September. Buzz observed a very early Golden-crowned Sparrow on August 28 at his place in Brookings. They usually start showing up around the end of September. Don observed a Yellow-headed Blackbird at Pistol River on May 26 and again on July 7 indicating that it may have summered.

The Eurasian-collared Doves are definitely showing up more. Tim Rodenkirk and Sheila Chambers found several along Oceanview Drive in Harbor as well as two Ringed Turtle Doves. The EUCODOs are natural immigrants, but RTDs are introduced and mainly found in Los Angeles. The two found by Tim & Sheila may be escaped cage birds but they weren’t banded. Both species showed up at the Wahl Ranch this summer as did a White-winged Dove in mid-July. The “big bird” of the summer was a little Common Ground Dove spotted by Terry Wahl on the family ranch in the Elk River estuary on August 3. It showed up late in the afternoon, hung around so Lois could photograph it, and was never seen again. To my knowledge this Latin American bird has never been seen in Oregon. Terry has had seven members of the Columbidae family at the ranch this summer: Mourning Dove, White-winged Dove, Eurasian Collared Dove, Ringed Turtle Dove, Common ground Dove, Rock Pigeon, and Band-tailed Pigeon.

A very aggressive Costa’s Hummingbird showed up at Lois’ feeders around July 20 where it attacked any other hummers that ventured near its feeder, including a Black-headed Grosbeak. There are only a couple of other Curry Co. records of this southern California/Arizona/Mexican species.

On September 9 Bill O’Sullivan was driving up around Bald Mountain Meadow east of Humbug when he saw a large bird flapping along behind him. He stopped and it landed in a tree by the road. It was a tall skinny owl with long ear tufts – a Long-eared Owl! I’ve yet to see this rare resident of Curry Co. Bill said the bright yellow eyes were very striking.

Phone or fax me at 541-332-2555 or write to 95187 Elk River Rd., Port Orford OR 97465.