Bird Notes - Early Winter, 2006
by Jim Rogers

I’m afraid this will be an incomplete account of the ornithological oddities occurring during this period as I’ve been a bit overwhelmed with woods work lately

Jim Heany of the BLM reported seeing a Gyrfalcon flying south over Floras Lake on October 28 and also in September.

Don Munson found a Tropical Kingbird at McVayPark on November 9. There are usually several of these visitors from Mexico scattered along the coast from mid-September through mid-late November

Joe Fonteyn found a Chestnut-collared Longspur up on Langlois Mountain just north of the County line on October 18. This uncommon bird of the Plains is extremely rare in Oregon. I suppose they came to the many grassy meadows that were in Curry County when the Indians kept them burned off. Many of these have grown back to trees whether planted or just naturally seeding in when fire was excluded.

Tim Rodenkirk located two Lapland Longspurs out at Floras Lake on October 22. They’re quite uncommon in Curry County but there are usually a few around during most fall/winter seasons

Tim Rodenkirk found two Cassin’s Finches along the Vulcan Lake trail up on the ridge above the lake on October 28. A few of these reddish finches can be found up in the high mountains of Curry County, but I’ve yet to see them. They’re common in places like Hart Mountain Antelope Refuge.

Two Trumpeter Swans were spotted by Knute Anderson and photographed by Lois Miller out in the cranberry bogs northwest of Sixes. They breed in Alaska and winter along the British Columbia coast, rarely coming this far south.

Terry Wahl spotted a Short-eared Owl on the family ranch on Elk River on November 19 and on December 18 spotted a Burrowing Owl on the family ranch on Langlois Mountain and another on the Elk River ranch. I found a Short-eared Owl on the old Miller ranch up the Rogue River near Lobster Creek on November 14 where it remained for several days.

The Port Orford Christmas Bird Count was held on December 30. The weather was ideal for birding – overcast, dry and calm. But bird numbers were low for most species and in the end, we only found 130 species – 10 fewer than last year. We could only find a total of 10 loons from Rocky Point to Floras Lake. A lone Redhead was found on Floras Lake; there were a lot of Ring-necked ducks and scaup on Floras Lake, a lot of Surf Scoters (650) around the Port O dock. Four Ospreys were observed, three in Port O and one near the mouth of Elk River. We rarely have more than 1or 2 over wintering ospreys. It was encouraging to find 763 coots (nearly all at the south end of Floras Lake. We used to find high numbers of coots but the numbers have fallen way off the past few years. Garrison Lake used to have hundreds but now has only a dozen or so. Five hundred Dunlin in the Floras Lake vicinity was not unusual. A Glaucous Gull along the lower Elk was a welcome find – we rarely see them this far south. Six owl species attest to the hard work of the intrepid birders from the north Tim, Dave and Terry. A rare find was two Barn Swallows near Floras Lake. It took two tries, but Jerry Becker found the Acorn Woodpecker again up on Grassy Knob. Most of the Swamp Sparrow habitat was under water, but Tim Rodenkirk managed to dig one out.

I’ve got to get this sent off now, will try to catch up on missed bird reports in next bird notes. Please let me know if you see any unusual birds.

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