Bird Notes - Spring, 2002
by Jim Rogers

Having missed a deadline for the previous edition of the Storm Petrel I’ll go back to mid-winter to mention a few sightings.

February 22 - Band-tailed Pigeons returned to Lowell Franks’ feeder north of Langlois and presumably elsewhere in Curry County from their winter quarters in Mexico.

Late March - Terry Wahl found a Loggerhead Shrike on the family ranch in lower Elk River. This bird of the prairies is rarely seen west of the Cascades.

Mid to late April - Two Short-eared Owls were seen cruising over the Wahl ranch by Terry Wahl. Although this diurnal owl of the open country may be found in Oregon at any time of year, they are rarely seen in Western Oregon, and then primarily during spring migration in March and April.

May 1 - Ken Goldwater had a Common Grackle visit his feeder in Brookings. This common eastern blackbird is rarely seen west of the Rockies. This is about the 14th record for Oregon and the 5th? for Curry County.

May 3 - A Slate-colored version of the Dark-eyed Junco visited the flock of “Oregon” Juncos at Ken’s feeder. Although it’s not all that uncommon to see this eastern junco in Curry County in the winter, it is quite unusual to find one this late

May 11 - Curry County birders participating in the annual North American Migration Count found some great birds, setting a new Curry County NAMC record of 161 species, one better than our old record of 160 set in May of ’99.

Sharyn Becker found an adult male Bohemian Waxwing near the top of Bald Mountain in the Elk River for the first Curry County record of which I’m aware! The bird was found in a snag patch at an elevation of 2,000 feet. She watched it at close range for several minutes, noting white wing patches, yellow stripes on wings, russet forehead, etc. The bird was with another waxwing but she didn’t get a good look at it. Bohemian Waxwings are usually found in the upper northwest, summering in the spruce forest and bogs from far eastern Oregon and Washington, Idaho, Montana and B.C. up through Alaska, but occasionally one gets caught up in a Cedar Waxwing flock.

A few Brown Pelicans had made there way to northern Curry Co. by May 11. The resident Snowy Egrets and Black-crowned Night Herons were found in the south county. A couple of White-fronted Geese, one on Elk River and one on New River were still putting off the long trip north to the Arctic tundra. Terry Wahl and Rick McKenzie found a pair of Blue-winged Teal on Rick’s Star Ranch west of Langlois. These ducks normally nest in marshy ponds east of the Cascades, but there may well be a pair nesting in Curry County from time to time. An adult Bald Eagle was located at the mouth of Sixes River that was presumably the individual that has been seen all spring in the Elk and Sixes.

A couple of Greater Yellowlegs were out at the mouth of Sixes along with the few Whimbrels that weren’t in the flock of 2,250 found on the Star Ranch by Rick and Terry. They also found 5 Pectoral Sandpipers on the Star Ranch. Several Wandering Tattlers and a Solitary Sandpiper were found in the southland, as were 5 Rhinoceros Auklets. Carrie and I found a Golden-Plover at the mouth of Sixes but couldn’t see it quite clearly enough in the 40 mile-an-hour wind to determine if it was an American or a Pacific. Prior to 1993 they were considered to be the same species - the Lesser Golden-Plover.

A pair of Barred Owls answered my Spotted Owl call up in the Grassy Knob Wilderness late that night. Unfortunately these eastern versions of the Northern Spotted Owl have moved into the latter’s habitat, forcing this endangered owl out of much of its remaining old-growth forest. A ring-tailed cat met me at the mouth of Anvil Creek when I returned home shortly before midnight.

You can’t buy a House Wren in northern Curry, but six were found in the south. The same goes for Yellow-breasted Chats. A flock of approximately 30 Bank Swallows had just returned to their colony along the Nesika Beach cliff. This colony, discovered by Nathaniel Wander a few years ago, is currently the only colony of which I’m aware in Curry County or, for that matter, in all of Western Oregon. They are fairly common in Eastern Oregon. Terry found a couple of Lapland Longspurs on the Wahl ranch. These birds of the Great Plains that nest in the tundra seem to find the northern Curry County grasslands similar enough to their native habitat that an occasional small group is found here almost annually.

This year the Curry County NAMC was run as a Bird-a-thon to raise money for cancer research. This program, organized by Don and Karen Munson, was very successful and will hopefully be continued. I promise to publicize the count more in the future so that more folks will be able to participate. In the meantime, mark your calendars for the Fall North American Migration Count on Saturday, September 21. If you’d like a copy of the final tally for the Curry County NAMC, let me know.

May 13 - A Rose-breasted Grosbeak visited Don Munson’s new feeder up the south bank of the Chetco. There are a dozen or so records for this northeastern bird in Curry County. Probably one could be found somewhere in the county sometime during the spring/summer months nearly every year. It most regularly occurs in Harney County.

Mid May - A Sandhill Crane - was seen by Terry Wahl. Prior to the past few years I was only aware of one record of this spectacular bird in Curry County. This was an individual seen by Veva Stansell in Pistol River a decade or two ago. Now it seems that one or two are observed in northern Curry annually. Local ranchers have apparently been seeing them for several years and a pair may have spent the summer in the Elk River bottomlands a few years ago.

May 16 - Ken Goldwater found a Little Gull at the mouth of the Winchuck. “This tiny gull lives mainly in the Old World but a few nest in the Great Lakes region and winter along the Atlantic Coast, rarely straying elsewhere. They may travel with flocks of Bonaparte’s Gulls.” Kenn Kaufman (see below). As far as I know, this is the 6th record for Oregon and the 1st for Curry County.

May 18 - Two Horned Larks paid a visit to the Wahl ranch. These open-country birds are found in large numbers in Eastern Oregon where they nest, but it is quite rare to see them in Western Oregon. Like the Snowy Plover, they formerly nested on the beach, but the introduction of European beach grass wiped out their habitat.

May 21 - A Yellow-headed Blackbird visited the Wahl ranch blackbird flock for a day or two before heading off to presumably search for its brethren in Eastern Oregon. These rare visitors to the coast were only seen on one or two occasions in Curry County prior to Terry’s finding them almost annually on the Elk River ranch.

May 23 - A truly spectacular bird, the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, showed up at the Wahl ranch and, as of this writing (May 29), it is still there catching bugs in the strong winds that blow over the bluffs above Elk River year ‘round. I believe this is the fifth report of this species normally found in Oklahoma and Texas.

May 28 - A Northern Mockingbird showed up at the Wahl ranch and as still there today (May 29). Although there is almost always one of these Californians spending the winter somewhere in Curry County, it is very rare to see one here this late. Seems quite unlikely that a mate for it will show up, but … stay tuned.

May 29 - An unidentified jaeger was seen cruising over a pond on the Wahl ranch.

Recently a new bird field guide came out that has become my favorite. This is Birds of North America by Kenn Kaufman. It’s the size of the Peterson guides and uses digitally enhanced photographs that show the identifying characteristics very well. The text is fairly brief and likewise clearly describes the identifying marks. Excellent range maps accompany the picture and text. A unique index system leads one quickly to the desired bird. The book is published by Houghton Mifflin and costs $20.00.

Please phone, fax or mail your bird observations to me at (541) 332-2555; 95187 Elk River Rd., Port Orford, OR 97465. Thanks.