Bird Notes - February to June, 2004
by Jim Rogers

The winter and spring of 2004 brought several remarkable birds to Curry County:

The now-famous Lucy's Warbler that showed up in mid-January at Sheila Chamber's residence on Oceanview Drive in Harbor was visited by birders from all over Oregon, it being only the second record of this Arizona desert ­dwelling species in our state. It spent the winter at a hummingbird feeder, its diet supplemented with a special peanut butter concoction Sheila prepared, and eventua1ly left when the weather improved.

On April 28, while putting in fence posts to fence the sheep away from the wetlands he’s creating on his ranch near the mouth of Elk River, Terry Wahl heard a new bird sound and spotted the source, a male Red-throated pipit with a flock of American pipits. Shortly after he spotted a female as well. This also was only a second record for Oregon. They stayed for a couple of days and left, probably headed for their breeding grounds on the Seward Peninsula in northwest Alaska or across the Bering Strait on the Chukchi Peninsula in Russia.

A week later, May 5, another new bird showed up at the Wahl ranch, a pair of Black-necked Stilts, visiting the new wetlands. It is very rare to see this spectacular shorebird west of the Cascades. There is only one other record for this bird in Curry County, also from May.

On May 8 another new bird showed up at the Wahl ranch, a Eurasian Collared-dove. This species was introduced in the Caribbean in the mid­1970s and reached Florida by 1980. It has spread across the U.S., the first being recorded in Oregon in 1998. The Wahl dove was the first known occurrence in Curry County, but it is thought likely that they'll eventually become commonplace. Watch your feeder for a gray-colored dove with a black band on the back of the neck that's noticeably larger than a Mourning Dove.

On May 31, Rich Hoyer saw a Gray Flycatcher at Otter Point. There were two other records for Curry County both in the late May/early June period.

Other note worthy records include a Clay-colored Sparrow wintering at Sevey's feeder in Hunter Creek and a Northern Mockingbird wintering on the Wahl ranch on lower Elk River. There is usually at least one mockingbird wintering in the County and it seems like it's only a matter of time before they'll be found nesting here. I often saw a pair of Lewis' Woodpeckers while planting trees this winter on the Winter Springs Ranch on the Rogue near Lobster Creek. They were clearly courting, but I haven't seen them here since March. They nest up the Rogue in Jackson County, but have become quite rare throughout most of their range.

I leamed several very interesting pieces of bird lore from Don Munson. He found Chipping Sparrows nesting along the South Bank of the Chetco. He said that they nest around Carpenterville but he hadn't seen them nesting so low before. He also told me that Bullock's Orioles nest along the Chetco in big cottonwoods. Lots of Lazuli Buntings nest along the river as well, as do several House Wrens. Don said that there are numerous Chats along the lower Chetco and he has them nesting next to his house. We just don’t get them up here in the bitter cold of North Curry. We do get an occasional Rufous Hummingbird which are rarely seen in anymore in the South County. Nearly all of our summer hummingbirds anymore are Allen's, a species that was rarely seen in Curry County prior to the 1980's or so. As the Allen's hummingbirds have moved up here from California, so have the Black Phoebes. Where they were once quite rare in Curry County, they're now fairly common nesting birds along the rivers of Western Curry and Coos Counties. But while this would seem to be a manifestation of global warming, the invasion of Barred Owls that have come in and replaced many of our Spotted Owls have apparently come from Canada.

Don also found a Nashville Warbler on Mt Emily on June 4. They're fairly common in Josephine County but we seem to get them mainly in the high country.

On Feb. 22 Lois Miller and Lisa Sheffield watched a flock including 25 Northern Fulmars, 2 Sooty Shearwaters, and 1 Buller's Shearwater following a big crab boat a short distance offshore from Paradise Point. It's rare that we get to see these pelagic species without having to endure a boat trip out into their habitat!

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