Bird Notes - Late Summer, 2005
by Jim Rogers

Marbled Murrelet nesting was very sparse this summer apparently due to abnormal ocean conditions, namely lack of upwelling. The strong northwest winds that cause the ocean to bring cold water from the bottom up to the surface failed to materialize until well into the nesting season. This phenomenon is necessary for the production of invertebrates and small fish that provide the food source for fish and birds. During the third week of July we took a group of visiting birders from around the country up Elk River to see the murrelets coming in from the ocean at dawn to their nests in the old ­growth forest. We only had one detection—a single pair of birds flying 500 feet above the canopy on their way up to the North Fork. Normally at that time of year we have about 40 detections. Lois Miller took some excellent photographs of a murrelet diving at the end of the Port Orford dock. You can actually see it propelling itself down with its wings. In the end it came to the surface with a tiny inch-long fish in its beak. They normally eat sardine size fish.

Several unusual birds were seen this summer. Three Golden plover (not sure if American or Pacific) were spotted by Terry Wahl at the family ranch on the lower Elk River about September 1st . They were joined by a Buff­-breasted Sandpiper on September 3rd. These birds nest in the far northern tundra and migrate along our coast, as well as other routes, to southern South America. They are uncommonly seen here.

On September 15 Lois Miller was checking out the Cape Blanco/Sixes area in preparation for the North American Migration Count. She spotted and photographed a Northern Mockingbird in the Beaver Marsh area. Alas, it could not be found two days later for the Migration Count.

On September 17 we bad a pretty good North American Migration Count. The weather in the north part of the County was clear, warm, and calm, with fog blanketing the ocean until about 10 a.m. The southern part of the County was, according to Sheila Chambers, wet, cold, foggy and drizzly most of the day. Most of the normal birds were seen and there were a few noteworthy sightings. The three Golden Plovers noted above were still on the Wahl ranch, as was a Eurasian Collared Dove, a Loggerhead Shrike, and 3 Scrub Jays. Scrub jays are relatively, common in the southern part of the County but we rarely see them up here. Three more were found by Lois Miller out on the Cape. Maybe the yucky weather in the south County caused them to move up here until the reality of the Port Orford winter sends them back south to the Banana Belt. Don Munson found an amazing 21 Yellow Warblers in the southland. We see an occasional one up here and had 0 for the count. By far the most amazing report was of 10 Blue-gray gnatcatchers observed by Al Affonso at the outlet of Floras Lake. These birds are found clear up into far northern California and the upper Rogue River east of Medford so the likelihood of finding 10 of them in northern Curry County is certainly possible. I think there are about 4 records for this species in the County but I think they were all of single birds. The blue-gray color is pretty noticeable and there's not much else it could be except, possibly bushtits or kinglets or ?. The main distinguishing identification mark besides the color is the presence of white outer tail feathers. Maybe they made a foray into the North Country with their blue-gray relatives the Scrub Jays. The total number of species seen (or heard) on the count was about 133. We could use more coverage of the high country to add another 5-10 species. Our highest count was 147, tallied 10 years ago.

The next organized bird census will be the annual Port Orford Christmas Bird Count. A final date hasn't been determined yet but it will be sometime in the latter half of December or first few days of January. The next issue of the Storm Petrel will have more information.

That's all for now; please phone or fax your bird observations to 332-2555 or mail them to me at 95187 EIk River Road, Port Orford, OR 97465.