August 1 to November 30, 1999.
by Colin Dillingham

DM went 15 miles off of Brookings and found black-footed albatross and 1 pomarine jaeger. DJL found a dead Laysan albatross on a Coos County beach in early September. A small cattle egret invasion occurred in Curry County, it started with a whopping 10 at the mouth of the Rogue River on October 18 (DM, KG), and the last were recorded near Elk River by TJW on Nov 15. NW saw several early-fall ducks: a green-winged teal and a northern shoveler on August 24 at Euchre Creek, and a bufflehead on August 30 at the mouth of Sixes River. The Rogue River mouth had a nice small flock of five redhead on October 26 (NW).

KAC and DJL found 9 American and pacific golden plover in Coos County during the shorebird festival (Sept 11-12) at the north spit effluent ponds. They also found a bar-tailed godwit and a sharp-tailed sandpiper at Bandon Marsh during the festival, both of which have never been recorded in Curry (these birds seen by CPD, TJR, MJM and JMM also). DM found 1 pacific golden plover at the Rogue Mouth and another at Harbor, both on October 28. DJL found an amazing record of a Mountain Plover, the first for Curry County, on a remote stretch of Beach near the Coos County line on November 7. DJL and KAC found a stilt sandpiper near the golden plovers in Coos during the shorebird festival. DM found a buff-breasted sandpiper at New River on September 8, the fourth county record. TJW found a ruff at the mouth of Elk River. This is only the second Curry County ruff and the first since 1981. NW found a pectoral sandpiper on August 24 at Euchre Creek while CPD and HLD found 3 at Jerry's Flat on September 6. They are regular in fall in the county. NW described a Wilson's phalarope he found at the Port Orford boat basin, only the third record for the county and the first in 15 years. Jeff Harding found a dead Arctic Tern on the North Shore of Floras Lake.

DM saw a Lewis' woodpecker in the Winchuck watershed on September 18. They seem to be irruptive in the county. Although we didn't experience any other Lewis' this fall, a few others were sighted in neighboring Josephine County at approximately the same time. CPD, KAC, DJL, JMM, Keith Paul and Deborah Henry captured, banded and photographed an Empidonax flycatcher that appears to be a Least Flycatcher at Cape Blanco on August 25 (see enclosed details/photographs). Feather samples were collected for DNA analysis to confirm the specific identification. This is the second county record; the first was on September 1, 1985 also at Cape Blanco. Three tropical kingbirds were found: 1 at Port Orford Oct 11 (NW), 1 at Elk River bottomlands (TJW), and 1 at Pistol River Nov 13-20 (DM, KG).

A northern mockingbird was in Langlois 30 November (through at least December 5)(TJW). This fits the pattern of the 35 Curry County records I have, which is a large majority of the birds showing up between October and May, some spending the winter at one location, but no confirmed breeding records. There have been several breeding season sightings, but all have been one-day only sightings in June, July and August. A northern shrike on Nov 14 was at Jerry's Flat (CPD), the most reliable location for this species in the county. FH located the second Curry record of chestnut-sided warbler in Brookings on September 28, precisely the same date one was banded at Cape Blanco in 1995. ADB and EC found Curry's fifth Magnolia warbler at Harris Beach State Park on October 16. There was a strong showing of palm warblers this fall in Curry, 9 in scattered locations.

TJW found Curry's third indigo bunting on Nov 19 at the Elk River bottoms. The previous records were of males in the spring. There were several clay-colored sparrows this fall between Sept 30 and Nov 19 at Pistol River and Elk River bottoms (DM, TJW, TJR). DM found the 7th Curry record of lark sparrow at the Rogue mouth on October 15. The lark sparrow records are split between May-June (3 records) and Sept-Nov (4 records). TJW found the first county record of a chestnut-collared longspur in Curry on October 15, and later tripled the county total when he found 2 more on Nov 15, all at Elk River bottoms.

Observers are as follows - Colin Dillingham (CPD), Henry Dillingham (HLD), Terry Wahl (TJW), Dave Lauten (DJL), Tim Rodenkirk (TJR), Kathy Castelein (KAC), Nathanial Wander (NW), Don Munson (DM), Ken Goldwater (KG), Jesse McDowell (JMM), Melissa McDowell (MJM), Jim Rogers (JR)