Hi All,
What follows is another account of weekend birding toward county listing,
My wife and I left mid morning on Saturday toward NW Oregon, with plans
to work on my Umatilla, Union, and Wallowa County lists. Having her
with me would be different than going it alone, both advantages and
disadvantages. The food would be better, tent cleaner, someone to
talk with along the way to discuss by birding strategies, but there
would be delays here and there that would be expected as well. I
should add at the beginning that I probably should label this trip,
“The weekend of the mis-construed check-lists,” which will become
clearer later on.
The first (of many) pit stops was the rest area just south of Wilsonville
where I noticed that the urinals were stamped with a “Falcon”
label. I wonder how long I had missed such, but took it as a good
omen for the upcoming weekend. After gas, the next stop was at the
Deschutes River State Park, just into Sherman Co for lunch. There
was a group of gulls flying around over the river and I added
Western, Herring and GW'd to my Sherman and Wasco list. Heading east on I-84 I was able to add Caspian Tern, Cormorant and Great Egret to Gilliam
and egret to Morrow.
Upon entering Umatilla County we began listing everything we saw since I
did not really remember what all I already had, but understood that
my list was sitting at about 50 species from former jaunts here. We
saw our first of many Swainson's Hawks, a species that seems very
common now that young birds have fledged and were seemingly everywhere that
suitable habitat existed. Another nice find was a Northern Oriole
which flew across the hwy in front of us.
Our first birding destination was the Cold Springs NWR east of Hermiston.
It must have been >90 degrees and windy, but I figured the
shorebirds would not be so affected. At the small farm pond just
before the entrance we added Lesser Yellowlegs, Snipe and Spotted
Sandpiper. The lake was filled with peeps, many Western and Least
Sandpipers, as well as many Spotted Sandpipers. I ran into local
birder Neil Hines who thought that the Spotted's have 2 broods, and
judging from the numbers, he is probably right. Other birds added
here were American White Pelican, Common Yellowthroat, Black-capped Chickadee,Pied-billed, Western and Clark's Grebe, Pewee, Cormorant, Gadwall, Caspian Tern, A Goldfinch, and 5 species of swallows. I missed the Solitary
Sandpiper which Mike Denny relayed he had found earlier in the day.
I ran into Neil on the way out who suggested camping in the Tollgate
area for forest type birds, but I worried it would be too crowded
with campers from the Walla Walla area. I had my sights on a place
named “Indian Lake” in the SE part of the county as having more
or less the same birds as the Tollgate area, and I'd be close to
Union County for the next day, so headed that way. Birding did not
really start to pick up until we reached the final road out of Pilot
Rock and headed up Birch Creek Road along the creek of the same name.
Pheasant, Turkey, Calfornia Quail, Spotted Towhee, Western Tanager, Cedar Waxwing were all additions to the list, as well as some elk, both mothers with fawns. The fawns were larger than the mule deer we were also seeing.
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| Female Elk With Young |
Upon entering the campground was a sign that said, “If you don't stop at
the checkin area, you will be charged double for your campsite.” I
have camped at many campgrounds in the past but have never seen such
a sign. I guess it would end up being double or nothing here – if
you did not want to pay double you would not stay. The host had
hummer feeders so I guess he was not such a bad dude after all. We
paid our dues and set up camp. I did see one hummer fly off from the feeders
the next day, but not sure to species.
On the lake were Shovelers, Wood Ducks, and Western and Pied-billed Grebes. As dusk arrived I counted 12 Common Nighthawks feeding. We ate dinner under a lantern and I did a tally for the day. That was when I realized something was
amiss. I finally figured out that my Umatilla and Union lists were
somewhat switched, the second page of each with the other county.
(When you print off the lists from the East Cascades Audubon Society the
first page has the non passerine birds and the 2nd
page has the passerines) It took me a few minutes to realize I was
filling in passerines on the Union list, so had to draw a line
through those and use the Umatilla page for the appropriate birds.
This is also when I realized that I had started the day with about 70
species in that county from previous jaunts, and not 50 as I had
thought. (The 50 was for Union Co.) Nevertheless, when it was all
straightened out, I was at 99 for Umatilla when we hit the sack.
Then it dawned on me, “Wouldn't it be nice to hear an owl for #
100?” But in all my efforts in the last 3 months of county
listing, I had dipped on hearing owls after dark, so the hopes for
such were not too great, especially now that it was August. I don't
sleep very well when camping, especially the first night, so when a
Saw-whet piped up, I was elated. Matter of fact, he was vocal the
whole night, which means I did not sleep well either. I was now dreading that I was now hearing this owl, as it more or less helped keep me awake.
When I looked at the time on my I-phone when I woke up, it was 5:27. No sense laying around when it was getting light and the birds started singing. So I got up and walked back down the road we came in on. My list got padded with some of the following: Chipping Sparrow, Cassin's Finch, Grey Jay, Goshawk, Pileated WP, Lincoln's Sparrow, Kingfisher, Creeper, Red Crossbill, Mt Chickadee and Bluebird and Red-breasted Nuthatch. The goshawk was an imm bird, quite vocal and I finally viewed him high in a pine tree. During the walk I saw a young elk
with spots. Having read that mother elk can be aggressive toward
people when you are between them and their young, I looked all
around, hoping I was not going to be the brunt of her anger, but she
never showed up.
The county line was probably less than a mile to the east and when I left Umatilla County my list was 107.
Union County would take some work with only 50 therein to start with, but
little by little as we stopped along the forest service roads, the
list got enlarged with more of the common stuff. Some better birds
were Olive-sided Flycatcher, Williamson's Sapsucker, Common Nighthawk, Rock Wren, Clark’s Nutcracker, Western Bluebird. Seeing flocks of 50 + Chipping Sparrows was interesting. We later understood that we were on McIntyre Road, and the scenery was simply marvelous as the pines thinned out into
prairie. We started seeing more and more kestrels the lower we got.
One snag held 8 of them and across the road in another were 4 more,
both adults and immature birds. A little farther on I counted 11 in
a field, and in another mile counted 20! These were undoubtedly family groups.
When we reached Hwy 244 we turned left toward LaGrande with plans to stop
at Red Bridge State Wayside. Prior to getting there we pulled over
where Willow Creek enters the Grande Ronde River. Here I added
Yellow Warbler, Cedar Waxwing, American Dipper and Spotted Sandpiper. The sandpiper was an albino, the first I have ever seen of this species.
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Albino Spotted Sandpiper
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At the Red Bridge State Wayside a lone Bushtit was apparently a nice
find. He must have gotten separated from his clan. It was a birdy
place and we also added Western Tanager, Dusky Flycatcher , Red Crossbill, Black-capped Chickadee. Further down the road were an Eastern Kingbird and Cliff Swallow.
After reaching LaGrande we stopped at Hot Lake and added Coot, Pied-billed Grebe, Marsh Wren, Wood and Ring-necked Duck, Yellow-headed Blackbird. Ladd Marsh was quite dry but were still able to add Black-necked Stilt, Redhead, Ruddy Duck, Turkey Vulture, Northern Harrier, Savannah Sparrow, Great Egret, Snipe and Cowbird. The LaGrande Sewage Lagoons had staff there, so we were able to enter and saw a few Eared Grebes, one Horned Grebe, Bank Swallows, Shovelers, Cinnamon Teal, Herring and Ring-billed Gulls and one Lesser Scaup.
While eating next at Subway, I did a tally and found I was now at 93 in
Union, only needing 7 more to cross the threshold, so we headed toward
Wallowa County. Due to seeing Osprey north of town, my wife got into
it, hoping we'd reach 100 before getting to Wallowa County and kept her eyes peeled. We found 2 Black-crowned Night Herons at a small farm pond just before reaching Elgin, and in scoping the Elgin Sewage Lagoons I added Red-necked Phalarope, Double-crested Cormorant and Gadwall. A long overdue Western Kingbird was next, making the list 99, falling one short before entering Wallowa County.
As far as I knew, my Wallowa County list was at 95 from 2 fairly recent
backpacking trips to the Eagle Cap Wilderness, and a winter trip
there in January 2012, so was not too worried about reaching 100.
However, we both agreed that we were wasting a lot of time stopping
to look for dippers along the Wallowa River, so left that off for
greener pastures. Along the way we saw Kingfisher, Snipe, and Vaux
Swift. Pete's Pond in Enterprise had common stuff, so nothing new
was added. We planned on camping at the State Campground at the far
end of Wallowa Lake, and a White-headed Woodpecker was a nice find a
the last pullout overlook before the bridge.
The campground is quite modern with all the amenities one needs away from
home. And this is one of the compromises I felt I needed to make by
bringing my wife along. (After she read this post to OBOL, she let me know she would have been just fine if we had camped off the grid somewhere.) If I were alone, I'd be finding some vacant forest service road to camp for the night. We stopped at the check in and had to pay $20 for a campsite which was chosen for us. I am sure it is better than the refugee camps I read about, but just not
my cup of tea with everyone camping side by side with the usual accompanying noise.
After camp was set up, we walked down to the lake and I added Herring Gull
to the list. When back at camp when I did my tally, I found I was at
84, a huge let down. But closer examination showed something amiss
(again!). I could see glaring holes of birds I knew I had seen in
the county like Rosy Finch, Grey Partridge, Prairie Falcon and etc.
Then I figured out that a few months ago when I transferred my old
county lists to the new print-outs, I must have neglected to get them
all on there, but felt somewhat confident that I did have 95. I think I figured out that I transferred birds from my old list which was on the old Miller/Summers booklet, which was not updated recently, but since I knew my total was 95 I simply wrote that number on the new list without transferring everything nor recounting. So I really was not sure where I was in the county, so figured I'd get it all straightened out when I got back home.
That night, since we were tired, we went to bed early and used ear plugs
to quell the noise. About 10 minutes later I heard a GH Owl even
with the ear plugs! (Guess my ears are not so bad after all! My
wife may not agree with that though. She did not hear it though......). I slept well until about 12:00 when I woke up to head to the rest room and could still hear the owl. (I was secretly hoping he would make a meal of someone's yappy
chihauhau a few tents over).
I next woke about 5:30 and headed out. The owl was still hooting.
A walk to the lake and up the road toward the trailheads yielded 2 Golden Eagles, Caspian Terns, California Gulls, Pileated Woodpecker, Black-capped
Chickadee, MacGilvray's and Yellow Warblers, Red-breasted Nuthatch, American Dipper, California Quail, Western Wood Pewee, Steller’s Jay, some of which would be new to the county list. While looking for Dipper on the river there, I watched a deer cross the bridge rather than walk through the water. I guess he did not want to get his tootsies wet in the cold water. Just before leaving I washed the dust off my car at the sewage disposal area. When heading out we nailed a Common Loon on the water on the drive to the Joseph Sewage Lagoons. The lagoons had Bank and NRW Swallows plus the common dabbling ducks, coots and killdeer.
We next headed to the McCully Creek Trail where I hoped to find my state
Spruce Grouse. We did not see any grouse species, but here is a shot of the area.
One let down was that the last mile was on a dusty gravel road, so my car
was filthy again! At the trailhead were some Grey Jays. The 1.5
hours of hiking only added RC Kinglets and Hermit Thrush to the other
species already on my county list. We hoped for any grouse species, but came
up empty. We did note that many rocks on the trail had purple
stained bird turds, and assumed most were deposited by grouse. Before
getting back to Joseph we added long overdue W Kingbird and Tree
Swallow, and near the town of Wallowa added Double-crested Cormorant. Now that I am home and straightening out the lists, I count 114 for Wallowa.
Back into Union County, and needing one more to reach the 100 threshold, I
stopped at plowed fields looking for Horned Lark, watched over grassy
fields for Vesper or Lark Sparrows, scoped the Elgin Sewage Lagoons
for anything new, play rail tapes at the small farm pond south of
Elgin, played pygmy owl songs at the next bridge, all to no avail.
In Imbler, needing Ferruginous Hawk, we took a left turn toward some
promising looking fields. I stopped at a creek where there were 3
young Pheasants. Ka-ching! These were new, so we halted everything
and did a tally. I did not want to miscount and get home with only
99. So, as always, it is best to have my wife do that kind of task,
since she is more detailed than I, and the results are more accurate.
She came up with 103....eh hem!
A few miles before reaching LaGrande, we noticed what looked like an
old fashioned, TV western dust storm coming in from the west. This
was undoubtedly the same one Trent Brey referred to in his Black
Swift post. The sky was getting darkened and the wind started howling, and there were even tumbleweeds rolling across the road in front of us. I halfway expected to see John Wayne and a few cowboys come riding up on horses wearing bandanas to shield their faces, but I guess I have watched to many westerns.
The rest of the trip was mostly uneventful, except for one item I should
describe. Now I know some of you have non-birding spouses who
support you and occasionally tag along for the ride. They often
wonder how you can spot birds and drive 65 mph at the same time. And when
the car veers off to the side you have probably heard something like,
“Will you keep your eyes on the road!” And if it was a near
missed accident, the conversation probably gets a little heated.
Well, I am happy to report that none of those happened, this time.
However, since it was easier for me to reach the water bottles in the
back seat, she asked me to do so, and in the process, the car started
heading for the shoulder, which resulted in her grabbing the wheel to
avoid the car kissing the guard rail.
Along the drive, one of our conversations centered around a certain prickly
animal. Somewhere between Boardman and Arlington, where there is
only sagebrush, was a dead porcupine on the side of the road. Since
they eat bark, one has to wonder where he was going. And can their quills really give someone a flat tire? And those tree farms which can be seen from outer space, does anyone know where these end up? Chips for paper? And those wind turbines were turning faithful as usual, which begs the question: with dams and wind turbines making electricity, why does our electric bill keep going
up?
One last sighting of a Common Loon within sight of the Sherman/Wasco
county line was a nice addition for Sherman County. So my Umatilla
list ended up at 107, Union 103 and Wallowa 114, and now I have 29/36
of Oregon's counties done. Not sure what's next with these hot
summer doldrums of August, so am probably going to delay things until
September.
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| McCully Creek Trail |
