This post is belated by about two weeks. It is lengthy, however if you are interested in hearing about the fun sightings my friend and I had on the road-trip from the Pacific Ocean to Wisconsin, this email has you covered. I'm posting this on MOU because some of the birds in this email were observed in MN. All but the first bird list in this email are from the major hikes/drives/birdwatching spots we visited. I hope you enjoy the email :)
First off, here is our trip raptor list, tallying 256 birds total: Bald Eagle 2 Golden Eagle 4 Turkey Vulture 83 Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 Northern Harrier 2 Osprey 27 Red-shouldered Hawk 2 Red-tailed Hawk 74* Swainson’s Hawk 24** Ferrugenous Hawk 2 American Kestrel 20 Peregrine Falcon 2 Prairie Falcon 2 Unknown buteo 3 Unknown raptor 6 *Mix of different morphs throughout the trip (light, intermed. and dark). Also one Krider’s Red-tailed Hawk observed in North Dakota ** Of the 13 Swainson’s Hawks observed in Oregon, all 13 were dark morphs! I worked my last day in Oregon on July 30th. My friend Sarah Glesner joined me on the fantastic carpooling/birdwatching trip back to Wisconsin. This email consists of the bird species we found at each major birdwatching location we stopped at along the way home. We left Cottage Grove, OR, and birdwatched at the Bandon Marsh NWR and Bandon Jetty Friday evening before camping nearby. 7/30/2010 *Bandon Jetty & Bandon Marsh NWR* (Bandon, OR) California Gull Western Gull Least Sandpiper Killdeer Wandering Tattler Great Egret (North Bend, OR) Bewick’s Wren Bald Eagle …The next day Sarah and I met up with Tom & Carol Sykes (birdwatching friends from Wisconsin). We visited Battle Rock & the Port Orford Marina first thing in the morning. 7/31/2010 *Battle** Rock & Marina *(Port Orford, OR) GRAY WHALE Red-throated Loon Pacific Loon Common Loon Western Grebe Surf Scoter Brown Pelican Pigeon Guillemot Marbled Murrelet Black Oystercatcher Black Turnstone Caspian Tern California Gull Glaucous-winged Gull Band-tailed Pigeon Violet-green Swallow Song Sparrow White-crowned Sparrow Red Crossbill …We then headed to Coquille Point for most of the mid-day and afternoon 7/31/2010 *Coquille Point* (Bandon, OR) Tufted Puffin Double-crested Cormorant Pelagic Cormorant Western Gull Turkey Vulture Osprey Common Murre Pigeon Guillemot ….spent the afternoon at Bandon Marsh 7/31/2010 *Bandon Marsh NWR* (Bandon, OR) Heerman’s Gull Greater Yellowlegs Black-bellied Plover Bald Eagle Red-shouldered Hawk Swainson’s Thrush Wilson’s Warbler Orange-crowned Warbler Red Crossbill …Then camped out at Sixes Campground, where Stellar’s Jays and Chestnut-backed Chickadees were observed! …The next morning we visited Battle Rock one last time 8/1/2010 *Battle** Rock* (Port Orford, OR) Brown Pelican Pigeon Guillemot Black Oystercatcher California Gull Glaucous-winged Gull Heerman’s Gull Band-tailed Pigeon Cliff Swallow Song Sparrow White-crowned Sparrow …then drove to Cape Blanco, where we got to experience the gusty-ness and true edge-of-the-ocean environment one last time 8/1/2010 *Cape Blanco*, OR Brandt’s Cormorant Western Grebe (22) Turkey Vulture Band-tailed Pigeon Chestnut-backed Chickadee Bushtit Cedar Waxwing Golden-crowned Kinglet Song Sparrow American Goldfinch Red Crossbill …From Cape Blanco, we drove to Bandon to explore the beauty of this amazing town one last time. 8/1/*2010** Pullout just south of **Riverside Drive* (Bandon, OR) Semipalmated Sandpiper Least Sandpiper Western Sandpiper Glaucous-winged Gull Western Gull California Gull Canada Goose …then we drove to Sisters in the Cascade Mountains, to camp out for the night. Our campsite provided us with some heart-of-the-mountain species 8/1/2010 *Indian Ford Campground campsite* (Sisters, OR) Mountain Chickadee Bushtit Flycatcher sp (call-notes heard, but unable to ID) … the next day, we had an AMAZING time on the path that leads off from the campground (over the course of .8 miles round trip hiking). I saw my first White-headed Woodpecker & Cassin’s Vireo that morning! 8/2/2010 Indian *Ford Campground hiking path* (Sisters, OR) WHITE-HEADED WOODPECKER Clark’s Nutcracker Pygmy Nuthatch White-breasted Nuthatch Red-breasted Nuthatch Mountain Chickadee Common Yellowthroat CASSIN’S VIREO Hammond’s Flycatcher Gray Flycatcher -possibly Dusky Flycatcher Chipping Sparrow Audubon’s Yellow-rumped Warbler (observed feeding young in nest!) Pine Siskin Red Crossbill …Sarah and I then took a walk to the Cascade-known Best Western birdfeeders, where we had quite a show! 8/2/2010 *Best Western birdfeeders* (Sisters, OR) Northern Flicker (red-shafted) PINYON JAY (new one for Sarah and I!) Stellar’s Jay Western Scrub Jay Pygmy Nuthatch Brewer’s Blackbird Dark-eyed Junco Pine Siskin …we then had a long, but amazingly beautiful drive to Malheur Lake , and stopped at a pond along the direct drive to the campground 8/2/2010 *Pond* (Malheur, OR) American Coot Cinnamon Teal Wilson’s Phalarope Greater Yellowlegs Spotted Sandpiper Black-necked Stilt Killdeer Black Tern Western Kingbird Yellow-headed Blackbird Brewer’s Blackbird …on the drive between Bend and Malheur this is what we had Ferrugenous Hawk Swainson’s Hawk Red-tailed Hawk Northern Harrier American Kestrel Turkey Vulture Golden Eagle Black-crowned Night Heron Western Meadowlark (camped at Paige Springs Campground) 8/2 and 8/3/2010 *Paige** **Springs** Campground* Malheur, OR Great Horned Owl California Quail Common Nighthawk Violet-green Swallow Gray Catbird Yellow Warbler Pygmy Rabbit … Sarah and I did the auto loop at Malheur Lake and were pretty much beside-ourselves at how amazing that place is. The White-faced Ibis were seen by the hundreds, flocks of mixed blackbirds (thousands in some flocks) and Bank Swallows tallying well over a thousand birds! 8/3/2010 *Malheur** **Lake** NWR Auto **Loop** *(Malheur, OR) Pied-billed Grebe Western Grebe Gadwall Cinnamon Teal White-faced Ibis (incredible) Wilson’s Phalarope Northern Harrier Bank Swallow Black-billed Magpie Eastern Kingbird Willow Flycatcher Western Wood Pewee Red-winged Blackbird Bobolink Yellow-headed Blackbird Coyote 8/3/2010 *Malheur **Lake** **NWR** headquarters *(Malheur, OR) American White Pelican Great Blue Heron California Quail Calliope Hummingbird – at feeders!! Loggerhead Shrike (family) Western Tanager Yellow Warbler …Sarah and I spent the night at a friend’s house in Idaho, where we had both Goldfinch Species (American & Lesser), and an unknown hummingbird species at the feeder, which we saw brief glimpses of. … we then visited Glacier National park two days later, and drove through the park on Hwy 2 (Going-to-the-Sun Road). It was INCREDIBLE. 8/5/2010 *Glacier** **National Park*, on Going-to-the-Sun Road, MO Osprey Hairy Woodpecker Northern Flicker Red-breasted Nuthatch Mountain Chickadee Chestnut-backed Chickadee Golden-crowned Kinglet Pacific-slope Flycatcher (feeding young at nest under ledge, next to waterfall) American Dipper American Robin Cedar Waxwing Audubon’s Yellow-rumped Warbler MacGillivray’s Warbler Dark-eyed Junco Chipping Sparrow Black-headed Grosbeak Western Tanager Black-backed Woodpecker Pine Siskin Black Bear …we slept at Summit Campground near East Glacier. This campground was “on top” of the continental divide. Very cool campground! That next morning we got up early and walked through the entire Aster Trail (maybe 3-4 miles total round trip). 8/6/2010 *Aster Trail*, Glacier National Park, MO Black-backed Woodpecker Chestnut-backed Chickadee Mountain Chickadee Olive-sided Flycatcher Yellow-rumped Warbler …we then headed to North Dakota, and visited the Devil’s lake water treatment pond (just north of the lake) 8/7/2010 *Devil’s **Lake** **Water** Treatment pond, *Devil’s Lake, ND American Coot ~150 Eared Grebe ~30 Redhead 7 Canvasback 3 Mallard ~400 Green-winged Teal 20 Blue-winged Teal ~500 Northern Pintail ~25 Northern Shoveler ~50 Red-breasted Merganser 1 Bonaparte’s Gull 2 Ring-billed Gull 2 Franklin’s Gull ~600 Black Tern 2 Common Tern 3 Pectoral Sandpiper 1 Greater Yellowlegs 20 Lesser Yellowlegs 5 Least Sandpiper 1 Ferrugenous Hawk 1 Peregrine Falcon 1 Nelson’s Sparrow 1 (only heard, but what a treat to hear!) …after being amazed by NoDak diversity, we birdwatched at the beach of Spirit Lake Casino, where I found a Little Gull last summer! 8/7/2010 *Spirit Lake Casino beach, *Devil’s Lake, ND Pied-billed Grebe 1 Western Grebe 1 Semipalmated Plover Greater Yellowlegs 1 Spotted Sandpiper 1 Ruddy Turnstone 1 Franklin’s Gull ~400 California Gull 4 Ring-billed Gull 3 …The last main stop for birdwatching before doing back to MN and WI was Kellys Sloughs NWR. This spot was a true favorite of mine from while working in Grand Forks two summers back, and I also made sure to visit this beautiful location on my drive home from North Dakota last summer. If you’re ever going through Grand Forks, I highly recommend this spot. 8/7/2010 *Kellys Sloughs NWR, *Grand Forks, ND Great Blue Heron 1 American White Pelican ~180 Semipalmated Plover 1 Killdeer ~15 Canada Goose Mallard Northern Pintail Northern Shoveler Blue-winged Teal Killdeer ~15 American Avocet 114 Greater Yellowlegs ~30 Lesser Yellowlegs ~45 Spotted Sandpiper 1 Willet 5 Marbled Godwit 1 Pectoral Sandpiper ~10 Stilt Sandpiper ~60 Dowitcher sp. ~110 White-rumped Sandpiper ~400 Baird’s Sandpipers ~200 Semipalmated Sandpiper ~40 Least Sandpiper ~30 Wilson’s Phalarope 15 Franklin’s Gull Ring-billed Gull Black Tern Cliff Swallow Eastern Kingbird Hope to see you at Hawk Ridge this fall!! Good birdwatching, Erik Bruhnke Waukesha, WI NATURALLY AVIAN - Bird photography and guided bird hikes www.pbase.com/birdfedr [email protected] ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
