Fall Birding

Fall birding is blowing up. White-crowned and Golden-crowned Sparrows have returned to the yard singing “oh deear mee” making me so happy. I was also finally around to see a Red-breasted Sapsucker that I’ve only recorded in the yard once three years ago (!).

I might have jumped up and down. Or I would have except I’d had a little ankle setback after overdoing it on Mt Tabor. Not ready for steep hill-work yet I guess.

Luckily the hottest birding spot lately in Multnomah County, Force Lake, is a flat drive-up pond. Not known for being the best water system, past the “do not eat the fish” signs, the water levels have been favorable enough for a (usually pelagic) Red Phalarope. More typically Red-necked Phalarope occurs inland, but this molting adult bird has more red in the back and a thicker bill with (subtle bit of) yellow at the base.

I was also excited to find my FOS (first of season) White-throated Sparrow here mixed in between Golden-crowned Sparrows.

Less than a week later a new birder photographed (but misidentified) a Ruff at the pond. 7 months into birding I wouldn’t have been able to identify a Ruff either, but word got out about this significant sighting. Which is why I made several attempts to refind the bird. On my second try while scanning the far pond shoreline in near darkness I was rewarded with an even more rare bird, a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper!

Not great photos since it was so far and so dark, but the pale supercilium (eye-brow) and red cap is visible. It think it lit up in the darkness. And it’s not a Ruff because it has a smaller bill and is smaller than the Long-billed Dowitcher it’s standing next to.

This pond is bananas. It’s amazing what little it takes to support a good variety of species. And finally fifth time was the charm for finding the Ruff!

This time, at dawn I picked out the buffy shorebird in the scope as the sun came up. Early worm gets the bird.

I put the word out and a handful of people made it to the pond to enjoy looks at the Ruff before two adult Peregrine Falcons swooped in scattering all the shorebirds while about 20 birders’ jaws dropped (in horror and amazement).

The falcons hunted together cornering a LEYE but came up empty in the end. And that was the end of the Ruff show.

In other news, my dad’s moved to Newport, OR. Say what?! He said goodbye to Limpkins and Eastern Screech Owls and hello to Oregon’s coastal birds. I’m not sure that’s a fair trade.

I delivered some boxes to him, and together we looked for a Palm Warbler that was exciting to everyone in Newport except him (Florida is spoiled in Palm Warblers). It took a few tries, but eventually we found one.

What Florida doesn’t have is Lapland Longspurs and lucky for us we found one of those too at the gull pond at South Jetty. They nest in the arctic tundra and winter in open fields and beaches in some parts of Oregon. They are so pretty!

On the drive home from Newport I made three lazy attempts to find a Northern Shrike since this would put me at 295 Oregon birds for the year and for some reason I think it’ll be fun to try for 300 species. But I shriked out.

Luckily Sarah, Max, Eric and I took a trip to Fort Stevens State Park  the next day to look for a large flock of longspurs which we found easily when they flew.

And watched as they disappeared in the grass.

Occasionally they perched on the jetty rocks for better looks.

As we were leaving, Sarah spotted an accipiter perched across the grassy field. I saw a distant bird-lump too and was confused when she set the scope up in a different direction. Hmm. Wait. I took a distant photo and got excited when I realized this was a shrike! I only had to stop looking for them to find them. Oregon year bird #295! Northern Shrike.

This is a young bird as it’s darker than the bright white/black/gray of an adult. We walked the trail to get closer looks, and saw the shrike go after insects and dragonflies, and then it went for the Lapland Longspurs! Nooooo! It chased the flock unsuccessfully.

Until the flock chased it back.

Fall birding, am I right? By late afternoon it was time to celebrate a good day of birding over beers and lunch. More of this please.

Tweets and chirps,

Audrey