Mountain Quail, Wood River Wetland, Lewis's WP on the move; 29 Aug 2010
David Hewitt
I spent the day checking out the late summer/fall bird happenings at
some spots in the northern Basin. And a most glorious fall day it was.
Glorious because of the weather you ask? No. The weather wasn't bad,
but the day will go down in history for me as the day I finally
scratched a long-tenured nemesis species off my Most Wanted list.
I started the day at 9:00 am at Jean and Al van Hulzen's place in
Rocky Point, on the hunt for the infamous MOUNTAIN QUAIL. Two families
of the sneaky little buggers have been visiting their feeders
regularly for some time now. I spent about 2.5 hours enjoying all
manner of bird life around their gorgeous property, with no sign of
the quail. Then, as I was making a final round of the property and
preparing to leave (and of course come back later), Jean kindly called
me on my cell phone to let me know the quail had out-maneuvered me and
were at the feeders. A minute later, I was enjoying excellent views of
a whole family of the critters, 2 adults and 13 juveniles. And as if
that weren't enough, while we were inside telling bird stories another
family of 4 moved in at the other feeders across the yard. Added to
the rest of the impressive bird menagerie around their place, it was a
wonderful first half of the day. Other highlights included three GRAY
JAYS, YELLOW and MacGILLIVRAY'S WARBLERS, and EVENING GROSBEAKS.
COMPLETE LIST (37 species):
Mountain Quail 19
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Cooper's Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
American Kestrel 1
Mourning Dove 2
Vaux's Swift 1
Rufous Hummingbird 3
Red-breasted Sapsucker 1
Downy Woodpecker 1
Hairy Woodpecker 2
Gray Jay 3
Steller's Jay 9
Common Raven 1
Mountain Chickadee 3
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
Pygmy Nuthatch 8
House Wren 1
Marsh Wren 1
American Robin 12
European Starling 1
Yellow Warbler 2
MacGillivray's Warbler 2
Spotted Towhee 3
Chipping Sparrow 1
Brewer's Sparrow 2 seen by Jean before I got there
Song Sparrow 2
Lincoln's Sparrow 1
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon) 4
Western Tanager 2
Black-headed Grosbeak 6
Red-winged Blackbird 7
Purple Finch 3
Cassin's Finch 9
Pine Siskin 6
Evening Grosbeak 3
My next stop was the Wood River Wetland. On the way there, a PRAIRIE
FALCON was perched on a power pole at the intersection of Weed and
Loosley Rd south of Ft Klamath. In the same area were a couple of
Red-tailed Hawks and an adult Bald Eagle.
The Wetland was hopping with activity even so late in the day. I spent
3 hours there and came up with quite a list without paying much
attention to the waterfowl. I was mostly looking for songbirds and
shorebirds. The best place by far for the shorebirds was the exposed
mudflat along the little 'spur' trail south of the main trail near the
Wood River bridge. Highlights were watching VIRGINIA RAIL (with
chicks) and a juvenile SORA wander around carefree on the mudflat (at
least until the Harrier buzzed by). There was a flock of peeps here
too, and so far as I could tell they were all Least Sandpiper, which
seemed odd. Other highlights included an OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER at the
parking lot and WILSON'S SNIPE along nearly every water's edge.
COMPLETE LIST (45 species):
Greater White-fronted Goose 1 flying
Gadwall X
Mallard X
Pied-billed Grebe 9 (2 juveniles)
Western Grebe 3 Agency Lake
American White Pelican 2
Great Blue Heron 1 mouth of Wood River
Great Egret 2
Green Heron 1
Black-crowned Night-Heron 1 juvenile near parking lot
White-faced Ibis 8
Turkey Vulture 2
Osprey 1
Northern Harrier 1
Virginia Rail 5 (2 adults, 1 juvenile, 2 small chicks)
Sora 1 juvenile; same place as Virginia Rail
American Coot X
Killdeer 9
Greater Yellowlegs 4 mouth of Wood River
Willet 1 mouth of Wood River
Least Sandpiper 27 same place as Virginia Rail
Short-billed/Long-billed Dowitcher 3 fly-by
Wilson's Snipe 13 everywhere! 7 on mudflat where Virginia Rail
were, 4 at mouth of Wood River
Ring-billed Gull 2
Caspian Tern 5
Mourning Dove 1
Downy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker (Red-shafted) 4
Olive-sided Flycatcher 1 near parking lot eating a dragonfly
Western Wood-Pewee 7 busy all along main trail
Willow Flycatcher 6 busy all along main trail
Hammond's Flycatcher 1 along main trail, low in brush at close
range; matched all field marks well; crisp fresh plumage
Warbling Vireo 2
Tree Swallow X
Violet-green Swallow X
Barn Swallow X
Marsh Wren 3
American Robin 2
Cedar Waxwing 2
Orange-crowned Warbler 2
Yellow Warbler 11 busy all along main trail
Song Sparrow 4
Western Tanager 3
Red-winged Blackbird 13
Bullock's Oriole 1
American Goldfinch 7
Finally, on my way home just south of Henzel Park I noticed two
LEWIS'S WOODPECKERS making their annual fall pilgrimage down Modoc
Point Road. There were probably more but I didn't have time to stop
and look around.
Dave Hewitt
Klamath Falls