Western Kingbird in Soap Creek Valley north of Corvallis

[Joel Geier]

This morning a very wet-looking Western Kingbird was right by the entrance of OSU's Soap Creek Beef Ranch, just off Soap Creek Road in the Soap Creek Valley north of Corvallis (Benton County).

Bob Altman mentioned having seen another kingbird at a different site south of Corvallis about a week ago, so this is not the first one of the season, but I wanted to mention it as this is a good time to watch for this species locally.

Most of these birds that we see on the west side of the Willamette Valley are migrants passing through, but a few pairs nest locally in each year. In Benton County, the most regular site I know of is on the North Prairie at Finley NWR (where Don Boucher recently found a Grasshopper Sparrow), but we had a pair attempt to nest at our place north of town one year, building an ungainly nest that looked like it was sourced mainly from someone's old floor mop.

Nesting kingbirds are usually easier to find throughout the nesting season, south of here in Lane County around Creswell and Fern Ridge, and on the east side of the valley in Linn County. In both places, they seem to be partial to regional high-voltage power line towers, especially where there are grazing lands in the power line corridors.

--

Joel Geier

Tampico Ridge north of Corvallis