Luckiamute State Natural Area field trip Part 2: South Unit (Benton Co.)

[Joel Geier]

Continuing the tale ...

The field trip migrated south to the South Unit of Luckiamute State
Natural Area. Part of the South Unit is in Polk County, but we stuck to
the portion in Benton County, known as the Vanderpool Tract (the name of
the family that used to live here and farm the bottomlands).

In contrast to Luckiamute Landing where the dominant trees are
cottonwoods, maples, and Oregon-ash, the Vanderpool Tract has numerous
ancient Oregon white oaks, many of which must be well over 200 years
old, with well-developed lower limbs that indicate they grew in an open
woodland or savanna setting, as well as some areas of more typical
bottomland ash-cottonwood-maple forest.

Where you find oaks with healthy lower limbs, that means good habitat
for SLENDER-BILLED NUTHATCHES (the subspecies of White-breasted Nuthatch
endemic to western Oregon and Washington, which is the subject of some
concern due to declining numbers and range contraction). We located 
them by their calls, and then with a group effort managed to spot where
two were foraging among the massive lower limbs of one huge old oak.

WESTERN SCRUB-JAYS are the main corvids in this part of Luckiamute SNA.
A few were sneaking around but they were much less conspicuous than in
September, when they were very busy storing acorns for winter, from this
year's abundant crop.

A single TUNDRA SWAN flew across the area from east to west, calling
once in the high fog to help us on the identification. A DOUBLE-CRESTED
CORMORANT came flying over us from the south and landed in the deep pond
that was created by gravel quarrying during the early 1940s, as a source
of aggregate for construction at Camp Adair. The cormorant made a couple
of dives, then took flight, circling over the pond once before heading
off into the fog.

A few YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS were active in the younger oaks and willows
that have grown up around the edges of the quarry pond. We wandered back
to one of the more natural ponds that's formed in an old meander of the
Willamette River. We were hoping to see either Wood Ducks or wapato (an
old staple of the Kalapuyas, who harvested the starchy tubers), but the
water level was still very low and the main green vegetation that we
could see out in the pond was pond lilies.

If I missed anything, hopefully some of the other field trip
participants will chime in! 

I'll be back out in the North Unit (near the trailhead parking area)
this morning for our regular Sunday morning work party, 9 to 11 AM. More
volunteers are always welcome to keep plugging away on the prairie
restoration area!

Happy birding,
Joel

--
Joel Geier
Camp Adair area north of Corvallis