South of Salem and what we saw while birding for a week
Harry Fuller
BIRDING TRIP: WILLAMETTE TO SONOMA--THE CONDITIONS WE SAW
OCTOBER BIRDING TRIP, 2021
Albert Ryckman and I have completed a 1400-miles birding trip from the Willamette Valley to Sonoma County, and back. As I write this it’s a cool, wet afternoon here in Salem. We saw little sign that such weather has been occurring in many of the places we stopped.
Oct.
1 Plat I Reservoir east of Sutherlin. About half
full. Many ducks, herons, egrets, swallows.
Emigrant Lake Reservoir, southeast of Ashland. Historically empty as it
has not been since the dam was enlarged in 1960. One White Pelican, a few
ducks, geese and gulls.
Oct.
2 Miller Island south of K-Falls. Ponds well-filled, but
surrounding fields and marshes dry. Dabblers and white-fronted geese.
Lower Klamath NWR, including Township Road—only one pool with water.
Other areas dust dry. Few birds.
Tule Lake NWR. Sump 1 (west side) alkali salt pans, dry. East side
Sump 2 had water and high concentration of waterfowl. Some cranes in the
vicinity.
Link River—water level low but numerous Hooded Mergansers were there, likely
because their more covert habitats were dried up. Putnam Point—closed.
Fields west of Running Y—dust dry.
Oct. 3 Butte Valley—dry fields, zero raptors!
Hedge Creek Falls, Dunsmuir—nearly dry with trickle of water. Not enough in stream for dippers which I have found there in wetter times.
Sacramento River—low water in Siskiyou County, a shallow creek running at the bottom of backed mud canyon through most of “Lake” Shasta.
Lake Shasta Reservoir—at historic low levels, still enough water for some boating as ramps have been lowered more than fifty feet from the “full” mark.
Sacramento NWR Auto Route—Less than half of the usual pools had any water. Waterfowl concentrated in those with water. Visitors Center ponds bone dry.
Oct. 4 Bodega Bay—the tides still run as ever. Many birds. We visited it each day through the 7th.
Oct. 5 Shollenberger Park, Petaluma—pools powder dry, little water in side canal. We stayed five minutes.
San Pablo Bay NWR—the parking lots look like trash dumps, not encouraging one to walk away from a vehicle. Skaggs Island Road blocked off. Some pools are tidal and have shorebirds, waterfowl. Some pools and roadside canals are desiccated, weedy, birdless.
Grizzly Island—mostly dry. Interior trails closed for all except hunters.
American Canyon Wetlands. Open water, reedy ponds with water, tidal flats. Scads of herons and egrets. Numerous waterfowl, White Pelicans.
Oct. 6 Pt. Reyes—Tomales Bay; disappointing ack of birds. We did not go west of Inverness Ridge.
Oct. 7 Sugarloaf Ridge SP—no water in creek, lower slopes burned over. Heard both pygmy-owl and Mountain Quail.
Goat Rock Road, south side of Russian River. The river is blocked by sand bar at the “mouth.” But water will be flowing both ways. Hundreds of Brown Pelicans on the sand bar.
Oct. 8 Colusa NWR—entrance pond has water and waterfowl. Large south pool dry and weed choked.
There are fire scars along I-5 in Jackson County, Hwy 97 in Siskiyou County, along I-5 in Siskiyou County, in the hills bordering Napa and Sonoma valleys. If you want to pretend climate change is myth, do not make this trip. Returning to green grass here in the Willamette felt comforting.
birding website: http://www.towhee.net
my birding blog: atowhee.wordpress.com