I have never before seen a Goshawk twice in a single day. Until this morning. I was leading a trip to the Cascades east of Ashland. Sponsored by Rogue Valley Audubon. First we saw one high above Keno Access Road. Then three hours later over the Hyatt Lake wildlife pull-out we saw a Goshawk even higher up. Both times the accipiter was circling and the dense white tufts at either side of the tail/butt intersection were very visible. THere were several miles between sightings and some elapsed time so I can enevr surmise if it was the same individual bird.
Naturally, our first goal was to see a Great Gray Owl. One obliged by flying right in front of Car #2. Well before 9AM. Then this adult owl perched along the meadow edge. Soon it flew into the forest and called…continually. Was it an adult calling or warning a mate? I have never had one adult call so unrelentingly. The owl calls led us to view the bird in the dense, mature forest. The calls being uttered were higher pitched than the more expected single or duo note messages.
There was a White-headed Woodpecker drilling two potential nest holes in thick but only seven-foot high stump near Hyatt Lake. And Howard Prairie provided a leucistic honker–see below.
George Peterson got these shots today, including of his lifer G-T Towhee:
The leucistic female Canada Goose was at the southwest corner of Howard Prairie Reservoir.
Here are some of best shots of the day:
All in all, this was our lucky 13th of May!
Howard Prairie Circuit, Jackson, Oregon, US
May 13, 2024
46 species
Canada Goose X   including leucistic female at SW corner of Howard Prairie Lake
Mallard X
Western Grebe X
Sandhill Crane X
Killdeer X
Ring-billed Gull X
Double-crested Cormorant X
American White Pelican X
Turkey Vulture X
Osprey X
American Goshawk 2   two sightings separated by time and distance, but possibly a single bird
Bald Eagle X
Red-tailed Hawk X
Great Gray Owl 1
Red-breasted Sapsucker X
White-headed Woodpecker X   drilling nest hole
Pileated Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker X
Western Wood-Pewee X
Cassin’s Vireo X
Steller’s Jay X
Common Raven X
Mountain Chickadee X
Violet-green Swallow X
Barn Swallow X
Cliff Swallow X
White-breasted Nuthatch X
House Wren X
European Starling X
Western Bluebird X
Mountain Bluebird X
American Robin X
Cassin’s Finch X
Pine Siskin X
Chipping Sparrow X
Dark-eyed Junco X
Green-tailed Towhee X
Western Meadowlark X
Red-winged Blackbird X
Brown-headed Cowbird X
Brewer’s Blackbird X
Nashville Warbler 1
Yellow Warbler X
Yellow-rumped Warbler X
Wilson’s Warbler 3
Western Tanager X
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