Lesser Goldfinches were making their soulful little whistles from thickets, bare alder, berry brambles. A Bewick’s Wren greeted our birding group with a lusty rendition of his spring song, but refused to show his eyebrow. House Finches were singing, from treetops as required by House Finch regulations. So it really must be almost, getting ready to be just about starting the beginning of spring. It’s the misleadingly long days compared to five aeeks ago. The temps today did climb up above 40 I believe. Central Point lies below 1700 feet elevation, no snow left on the ground as there is in my garden upstream in Ashland.
It was the monthly walk along the Central Point section of the Bear Creek Greenway. More than simply riparian habitat, there are several ponds. That means ducks. It was at Mingus Pond some days ago I got my first Oregon Canvasbacks. Much of that flock of dozens remain. Ring-necked, Gadwalls, Mallards, Shoveler, Bufflehead, Green-winged teal and one Ruddy Duck were scattered along the ponds. In the largest, Expo Pond, were a pair of Common Mergansers. Ironically, the only ducks we saw on roiling, muddy Bear Creek were Mallards.
Three Night-herons and one Blue Heron. Black Phoebe. Belted Kkingfisher. Hawk of the day: an openly perched young Cooper’s. The whole village of Acorn Woodpeckers on and around their granary tree on the east side of the creek. To drill, then fill a tree like that definitely takes a village. Flickers, Downys, a lone White-breasted Nuthatch. Nobody unusual or unexpected. But nearly fifty species on an easy morning’s walk. It might as well be spring.
Location: Central Point Greenway Walk
Observation date: 2/6/08
Notes: 40 Degrees, cloudy to partly cloudy
Number of species: 50
Canada Goose 13
Gadwall 6
Mallard 18
Northern Shoveler 12
Green-winged Teal 8
Canvasback 25
Ring-necked Duck 24
Bufflehead 3
Common Merganser 2
Ruddy Duck 1
Pied-billed Grebe 8
Great Blue Heron 2
Black-crowned Night-Heron 3
Northern Harrier 1 (male)
Cooper’s Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 8
American Coot 9
Killdeer 1
Rock Pigeon 8
Mourning Dove 28
Anna’s Hummingbird 7
Belted Kingfisher 1
Acorn Woodpecker 10
Downy Woodpecker 5
Northern Flicker 8
Black Phoebe 1
Western Scrub-Jay 15
American Crow 1
Common Raven 11
Black-capped Chickadee 6
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
Bewick’s Wren 5, one was singing
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 3
Hermit Thrush 6
American Robin 7
Wrentit 2
European Starling 30
Cedar Waxwing 7
Yellow-rumped Warbler 3
Spotted Towhee 10
Fox Sparrow 3
Song Sparrow 6
Lincoln’s Sparrow 1
Golden-crowned Sparrow 50
Dark-eyed Junco 21
Red-winged Blackbird 3
Western Meadowlark 50
House Finch 20
Lesser Goldfinch 29
American Goldfinch 4
This report was generated automatically by eBird
> v2(http://ebird.org/Klamath-Siskiyou)
Leave a Reply