Towheeblog

There are a lot of miles to drive in Lake County, and I took two separate routes through the county going and coming back from Malheur.  Here are my checklists and the picture I got of the leery Loggerhead Shrike along Hwy 120, my first ever in Oregon.

I saw two, both hunting right along the highway.  The elevation was well above 5,000 feet.

The Juniper Titmouse(s) were in a mixed Ponderosa/juniper woodland near Warner Summit, around 5500 feet up. The woods was alive with the song of Townsend’s Solitaires.  Yellow-rumps were thick there as well, though I  suspect they’ll not over-winter. There were smallpockets of snow there already.  My Oregon lifelist now stands at 263.  I’m staring to run out of common Oregon birds though there are some left in eastern and northeastern Oregon, like the summering Eastern Kingbird, Catbird, Red-eyed Vireo and a coule of woodpeckers on the eastern slopes of the Cascades plus those big sabebrush game birds: Chukar, Sage Grouse, Gray Partridge.  There’s possible a Saw-Whet in our neighborhood if I can get a good listen….                                              The best viewing were mammals along the highway in the Sheldon Wildlife Refuge.

I thought it was clever of the highway engineers to be so observant.  I might have sped right by and missed all those rocks.

I did notice some smidges of beauty as well.  Like this waterfall west of Adel.

Location:     Lake County, OR
Observation date:     10/8/09
Number of species:     20

Canada Goose     X
American Wigeon     X
Northern Shoveler     X
Green-winged Teal     X
Lesser Scaup     X
Pied-billed Grebe     X
Northern Harrier     X
Red-tailed Hawk     X
Merlin     X
Prairie Falcon     X
American Coot     X
Ring-billed Gull     X
Northern Flicker (Red-shafted)     X
Western Scrub-Jay     X
Common Raven     X
European Starling     X
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon’s)     X
White-crowned Sparrow     X
Western Meadowlark     X
Lesser Goldfinch     X

Location:     Lake County, OR
Observation date:     10/10/09
Notes:     Titmouse and Shrike were both Oregon lifers.
Number of species:     17

Canada Goose     X
Cooper’s Hawk     X
Red-tailed Hawk     X
Northern Flicker (Red-shafted)     X
Loggerhead Shrike     X
Steller’s Jay     X
Black-billed Magpie     X
Common Raven     X
Juniper Titmouse     X
Ruby-crowned Kinglet     X
Mountain Bluebird     X
Townsend’s Solitaire     X
American Robin     X
European Starling     X
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon’s)     X
Brewer’s Blackbird     X
Cassin’s Finch     X