Towheeblog

On Thursday and Friday I drove down to Grants Pass to talk Great Gray Owls for Siskiyou Audubon, then back home again.  I hit some of those spots listed in that informative book, Freeway Birding.

This time of year any pond can be a hotspot.  Just east of 99W, along Hwy 22 (west of West Salem) there was a modest farm pond full of Canvasbacks, my first of the year.  Lots of ducks at Ankney NWR but nothing surprising, did add my first Tundra Swans and LB Dowitchers of the year.  On the way home I was happy to see an eagalitarian gathering of Bald Eagles, feeding on a carcass along a fenceline just south of Milepost 218 along I-5.  Attended, as is often the case by a ring of attentive Ravens.

Plat I, east of Sutherlin, was disappointing during a heavy rain.  Best birding there was the feeding station in front of the home of the park custodian.  My homebound stop at Stanton Park in Canyonville was a pleaser as a group of Western Bluebirds joined Juncos and Robins working the lawn next to the much-appreciated toilet facility.  Ankeny:The hilltop overlook at Ankeny, no warm shelter if the militia decide to take over, very wet. Western Bluebird takes off, Stanton Park. Cacklers, outstanding in their field.  Ankeny. Canvasbacks along Hwy 22. Cacklers grazing at Ankney. Coburg Ponds Flicker in the wet grass at Stanton Park. Dowitchers, Pintails, Ankeny. The small ducks are Green-winged Teal. Swans White-crowns

Ankeny NWR, Marion, Oregon, US  (this refuge is still not under militia control, so go and enjoy)
Jan 14, 2016 11:00 AM – 11:45 AM.  25 species

Cackling Goose (Branta hutchinsii)  X–thousands
Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)  X–thousands, mostly migratory Dusky
Tundra Swan (Cygnus columbianus)  36
Gadwall (Anas strepera)  X
American Wigeon (Anas americana)  X
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)  X
Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata)  X
Northern Pintail (Anas acuta)  X
Green-winged Teal (Anas crecca)  X
Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola)  X
Ruddy Duck (Oxyura jamaicensis)  X
Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)  X
Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis)  3
American Coot (Fulica americana)  X
Long-billed Dowitcher (Limnodromus scolopaceus)  200
Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon)  1
Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus)  2
Western Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma californica)  4
American Robin (Turdus migratorius)  X
European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)  X
White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys)  200
Golden-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia atricapilla)  1
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)  1
Spotted Towhee (Pipilo maculatus)  2
Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus)  X

Plat I Reservoir, Douglas, Oregon, US
Jan 14, 2016 2:45 PM – 3:05 PM.  14 species

Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)  X
Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata)  X
Green-winged Teal (Anas crecca)  X
Ruddy Duck (Oxyura jamaicensis)  X
Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus)  2
Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)  4
Eurasian Collared-Dove (Streptopelia decaocto)  X
Anna’s Hummingbird (Calypte anna)  1
Chestnut-backed Chickadee (Poecile rufescens)  1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Regulus calendula)  1
Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis)  X
Golden-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia atricapilla)  X
House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus)  X
Pine Siskin (Spinus pinus)  X

Coburg Ponds, North, Lane, Oregon, US
Jan 14, 2016 3:20 PM – 3:35 PM

Comments:     raining, good marshy habitat, next to freeway at end of Industrial Road.
This was my first time to bird here and there was no  previous eBird records.
9 species

Gadwall (Anas strepera)  X
American Wigeon (Anas americana)  X
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)  X
Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata)  X
Northern Pintail (Anas acuta)  X
Green-winged Teal (Anas crecca)  X
American Coot (Fulica americana)  X
Western Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma californica)  X
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)  X