Towheeblog

I missed the kitchen sink but ran into just about everything else while scouting the Jackson County Cascades for this weekend’s Mountain Bird Festival out of Ashland.  Snow in May?  Check.  Rain? Check. Cold?  Check.  Fog?  Check. Wildflowers?  Abundance and various. Great Gray Owl?  Check.  Two species of bluebird?  Check.  A plethora of Chipping Sparrows, chipping in the snowfall?  Check. Townsend’s Solitaire pretending to be a ghost?  Check. Christmas in May?  What else?

THE OWL This is not the owl limbering its wing, but the wing being blown away from the body by the blizzard. The owl hours after the storm passed by:

CALYPSO ORCHID

Keno Access Road, Jackson, Oregon, US
May 20, 2016.  13 species

Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)  X
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)  1
Great Gray Owl (Strix nebulosa)  1     Two Pine Meadow
Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus)  X
Steller’s Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri)  2
House Wren (Troglodytes aedon)  1
Mountain Bluebird (Sialia currucoides)  2
American Robin (Turdus migratorius)  X
Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina)  40
Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis)  12
Western Tanager (Piranga ludoviciana)  1
Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus)  6
Purple Finch (Haemorhous purpureus)  1

Howard Prairie Lake, Jackson, Oregon, US
May 20, 2016.  17 species

Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)  100
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)  2
Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)  1
Sandhill Crane (Grus canadensis)  1
Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)  4
Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus)  1
Steller’s Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri)  X
Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor)  X
Western Bluebird (Sialia mexicana)  2
Mountain Bluebird (Sialia currucoides)  2
American Robin (Turdus migratorius)  X
European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)  X
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata)  X
Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina)  X
Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis)  X
Vesper Sparrow (Pooecetes gramineus)  X
Brewer’s Blackbird (Euphagus cyanocephalus)  X