Towheeblog

We had a Klamath Bird Observatory sponsored birding trip on Monday.  We birded the Howard Prairie area in the Cascades above Ashland.  Social distancing, no shared scope, birding in the covid era.  Here are some pictures captured by Kirk Gooding on the trip:

Cranes were along Dead Indian Memorial Road (can this name survive much longer?) east of Lily Glen.  The bunting and towhee were along Keno Access Road.

My favorite sighting of the day: young Hermit Warbler, soaking wet from bathing in small spring-fed stream, flitting about in trees along Keno Access Road, at and below eye level, not atop some towering conifer.  These birds are normally high in the canopy.  The small stream formed a bathing pool as it dropped out of a culvert beneath the road and there were numerous birds there, many bathing, including one wet junco whose feathers spiked out around his head and throat as he dried in the sunny, arid air.  Further downstream the little trickle of water was adorned by numerous species of butterfly.

Keno Access Road, Jackson, Oregon, US

Jul 6, 2020
22 species

Rufous Hummingbird  X
Turkey Vulture  X
Cooper’s Hawk  1
Red-tailed Hawk  1
Red-breasted Sapsucker  1
Common Raven  X
Mountain Chickadee  X
Tree Swallow  X
Barn Swallow  X
Red-breasted Nuthatch  1
House Wren  X
Hermit Thrush  X
American Robin  X
Chipping Sparrow  X
Dark-eyed Junco  X
Song Sparrow  X
Green-tailed Towhee  3
Common Yellowthroat  X
Yellow-rumped Warbler  X
Hermit Warbler  2
Western Tanager  1
Lazuli Bunting  X

GREAT GRAY OWL MEADOW–MP19 on DIMR, Jackson, Oregon, US
Jul 6, 2020
12 species

Rufous Hummingbird  2
Sandhill Crane  3
Great Gray Owl  1–this bird I saw on my own before the field trip, sadly
Northern Flicker  1     feeding nestlings
Mountain Chickadee  X
American Robin  X
Purple Finch  1
Dark-eyed Junco  X
Song Sparrow  X
Common Yellowthroat  X
Yellow-rumped Warbler  X
Lazuli Bunting  X

Howard Prairie, Jackson, Oregon, US
Jul 6, 2020 –these birds I saw by myself before the field trip began
13 species

Turkey Vulture  X
Steller’s Jay  X
Tree Swallow  X
Barn Swallow  X
Cliff Swallow  X
Brown Creeper  1
Pine Siskin  X
Chipping Sparrow  X
Lark Sparrow  1
Vesper Sparrow  X
Western Meadowlark  X
Brewer’s Blackbird  X
Yellow-rumped Warbler  X

Hyatt Reservoir, Jackson, Oregon, US
Jul 6, 2020 –these birds I saw by myself before the field trip began.
12 species

Canada Goose  X
Spotted Sandpiper  X
Double-crested Cormorant  1
American White Pelican  X
Osprey  1
Red-breasted Sapsucker  1
White-headed Woodpecker  1     feeding nestlings at wildlife  viewing pull-out
Northern Flicker  1
Tree Swallow  X
House Wren  2
American Robin  X
Western Tanager  1