When the dog and I arrived at the Fairview Wetlands, it promised to be a bird-filled dog walk. Just out of the car I saw a lurking Lincoln’s Sparrow, heard several red-wings calling from the catttails, then saw a Song Sparrow and a towhee…then, with a loud chorus of alarm, the whole wetland’s red-wing population rose in a tight, fluid mass, circled, rose and headed off to points beyond. After I got away from trees blocking my view I saw why. A small raptor sat in plain view on a downed tree trunk sending one diagonal limb up about six feet above the water. There he sat, the killer who frightened off all the blackbirds. Mid-marsh, in full view of all around. At first I thought it might be a Merlin but a closer look and then its flight over to a hide-out inside a ponderosa confirmed it was a Sharp-shinned Hawk, likely a youngster. Hey, kiddo, remember this above all else: you are not speed itself, your best weapon is stealth and sitting in plain view in an open marsh is not your metier. I have to think it was a juvenile because no mature hawk could survive long acting that ineffectively while chasing a meal. Get thee to a woodland, not a wetland.
From then only one songbird was seen–one very cautious towhee in a bush. Safely, in a bush.
Also, my first-ever nutria at the wetlands, must’ve come up a creek as this area was bone-dry a month ago.
Fairview Wetlands, Marion, Oregon, US
Oct 27, 2020
12 species
Cackling Goose 1
American Wigeon 2
Mallard 6
Green-winged Teal 12
American Coot 1
Wilson’s Snipe 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Lesser Goldfinch 1
Song Sparrow 1
Lincoln’s Sparrow 1
Spotted Towhee 2
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