Towheeblog

This morning we had our final bird walk for the our McMinnville birding class. At Joe Morgan Lake, Baskett Slough, we saw babies paddling about.

We saw a pair of parental coots with three juveniles, each still has its orange halo of fuzz around its small head. Then we spotted seven small ducklings, less than a month old surely. Alone in this big lake of several acres they swam alone the edge just below where we stood. The nearest ducks were a hundred yards away. Orphans? After we wondered aloud for a few minutes, the mother duck flew in and joined them, swam in the lead as the family motored away from a herd of large bipedal predators. Where had she been? Snoozing? Preening? Sucking up some especially tasty pond scum? Meanwhile the careful coot parents were never more than yard from their cooterie of young.

Finally, one of the yellowthroats got high enough in a scrawny tree that we could see him. A Black-headed Grosbeak was gobbling down fruit in a serviceberry tree. A Bewick’s Wren deigned to appear, briefly. A Swainson’s Thrush voiced its concern but never appeared. One of our group had seen a Black Phoebe along Livermore Road but it had gone by the time we drove past.

TV waits for late morning updrafts:

We ended this class with a drive up Livermore Road for a scopacetic view of Horned Lark in plowed field.
One of our birders had seen large herd of elk between Livermore and Hwy 99 along Smithfield Road.

Baskett Slough NWR, Polk, Oregon, US
Jul 30, 2022
25 species

Canada Goose  300
Mallard  X
Hooded Merganser  1
Eurasian Collared-Dove  1
Anna’s Hummingbird  1
American Coot  6
Great Blue Heron  2
Turkey Vulture  5
Downy Woodpecker  1
American Crow  2
Black-capped Chickadee  X
Tree Swallow  X
Violet-green Swallow  X
Barn Swallow  X
Bewick’s Wren  2
European Starling  X
American Robin  4
House Finch  6
American Goldfinch  3
Song Sparrow  2
Red-winged Blackbird  X
Brewer’s Blackbird  X
Orange-crowned Warbler  1
Common Yellowthroat  1
Black-headed Grosbeak  1

Livermore Rd., Polk, Oregon, US
Jul 30, 2022
5 species

Northern Flicker  1
American Crow  2
Horned Lark  1
Savannah Sparrow  1
Red-winged Blackbird  X