Towheeblog

Reports from Malheur indicate the area is its average average annual snowpack in some places. That can only be good news for the many species that depend on marshes and streams and wet meadows. Some are migrants, others are species that try to nest locally. That includes White Pelicans, Sandhill Cranes, terns & gulls, ibis, shorebirds and waterfowl. Here are two maps shared by Rick Vetter. From USDA:

Click here for video of presentation by Dr. Teresa Wicks on water and bird life in that area.

In a more generalized discussion, I spoke to Salem Audubon in 2020 about climate trends and what they may hold for Oregon birds–you can click here for that video. Go 5 minutes in to hear the presentation, after tech problems at beginning.

An eyewitness along Hwy 205 south of Burns, has told me the Ferruginous Hawks were back on the lone juniper west of the highway. A nest in use for several years ion that tree had collapsed fallen to the ground there by the end of last summer. It has been a successful nest site for the ferrugys so it would not be unusual if they simply rebuilt.

We all know Sooty Grouse will attack if you park in their parking lot (i.e. near nesting mate)…but hoiw abiout a much larger, angry grouse? Beware the Capercaillie–click here.

Here’s my contemporary report on an attacking sooty, blocking traffic, on a rural road just outside Ashland–click here. I’ve talked with hikers who stop for lunch only to get attacked from behind. Sooty wounds–gives you something to grouse about.