Hi All,
I drove down to Fern Ridge Reservoir today to try to find the Sharp-tailed Sandpiper and American Avocets, as well as any other birds of interest that might be around. En route I stopped at the Monroe Sewage Ponds, which one can see fairly well from the gate. I had not been there for some 20 years, but after seeing some 30 Wood Ducks, I remembered seeing this species there all those years ago. There was also a lone White-fronted Goose.
I searched the area north of the Eugene Airport for Horned Larks, but came up empty. There were a few other birders at Fern Ridge looking for the Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, which was reported to still be present, and I found it without too much difficulty in the original area where it has been found, near the martin boxes. Here are a few shots:
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| Sharp-tailed Sandpiper |
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| Sharp-tailed Sandpiper. Note the reddish crown. |
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| Sharp-tailed Sandpiper |
There was a couple from England and New Jersey there enjoying that bird as well. Sylvia Maulding relayed that the Avocets were also still around, so I headed south, past the viewing platform. En route there was a young Peregrine Falcon in the snag near the platform.
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| Perergrine Falcon |
I walked all the way to where the path turns east but no avocets. There were a few Pectoral Sandpipers , a Snipe and one Baird’s Sandpiper though. On the way back toward the platform the 5 avocets flew in from somewhere west, probably from behind one of the islands, so this was a good county bird for my Lane list also. About that time I saw a darkish Harrier with small white wing patches to both the upper and undersides of his primaries, making my wonder about the possibility of some Oriental vagrant, but I suspect it is more likely some aberration.
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| Wilson's Snipe |
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| Pectoral Sandpiper |
Once back near the platform I headed to the west to look again for the Sandpiper, but by the time I got there, the Peregrine started looking for a meal, and was mercilessly dive bombing the flocks of shorebirds. I watched the show for about 2 minutes, after which time not even a killdeer remained on the mudflats. I then decided to meander home, so got back in my car and headed north.
Needing a Baird’s Sandpiper in Benton County, I stopped a Cabbel Marsh, but the only shorebirds there were some 20 Long-billed Dowitchers, and four American White Pelicans. I next stopped at the Philomath Sewage Lagoons, where the only species of note were 2 early Canvasbacks. There was a long Long-billed Dowitcher picking around the rocks near the water of one pond, seemingly out of place. I was wondering if he was having any success away from the usual mud flats where they almost always probe. I suppose if he began turning rocks over we could rename him a “Long-billed Turnstone!”
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| Canvasback at the PPP |
Last week there was this Sharp-shinned Hawk here.
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| Sharp-shinned Hawk at the PPP |
