Tuesday, July 14, 2015
7/14/15
HiAll,
In my quest for 100/county, I headed to Curry and Josephine this
weekend. As I could not sleep well Saturday night, I decided my time
would be better spent driving, so left at 3:15 AM. I was in Coos Bay
looking for Tim's redstart by 6:40, but he was a no show. Guess the
red-start decided to banana-quit and left. At least hanging around
there for 20 minutes and 5 minutes more at the aeration ponds I added 7
species to my Coos list. Maybe I should have had Tim with me, but I think he
was over in Lake County???
With business to do (birding that is) I headed to Curry. Having 81
species there from some 20 years ago, I figured it would not be very
difficult to reach the 100 milestone. Some twenty odd years ago Steve
Dowlan and I traveled to Southern Oregon to add Allen's Hummer, Black
Phoebe, Oak Titmouse, BG Gnatcatcher and Cal Towhee to beef up our
state list. Seems a little over the top now to go that far for the
phoebe since one can find them in the Willamette Valley these days
with little difficulty. My how times have changed. I pulled over at
the first small creek into Curry and added stuff like Barn and Tree
Swallows, Cedar Waxwing, Downy WP, OC and Yellow Warbler, Warbling
Vireo.
Next I took 1st Street west in Langlois to the wetland a half
mile down the road, adding A Goldfinch, Purple Finch, Kingfisher,
Tanager, PS FC. In the water was a mink climbing onto a stump and
jumping back in over and over again. I would have liked to take his
pic but he was too active. Next stop was at the bridge over
Flores Creek, where I saw another mink. Made me wonder if they were
common here or maybe escapees.
Next stop was at Cape Blanco where Kite, Wilson's Warbler, Chestnut- sided
Chickadee, Pelagic and Brandt's Comorants and Pacific Loon was added.
There was a Grey Whale off the south side as well. The weather was
not good for shearwaters, so calm, but a delight on shore. A few
miles north of Gold Beach was a flock of some 10 Great Egrets heading
north, migrating along the coast. I am sure it happens, but a first for me to see such. At the north jetty of Gold Beach I saw more small fishing boats in the river than gulls, so I figured salmon were coming in?
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| Turkey Vulture on a dead Sea Lion |
Across the river was a Caspian Tern and Heermann's Gull, the latter making
my # 100 bird for Curry. On the beach some Turkey Vultures were playing king of the hill on a huge dead sea lion. I then headed inland on Jerry's Flat Road. Driving along the Rogue River here was nothing less than great scenery. By the time I reached Agness I saw White-breasted Nuthatch, NRW Swallow, Tanager, Cliff Swallow, some of which were new to the list.
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| The Rogue River |
I stopped at the RV place in Agness to get some ice cream and ice tea
and asked the cashier if people go from Agness to Gold Beach in
canoes, camping on the river bars. He said they do all the time.
Immediately a future vacation formed in my mind, as canoeing is
another hobby of mine which includes my wife. However, I have not
mentioned it to her yet. I better wait until she is in an adventurous
mood.
While the road to Agness was smooth, safe and scenic, the road from Agness
over the summit to Galice in Josephine County is not for the faint of heart. It
is narrow and harrowing, one wrong turn and you could end up in the
bottom of some ravine and no one would ever know. Add to that, playing roulette with all those vehicles heading to get their rafts and rafting parties, and it is certainly an adventure.
The birding was really pretty dead going up to the summit. I stopped
every 1-2 miles. Finally about a mile from the summit it started
picking up and I saw Nashville Warbler, BH Grosbeak, Siskin,
Creeper and RB Nuthatch. I ended up padding the Curry list a little,
reaching 107. I noted that within 5 miles of the summit I had seen 3
different Osprey. Looking on the map I can see they were about 6-7
miles from the Rogue River, so maybe they were out for a joy ride enjoying the
scenery as well.
As soon as I crossed the summit and into Josephine County, things
changed. The air was cool and at the first stop I heard a Pileated
WP upon getting out of the car, and within 15 seconds a Mt Quail
piped up from across the ravine. I ended up staying here for about
15 minutes seeing Lazuli Bunting, Hammond's Flycather, Western-Wood Pewee, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Orange-crowned Warbler, Junco, Hairy WP, Flicker, Black-headed Grosbeak, W Bluebird, Siskin,Western Tanager. The next few stops would add Chipping Sparrow, Raven and Red-breasted Nuthatch.
But the lower I got the more “windy and warm” it became (Wasn't that
a song by Chet Atkins?) And the birding got slow as well. Just when
I felt it was too hot to bother stopping any longer, a Solitare
popped out in front of me. I eventually reached the Rogue River again,
adding Cliff Swallow, Spotted SP, Scrub Jay. But it was soo hot. I
decided to drive through Grant's Pass and headed to Selmac Lake where
Russ mentioned seeing shorebirds of late. However, my fears of the
weekend crowds dispersing the birds was founded, and there were none
there. I did add Wood Ducks, Canada Geese and BC Chickadee. On the
way back out a Band-tailed Pigeon flew over, and in Cave Junction I finally found EC Dove.
I decided to head toward the Kalmiopsis Wilderness and found a place to
camp near the Illinios River. It was quiet and scenic and although there were 2 hours of light left in the day, I was tired and the birds were scarce anyway. I started seeing signs on trees saying something about mining claims, and I was wondering if I should have brought my kevlar fanny protector. After setting up camp, I decided to do a tally of the days birds. That is when I discovered my penmanship was once again lacking, for I mis-read the 3 for a 5 and learned I had
started the day in Josephine County with 38 rather than 58. Even with the good start at the summit it would be a challenge to reach 100 by tomorrow and I resigned myself that I'd have to make another trip. This was really not that big of a deal since I still have Jackson County (Next door) to finish up, and if my penmanship is clear, I have 75 there.
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| The view was just splendid where I decided to camp |
I was now somewhere over 60 for Josephine as night fell. Luckily one lone
Nighthawk flew past, but no poorwill. I had hopes of adding owl
species during the night, but the only ones active were the
uncountable Flatulated Owls;) How deflating. I half way expected
there to be some bird song in the morning, but it was puzzlingly
quiet. I hiked the quarter mile to the river and finally tracked
down a Bewick's Wren, quite happy to be adding one to the list, but
when reviewed, it was already on the list. I did however, kick up
a Mt Quail en route, so that was nice.
Back at camp as I was cleaning out my cab, I turned around and saw 2 young
deer not 20 feet from me. They did not even startle. So I grabbed
my I-phone to snap a few pics. Then I decided to toss them parts of
a withered carrot my wife had packed me (it was not so dried up
yesterday) and low and behold, they ate the pieces right up. Then
they headed over to a patch of brambles and started scarfing down
blackberries.
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| Deer eating carrots. |
I have to admit I felt somewhat defeated that I was simply not going to
reach 100 today, and even though it was July, there was a negativity scene evolving in my mind, with thoughts like, “If I ever have another daughter I certainly won't name her 'Josepine,' “ and “no wonder it was the last county on Paul Sullivan's list to reach his epic 200 per county...I can't even reach
100!” But inside I really knew it was simply the wrong time of the
year to have such high expectations.
While driving out I made a few stops and it continued to be quite quiet. I
was baffled. Even the Lazuli Bunting I saw was not singing. Finally
I found an imm Black-throated Gray Warbler. When I reached the bridge over the river, I stopped and added Common Merganser, Kingfisher and Dipper.
Maybe my luck was changing. Just before reaching the hwy I found an
Acorn Woodpecker. I made a split second decision to return to Selmac Lake
when I saw the sign, which proved to be a good one. I was able to
add Green Heron, Downy Woodpecker, Red-breasted Sapsucker, Red-winged Blackbird, Tree and Violet-green Swallows, Cowbird.
My plan was now to go to the Fish Hatchery Park and walk along the
river. En route I added Lesser Goldfinch. I stopped along Fish
Hatchery Rd to get out the map, rolled down the window and
immediately heard Orioles and a Chat. I got out and saw Western Bluebird
and House Finch. At the bridge over the Applegate River were a
family of Hooded Mergansers, Pacific-slope Flycathcer and a calling Red-shouldered Hawk. At the park I added Cal Quail, American G Finch, House Wren, Yellow Warbler, W Kingbird, and two others I cannot remember at the moment. Strangely absent were Waxwing and Vaux Swift.
I then did a tally of Josephine birds and noted Gnatcatcher was not
checked from that trip some 20 years ago. Seems like many birders
used to get their state Gnatcatcher at the Merlin rest stop years
ago, which is where I added mine. Now the count ended at 87, which
was not so bad as anticipated. I might consider naming my next
daughter's middle name Josepine after all................
It was now 11:00 and the temperature was over 70 and the birding was
once again near dead. So I headed north on I-5. I added Western Kingbird
and Red-shouldered Hawk while speeding down the road to my Douglas Co
list. With the summer doldrums upon us, I am not sure whether or not
to wait until fall migration is here or brave the heat somewhere from
Sherman County across the north border all the way to Malhuer County.
I now have 25/36 of Oregon's counties done.
Which reminds me that Paul Sullivan relayed to me that no one else has
bothered to reach 125 per county. In some ways I feel like I am
short changing myself by beating it out of one county when I reach
100 so I can go on to the next county. We have so much great scenery
all over the state to absorb. But, I suspect going to the 125 level
will have to wait until retirement.
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