Hi All,
After catching up on morning chores (yea, I break myself away from birding to do some, once in a while), I decided to head out birding and see if the rains last night downed anything interesting. I decided to go to the PPP (Philomath Poo Ponds) first. As soon as I got there the rain stepped it up a notch so I had to bird out the truck window on the lee side of the wind so as not to get drenched.
This place is probably the best place around for a good variety of waterfowl, as well as good numbers of the same. In the south pond I noted a few Canvasback, always nice to see since they are much less common to the north in Polk County. In the middle pond there were many more of the same, and I estimated there must by at least 50 or 60 and decided I’d count a little later on when I had better (dryer) views of them. There was one female Redhead in the middle pond also. In the NW pond were 2 (Continuing?) Red Phalaropes and two Eared Grebes. In the NE pond was one Western Grebe.
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| Red Phalarope at the PPP |
I returned to a the middle pond and slowly counted 80 Canvasback. I then returned to the south pond and stopped at the SW corner as there was some small bird activity: Brewer’s Blackbirds and Mourning Doves were attending the seed at the spool below, and Golden-crowned, Song and Lincoln’s Sparrows, Juncos, Towhees, Lesser Goldfinches were moving about in the brambles. I remembered someone reporting a Swamp Sparrow here a week ago or so, so played the Swamper chip from my phone. It seemed like I was getting a response, at least to my ears. So I walked some 20 yards to the east and occasionally would hear it again. Then it dawned on me to put on my hearing aids, something that should be more of a habit by now, but I guess laziness seems to win out too often. Having them in, I was more sure there was one around, and I kept getting glimpses of a skulker who I was all but sure must be the culprit.
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| Swamp Sparrow - I hope he does not sit down! |
After about 15 minutes one finally came out in the open to see what the latest I-phones look like, long enough for me to snap a few pics. Cool? Finally I was able to add this Benton County nemesis bird to my list. Driving a little further along, I decided to finish counting the rest of the Canvasbacks in the south pond. First pass for such was 19 (+80 = 99). Next pass was 18. Next was 17. For some warped reason that old song “Ninety Nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall, Ninety Nine Bottles of Beer…..” started looping in my mind. I figured my first count was just OK, and then drove on out. I was hoping 99 Canvasback would amount to a county record, but Doug Robinson said, “Nope.” At least the rain let up when I was checking out the sparrows.
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| A few of the Canvasbacks - The lighter ones in the back |
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| More Canvasbacks |
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| With a rainbow to boot, the PPP was the place to be! |
When just about out, I took a few pics of 2 Bald Eagles. Often one or two are around, and I think they get a kick from flushing the ducks off the ponds. I suppose I’d get a little paranoid being a duck when one flew over as well.
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| 2 Bald Eagles near the entrance |
The rest of the birding today was not as good. I drove along Bruce Rd in Finley NWR where about 50 Swans were at the north end of McFadden Marsh as well as a number of various ducks. I was hoping to find a flock of Cacklers nearby to look for yesterday’s reported Brant, but I guess they headed farther afield.
Farther north there were only 3 Ruddy Ducks on Lucky 99 Pond. I stopped at Monmouth Sewage Ponds, but at the time the rain was really coming down, so I picked up the gloves I left there last week, and headed to Baskett Slough NWR but there were only the common, expected ducks and what not, plus heavy rain.
The rain was patchy, some of which came in squalls. By the time I was about done, the squalls were getting old, so I coined the term “oldsquall.”
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