Little Gull big news - Great Grey Owl in McKenzie Bridge - Tropical Kingbird not tropical - Northern Mockingbird swings northward

The November-December period was fairly uneventful except for the week of cold weather in the middle of December. The one exciting discovery was a Little Gull found on Fern Ridge Reservoir-a first for Lane County! Unfortunately, the gull was seen only on the afternoon of its discovery.

Details of the latest birds are HERE

2009 Eugene Christmas Bird Count
Field observers and feeder-watchers tally 92,476 birds - Many species with high counts

by Dan Gleason

Participants on Lane Audubon's 2009 Eugene Christmas Bird Count enjoyed great weather. Given the favorable conditions, some birders felt that bird activity was less than they had expected. When all of the totals were in, though, it turned out to be an excellent count with several record highs. We identified 135 species on Count Day, with one additional species (Say's Phoebe) reported during Count Week. We counted a grand total of 92,476 individual birds.

The rarest species spotted this year was a female Western Tanager that visited Steve Gordon's yard. This species does not belong here in the winter! Nevertheless, we have found it during the Eugene Christmas Bird Count twice previously, one bird each in 1973 and 1995. No other rare species were sighted, but the ten Tree Swallows were somewhat unusual. Swallows generally don't winter in Eugene, although we have reported Tree Swallows on ten previous Counts.

This year's Count produced 24 species in record high numbers and an additional 36 species in higher than usual numbers. Only 17 species were counted in very low numbers. We produced no sightings of Rough-legged Hawk! This bird has been missed on previous counts, but a few of them usually reside in the valley during winter, so a "miss" is somewhat unusual.

Feeder-watchers counting at home added significantly to the number of certain species. On Count Day, teams in the field reported 81 Anna's Hummingbirds, coincidentally the same number as reported by feeder-watchers. The total of 162 set a new record high. Pine Siskins were missed by the field teams, but 17 were reported by our feeder-watchers.

Overall, it was a very good Count and one we all enjoyed taking part in. To view the summary for the 2009 Eugene Christmas Bird Count, please click HERE (Eugene 2009).

2009 Oakridge Christmas Bird Count
A Count Circle is renewed

by Cheron Ferland

The last time Oakridge participated in the Audubon Society Christmas Bird Count (CBC) was 1985. The 25-year hiatus ended on Sunday, December 27, 2009. Westfir resident Wanda Wilson led this year's CBC. She did an outstanding job of assembling a team of 27 local novice and expert birders, including experienced CBC participants such as Joel Geier of Corvallis, who brought expertise and knowledgeable support to the event.

The day began with the cold and wet wintry conditions that we all love about Oregon. Greeted by morning fog, birders skidded into the icy parking lot at Greenwaters Park in Oakridge. With muffins in hand, the team members went to their respective sectors. Fortunately, the weather cleared into pleasant, partly cloudy conditions that presented little excuse for not finding birds. The post-count tally at the chili feed that evening numbered 1,470 birds across 64 species. Two additional Count Week species-Killdeer and Mourning Dove-brought the final species count to 66.

The Oakridge Christmas Bird Count circle features extensive Western Cascades conifer habitat within the Willamette National Forest as well as the Hills Creek Reservoir area. Past CBCs in the Oakridge Circle from 1972-1985 ranged from 59 to 82 species, so this year's results fell within the historic range. Several exciting species made their Oakridge CBC debut this year, including Greater White-fronted Goose, Gadwalls, and Eared Grebe. The Oakridge CBC was well-known for having the largest Mountain Quail tally of any count circle in the nation, with an historic median of 56. Eleven Mountain Quail made an appearance this year, but we were hoping for a few more. Oddly enough, we didn't see any House Sparrows, though the circle encompasses the communities of both Oakridge and Westfir.

To view the summary for the 2009 Oakridge Christmas Bird Count, please click HERE (Oakridge 2009).

Fern Ridge Closure Notice - Feb - April 2010

Fern Ridge Wildlife Area has prepared a flyer to hopefully help with keeping people out of the posted wildlife sanctuary areas. The flyers will be stocked in area checkstations for during Feb - April. This is an update of the letter sent last year to Audubon to enlist help from the birdwatching community to (try to) stop people from disregarding the "closed" signs and disturbing wintering wildlife.

We'll also use these flyers to place on the windshield of vehicles when we frequently encounter unattended vehicles parked at closed entry points with the occupants somewhere out in the closed areas.

As stated in the flyer, the objective is to provide a walking/viewing destination at each access point even during the closed wildlife sanctuary time periods. This week we will be installing new trail marker signs for the trails that are open daily year-round.

• Royal Avenue and the trail to the viewing platform
• Trail from Hwy 126 to the south Fisher Butte viewing platform
• Trail from Nielson Road parking lot to the East Coyote unit viewing platform
• Short trail from the Cantrell Road parking lot to a viewing blind

To view the flyer, please click on the following: Fern Ridge Closure Flyer

For more information, please contact Wayne Morrow, Fern Ridge Wildlife Area, at 541-935-2591.