Jackson Bottom birds: January 23-29, 2010

Water levels continue to drop slowly. By week's end the view stand at Kingfisher Marsh was accessible. However, the footbridge leading to Pintail Pond was still 2 feet under water.

Over 250 CANVASBACK continue to be seen--record high numbers for the Willamette Valley.

A MERLIN was over the east side of the Preserve. A first-record for the Preserve of TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE was near Arbor Roses Park viewpoint on January 28.

On January 27 a patagial-marked RED-TAILED HAWK showed up. It had been captured at the Portland Airport in October 2009 and relocated to Ankeny NWR near Salem. It remained to the end of the week.

Several small flocks of YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS moved into the wetlands during the week. A new species for the winter was several PINE SISKINS that showed up at the new thistle feeder at the Education Center. A EURASIAN WIGEON this week was the first of winter and a pair of CINNAMON TEAL were the first of "spring." Another first spring migrant was 3 GREATER YELLOWLEGS on January 29.

The new Jackson Bottom Wetlands Bird Checklist is now available as a pdf download from the Jackson Bottom Website.

This week's species:

Cackling Goose
Canada Goose
Tundra Swan
Eurasian Wigeon
American Wigeon
Mallard
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Canvasback
Ring-necked Duck
Lesser Scaup
Bufflehead
Common Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Ring-necked Pheasant
Pied-billed Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Cooper's Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Merlin
American Coot
Killdeer
Greater Yellowlegs
Glaucous-winged Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Anna's Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Steller's Jay
Western Scrub-Jay
American Crow
Black-capped Chickadee
Bushtit
White-breasted Nuthatch
Bewick's Wren
Marsh Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Townsend's Solitaire
American Robin
European Starling
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Spotted Towhee
Song Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Red-winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
House Finch
Pine Siskin
Lesser Goldfinch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow

Wandering Red-tail

Red-tailed Hawk, Jackson Bottom Wetlands, Hillsboro, Oregon on 27 January 2010 by Greg Gillson.

 

Yesterday morning the Red-tailed Hawk pictured above was in the cottonwoods at Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve in Hillsboro, Oregon. It sported bright orange patagial markers on each wing with a black 'X' as identification. As the staff at Jackson Bottom keeps close track on birds at the Preserve, we knew that it had just arrived.

Patagial tags fit over the leading edge of the wing (patagium) allowing for identification perched or in flight without having to recapture the bird.

In this case I was fairly certain that this bird had been captured at the Portland Airport to keep the bird from getting struck by aircraft. Large raptors like to hunt on the grassy strips at airports, causing a potential safety issue (for them and the passengers of any aircraft involved in a bird strike). The hawks are marked and then released at a distant site. It is not a good thing for the hawk if they return to the airport....

I contacted Carole Hallett (of Pacific Habitat Services under contract to the Port of Portland). In an email today she indicated that the bird was captured as an adult in October 2009 and released south about 60 miles at Ankeny NWR west of Salem, Oregon. It has not returned to the Portland Airport.

This morning the bird is hunting rodents at the edge of the flooded marsh.

At the pond... Cackling Goose

Cackling Goose, Beaverton, Oregon on 17 February 2009 by Greg Gillson.

 

In July 2004 the American Ornithologists Union officially separated the small forms of Canada Geese. They called these smaller white-cheeked geese the Cackling Goose Branta hutchinsii. The larger forms retained the name Canada Goose Branta canadensis.

We have already discussed the larger Canada Goose.

Cackling Geese form the majority of the large flocks of fall and spring geese west of the Cascades and in the Central Valley of California. In past years the population primarily migrated through the Klamath Basin and wintered in the Central Valley. In recent years a growing portion of these geese have been finding conditions in NW Oregon and SW Washington suitable for their wintering grounds.

In general (and there is considerable variation among many forms in the Pacific NW), Canada Geese are larger, with longer necks, and honking calls. In contrast, Cackling Geese are small (some as small as domestic Mallards), with short necks, and high-pitched yelping calls.

Standing or swimming the wing tips fall short of the end of the tail on Canada Geese, while the longer wings of Cackling Geese extend well past the tip of the tail. The dividing line between the smallest form of Canada Goose (Lesser subspecies) and larger Cackling Goose (Taverner's subspecies) can be very confusing. For those wanting to tackle this challenge, please see John Rakestraw's article on Lesser Canada Goose as well as Sibley's guide to birds.

The Aleutian Goose Festival is held each spring in Crescent City, California. It is now transformed into the California Redwoods Bird & Nature Festival, May 7-9, 2010. This form of Cackling Goose is recovering from a severe population decline.

Jackson Bottom birds, January 16-22, 2010

Water levels remained at a high level all week. All lowland trails were submerged as the Tualatin River backed up into the wetlands. Nevertheless, the number of birds found in the upland areas near the Education Center remained steady. Now that the wetland ponds are one big lake, it is easy to scope out all the ducks, geese, and swans. And the raptors are unable to hide.

I should comment that this is normal. It is the annual replenishing of the wetlands. Water levels are not to the 10-year or 100-year flood plain.

The single wintering WHITE-THROATED SPARROW and RED-SHOULDERED HAWK remain. Flocks of CANVASBACK were often visible during the week, along with TUNDRA SWANS. In fact, the 275 Canvasback counted by Joe Blowers on January 18 is a Willamette Valley high count record. Male ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRDS were heard "singing" during the week, and BEWICK'S WRENS are tuning up. Drake GREEN-WINGED TEAL are head-bobbing toward the females.

An immature BALD EAGLE put in an appearance before being driven off by the resident pair (who still don't appear to be working on their nest yet).

Joe Blowers reported a HUTTON'S VIREO on January 18. There is at least one previous record from the Preserve, but this bird is not expected.

Usually common birds that haven't been reported this week include American Crow and American Kestrel. The woods were flooded all week so we were unable to get out to where the Brown Creepers, Red-breasted Nuthatches, kinglets, and Fox Sparrows hang out. Still, over 50 species were spotted this week.

Cackling Goose
Canada Goose
Tundra Swan
Wood Duck
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Canvasback
Ring-necked Duck
Lesser Scaup
Bufflehead
Hooded Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Ring-necked Pheasant
Pied-billed Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Coot
Mew Gull
California Gull
Herring Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Mourning Dove
Anna's Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Hutton's Vireo
Steller's Jay
Western Scrub-Jay
Common Raven
Black-capped Chickadee
Bushtit
White-breasted Nuthatch
Bewick's Wren
American Robin
European Starling
Spotted Towhee
Song Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Red-winged Blackbird
House Finch
Lesser Goldfinch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow

In the backyard... Fox Sparrow

Fox Sparrow, Tillamook Bay, Oregon on 17 January 2009 by Greg Gillson.

 

Fox Sparrows are a highly variable group of sparrows across North America. Throughout most of the North and East the Red Fox Sparrow truly is a foxy-orange striped larger sparrow with bright rusty wings and tail, and reddish-brown streaks on the breast.

In coastal Alaska and along the coast to northwestern Washington lives the very dark, and more solid chocolate-brown, Sooty Fox Sparrow, as photographed above. It has wide dark brown breast streaks that merge together on the breast. The tail is brownish, slightly rusty on the rump.

In the northern Rocky Mountains and isolated ranges in the Great Basin, lives the gray-headed Slate-colored Fox Sparrow with sparse, dark breast streaks. The tail and rump are rusty.

In California and the southern Cascades of Oregon the Fox Sparrows breeding there are also gray-headed with sparse black breast streaks and reddish-brown rump and tail. The bill on some of these is very large and wide. These are the Thick-billed Fox Sparrows.

All forms migrate southward in winter. The more northerly breeding forms leap-frog the southern breeders, wintering the farthest south. Several types of Sooty, Slate-colored, and Thick-billed Fox Sparrows winter in southern California.

Many birders, not just beginners, are not very interested in subspecies, or regional population differences. And certainly these differences can be subtle between the 16-19 races, or subspecies, of Fox Sparrows. However, with these Fox Sparrows, not only do the four groups described above look somewhat different, they also have different songs and calls. Hmm... they look different and have different calls and songs. That sounds like different species to me. Indeed, there has been talk for several years of splitting Fox Sparrow into 3 or 4 species.

In the Pacific NW, especially west of the Cascades to the coast, the Sooty Fox Sparrow is a common winter visitor. It also breeds locally on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State and northward. Slate-colored Fox Sparrows breed from the Washington Cascade crest eastward through the Great Basin ranges and into the Rocky Mountains in montane manzanita scrub and creek bottoms. Thick-billed Fox Sparrows breed in the Oregon Cascades and Klamath Mountains of SW Oregon and into California. The Red Fox Sparrow is a vagrant in the Pacific NW.

The local bird most similar to Fox Sparrow is the Song Sparrow. The Song Sparrow, as previously discussed, is common and widespread in the Pacific NW and is rather rusty here, compared to elsewhere in North America. It has more prominent striping on the head than Fox Sparrow. The lower mandible of Fox Sparrow is noticeably pale, yellow or flesh-colored. The upper and lower mandibles of Song Sparrow are usually evenly dark.

To find a Sooty Fox Sparrow west of the Cascades in winter, pish persistently in heavy blackberry cover and intersperse whistled imitations of pygmy owl calls. After all the Song Sparrows have popped up excitedly and are inches from your face, a Fox Sparrow or two will likely come forward with a loud husky "chap" or "check" call.

In the Cascades of Washington, mountain ranges in the Great Basin, and Rocky Mountains, you may find the Slate-colored Fox Sparrow in summer. Look for these in brushy burns and recently replanted forests in the Cascades and especially in willow-lined creeks in mountains eastward.

In the Cascades and Klamath Mountains of Oregon, you may find the Thick-billed Fox Sparrow in summer. They have a sharp "pink" call, similar to White-crowned Sparrow. Look for brushy areas amid clear cuts or burns. Look especially for Snowbrush Ceanothus or Greenleaf Manzanita with ponderosa pine saplings. You often find these in this habitat together with Green-tailed Towhees and, interestingly, they have very similar songs!

Fox Sparrows aren't common at most bird feeders. They are ground feeders and will scratch around like towhees under your feeder, never venturing far from heavy cover. They will eat black oil sunflowers from tray feeders near the ground.

Jackson Bottom birds: January 9-15, 2010

The weather this week continued unsettled, windy, and wet. Water levels in the wetlands continued to flood the footbridge keeping birders from walking around Pintail Pond. The Kingfisher Marsh viewstand was accessible most of the week, though the trail was a bit soggy in places.

A couple hundred TUNDRA SWANS were on the Preserve, mostly staying west of Hwy 219 and visible from Wood Street. A Willamette Valley record 259 CANVASBACK were there on January 12. Also there that day was a lone GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE.

The WHITE-THROATED SPARROW and RED-SHOULDERED HAWK remain. A PEREGRINE FALCON was reported during the week. A locally rare HERMIT THRUSH was reported during the week.

A pair of HOODED MERGANSERS took up daily residence in the pond just below the Education Center, giving everyone great views. The BALD EAGLES continue to fly-by every few hours, raising all the ducks, geese, and swans en mass. The eagles have been hanging around their nest on the north end and should start housekeeping there soon.

On 1/14 a flock of an amazing 28 WESTERN MEADOWLARKS were singing and chattering away in the trees. A few are seen or heard rarely in winter. Meadowlarks form into larger flocks in February and March before migrating to breeding grounds east of the Cascades or in the southern Willamette Valley. This species no longer breeds commonly in the northern end of the Willamette Valley as it once did.

Greater White-fronted Goose
Cackling Goose
Canada Goose
Tundra Swan
Gadwall
Mallard
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Canvasback
Ring-necked Duck
Lesser Scaup
Bufflehead
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Peregrine Falcon
American Coot
Glaucous-winged Gull
Mourning Dove
Anna's Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Red-breasted Sapsucker
Northern Flicker
Western Scrub-Jay
American Crow
Common Raven
Black-capped Chickadee
Bushtit
White-breasted Nuthatch
Bewick's Wren
Marsh Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
European Starling
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Spotted Towhee
Fox Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Red-winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
House Finch
Lesser Goldfinch

At the pond... Great Egret

Great Egret, Fernhill Wetlands, Forest Grove, Oregon on 22 October 2009 by Greg Gillson.

 

Hunted in the Pacific Northwest nearly to extirpation for their distinctive breeding plumes, this heron nested for most of the 20th century only in Malheur NWR and the Klamath Basin of southern Oregon and in southern Idaho. It was rare elsewhere in the Pacific Northwest. For instance, only the second western Oregon Great Egret was found near Portland in 1958. The 1953 book, Birds of Washington State, by Jewett, Taylor, Shaw, and Aldrich recorded no Great Egrets in Washington State up to that time.

Today, however, this large white egret nests more widely in Oregon, including a small colony on the coast near Coos Bay. It also nests in southeastern Washington. In fall, birds disperse widley west of the Cascades. Fall concentrations near Portland today may reach over 100 birds at favored wetlands, such as the Smith & Bybee Lakes. Post-breeding dispersal can sometimes send birds as far as southern British Columbia.

Commonly called "white cranes" by non-birders, egrets and herons are structurally quite different from cranes. Among the obvious differences in flight, the cranes hold their neck straight out, while herons and egrets kink their neck so that their head rests on their shoulders and their long neck loops underneath.

Many people are surprised to see these birds perched high up in trees. But this is quite natural, as they nest in trees. Colonies of nesting birds build their stick nests high up in trees.

The main food of these birds is fish and frogs they grab while they wade slowly in ponds and flooded agricultural fields.

Not quite as large as Great Blue Herons, they are much larger than two other white egrets in the Pacific NW. The smaller Snowy Egret has black bill and dark legs with yellow feet. The Cattle Egret is smaller yet.

Jackson Bottom birds: January 1-8, 2010

Last week's surprise snowstorm gave way to rainy, warm, weather. A week after the snowstorm we had 54 degree F with misty fog, as in the photo above. Water levels on the Preserve came up to flood the riverside trails, and make half the Preserve inaccessible by midweek.

High water meant we couldn't reach some of the woods, so reported species variety is down this week. The RED-SHOULDERED HAWK, SHARP-SHINNED HAWK, ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRDS, and WHITE-THROATED SPARROW remain. A pair of HOODED MERGANSERS has been using the renewed Kingfisher Marsh, right off the back deck of the Education Center. More LESSER SCAUP and RING-NECKED DUCKS have moved into our now deeper ponds and wetlands.

Stefan Schlick reported a TRUMPETER SWAN across the highway to the west on Thursday. Now that the farm fields there have flooded, a couple hundred TUNDRA SWANS have been using it, as has over 100 CANVASBACK. That land is slated to add water treatment facilities in the future. It will feed into some new wetlands to be created behind the Clean Water Services building next door to the Jackson Bottom Wetlands Education Center.

This week's birds:

Cackling Goose
Canada Goose
Trumpeter Swan
Tundra Swan
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Canvasback
Ring-necked Duck
Lesser Scaup
Bufflehead
Hooded Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Ring-necked Pheasant
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
American Coot
California Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Mourning Dove
Anna's Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Western Scrub-Jay
American Crow
Common Raven
Black-capped Chickadee
Bushtit
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
Bewick's Wren
Marsh Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
American Robin
European Starling
Spotted Towhee
Fox Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Red-winged Blackbird
House Finch
Lesser Goldfinch
American Goldfinch

In the woods... Acorn Woodpecker

Acorn Woodpecker, Forest Grove, Oregon on 2 January 2010 by Greg Gillson.

 

Four noisy birds emerged from the hole in the old oak tree, pictured above. These birds are resident at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon. This woodpecker colony, west of Portland, is the most well-known location of these birds in the Pacific Northwest. This fact is perhaps surprising as this location is nearly as far north as these striking woodpeckers live.

A small colony is along the Columbia River near Lyle, Washington, across from The Dalles, Oregon. Otherwise, in the Pacific NW, this species can only be found in western Oregon and NW California. From there it occurs south through California. Other populations occur from southern Utah, southern Colorado, and Texas, south through Mexico, to northern South America.

Each colony of these woodpeckers is an extended family. They work together to care for their stash of acorns, wedged into the bark or dead limb of their granary trees. The acorns are inserted while green and shrink as they dry. Thus the woodpeckers are constantly tending their larder, testing whether the nuts are still tight. If not, squirrels will steal them. So they must fit every loose acorn to a new hole.

Throughout most of their range in North America these birds rely on having several species of oak trees available. Oak species tend to fluctuate in acorn productivity from year to year. So having more than one species of oak increases the chance that one or both will be productive. In the Willamette Valley of western Oregon, however, the only oak available is the white oak. Somehow these woodpeckers are thriving after extending their range here in the second half of the 20th century.

With white wing and rump patches, and a clown face and loud whack-up, whack-up call, they are unlikely to be mistaken for any other woodpecker.