October 10: Rich Hoyer on his recent completed tour, Oregon in Late Summer
Oregon proved itself to yet another very happy WINGS group as a place of great physical beauty and amazing natural variety. We started with a pelagic trip out of Newport where highlights were numbers of confiding Sabine’s Gulls and some close Black-footed Albatrosses, as well as sightings of a school of young Ocean Sunfish and a Blue Shark. Then in the Coast Range we spent time with the world’s most cooperative Northern Pygmy-Owl and caught up with a single Sooty Grouse on our second drive up and down Marys Peak. Shorebirds were scarce this year on the coast, but we did find Wandering Tattler, had close enounters with Wrentit, and had superb views of a close Gray Whale. The roost of over 1500 Vaux’s Swifts spiraling down a Corvallis chimney was an amazing and unforgettable sight. In the wide open steppes east of the Cascades, Prairie Falcons and a stunning Ferruginous Hawk were right at home, and the enchanting coniferous forests provided us with memorable sightings of Clark’s Nutcracker, Williamson’s Sapsucker, White-headed Woodpecker, and abundant Sage Thrashers. We went owling on four nights, seeing several species, but particularly memorable were a Common Poorwill in flight over our heads and an amazingly confiding Flammulated Owl, perched low in a pine tree only a few yards away.
Sabine's Gull
Northern Pygmy-Owl
Clark's Nutcracker
Sage Thrasher
Posted: October 10, 2016