Fink Family Farm Birds, early October

A beaver has killed a maple tree in front of the barn, but that makes it easier to see the birds that light in it. On October 8, it was "leaved" with Cedar Waxwings, about forty of them.




On the same day, our resident light Red-tailed Hawk soared above, giving a good view from below.

A young Hooded Merganser appeared on our pond all alone earlier this summer. It's still here.

Dippers on Six Miles of Agency Creek

These are photos taken in 2021 to go with my spreadsheet on Dipper and Dipper nest sightings on 6 miles of Agency Creek, starting from our farm and ending at what used to be called Waterhole 11, a bridge at the far end of what is now Big Buck Campground.

Most downstream nest on the 6 miles was Rock Wall, at about mp 1/2 from our farm. It has been unoccupied for several years.

The nest was under overhanging ferns to the left of the waterfall.

 

Just downstream from the rock wall with falls was a rapids where the lookout Dipper kept watch and foraged, singing to alert the nesting bird when I was spotted.

 Second nest was downstream from The Chutes, about mp 2, an area where the water goes through a narrow rocky canyon. I'll add a photo of that later. Today I took photos of the nest site itself, maybe 1/8 mile downstream from The Chutes.

Dippers seem to love nesting behind dripping water

Third nest has been under what we call the Railroad Bridge, mp 2.5. 

Fourth nest locale is under Sharkey's Bridge, mp 3.5. On my spreadsheet, I have grouped these two bridges together because it seemed there were birds nesting under either one or the other but not both any given year. However they are a mile apart so I could be wrong.

Fifth nest location, at mp 4, is labelled Yoncalla Fire Pit, now just Yoncalla. It is a short distance downstream from the conjunction of Yoncalla Creek and Agency Creek. The nest is under an evergreen that is right on the bank of the road-side branch of Agency. The main branch is on the west side of a large wooded island between the two branches of the creek. The Dippers have been very faithful to this site.

The 6th nest location has changed over the years. It was in a bank on the far side of the creek at what we called "Stump View", m.p. 4.4. The bank collapsed and the Dippers left. A nest reappeared at mp 4.8 across from what we called the Rock Slide, a very steep rocky cliff. The creek there runs through a deep channel with a steep hill on the road side and a steep rocky cliff on the far side, with lots of logs across the creek. I often heard a Dipper singing there but it was several years before we found fledglings and the next year, the nest. So the Rock Slide birds then became the Singing Rock birds. The Singing Rock nest is at mp 4.75 (upstream from its previous location at "Stump View").

 

 

The most faithful and easiest to locate nest is just upstream from Asinine Bridge. I will take a photo of that bridge to include here another time. It got that name because it is curved the reverse direction from what the plans called for and from what it should have been. The cliff had to be blasted away after the mistake to let logging trucks make the turn. Or so the legend goes. Milepost 5.5

When we first started this survey, the nest was in the cliff across from the road. But the cliff was unstable and the birds had to move... to beneath the roots of a streamside tree. It is quite visible across the creek from a pull-off alongside the road. Although it takes good binocs or camera or a good imagination to see the mossy nest below the trunk. My camera made it visible.

The last nest before the road leaves Agency Creek is at what used to be called Waterhole 11 at mp 6.5. It is under the bridge that crosses Agency at the end of what is now called Big Buck Campground. From Yoncalla Creek onward is territory owned by the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. The portion before that where Agency Creek Rd. takes off from Grand Ronde Rd. is owned and managed by Hampton Timber company. 

The birds that nested at the Waterhole 11 bridge were very faithful until the campground became popular and full of people and dogs. We have not found nesting there for several years. However Covid has closed the campground temporarily and Dippers are in the area again. Perhaps they had found another nesting site farther upstream away from the human congestion.

 

Swan

 For the last two days, a large swan has been in the green field behind the scale shack on the south side of Hwy 18/22 between Willamina and Fort Hill. I took photos today and would vote for Trumpeter by size and straightness of bill but would like some expert input.

  

First Grand Ronde Raptor Route of the Season

 Kites and Red-shouldered Hawks and a lovely light phase Rough-legged Hawk were highlights of this first route of the Nov 2020-March 2021 survey season. I spent more time than I should have taking photos. Here is the list of birds we found:

23 Red-tailed Hawks
26 American Kestrels
1 Northern Harrier
1 Rough-legged Hawk, light phase (we see it between Hwy 18/22 and South Yamhill River Rd. most every year)
4 White-tailed Kites
2 Cooper's Hawks
2 Red-shouldered Hawks
1 unidentified flying raptor

And here are some of the photos:

White-tailed Kites

 

Rough-legged Hawk

American Kestrel

Red-shouldered Hawk (camouflaged)

American Pipits?

 A small flock of what I think are American Pipits was on the beach just north of Cape Kiwanda today, Oct. 7. Would love to have someone confirm or correct. Sorry for the awful photos. My camera has water spots that I have not figured out how to remove... and I was a long way away from the birds. Thanks in advance!

Yes! The wise folks on OBOL have said these are American Pipits. First I knew they hang out on beaches as well as open fields.

The Wrentit Hunt

 

Yesterday, August 12, while mowing around the South field and stopping periodically to pull tansy, I heard a Wrentit talking by the Ash Swamp. This is the first time in a long time that I have heard one here. But I could not see it, of course. Later that afternoon, I walked around the SW field by the Qi Gong grove near Agency Creek, and heard it again. This time in the hedge row between our property and the neighbor's. Tried talking to it and it talked back but could not see it.

So I emailed Paul Sullivan and asked if he could come out the next day and try to call it out for me. Paul sounds more like a Wrentit than a Wrentit does. Paul came the next afternoon, August 13, after I got home from my beached bird survey for COASST at Bob Straub Park. We hiked over to where I had heard the bird the day before. No Wrentit answered his calls, but a Warbling Vireo popped up and I got my first ever photo of one. Friend Dawn had managed to get a photo here some years go but I never had. Hooray for Paul's ability to call out birds!

 

Paul and I then walked north through fields and woods to the arboretum path, Paul calling along the way. Suddenly, from the hedgerow at the north edge of our property, a Wrentit answered!! Oh happy day. It did pop out to where we could see it briefly but never long enough or clear enough for me to get a photo. At least I know it's still here. Maybe it will eventually follow the hedgerow up to the house where I might have a better chance of seeing it... and getting a photo! Hope springs eternal...

Update 12/22/2020: while I was cutting brush by the creek near the barn, a Wrentit popped out and scolded me! I went to the house and got my camera and put it in the EZ Go, positioned where I could see if the bird popped out again. Then I went back to cutting brush. The Wrentit did pop in and out of view, scolding the whole time. I sat in the EZ Go and took photo after photo. In one of them, I actually got a recognizable shot of the bird. Finally!

 

Birds of Prey on the Fink Family Farm