I went to Eugene again on April 29th. On May 1st I had a most amazing bird adv
enture! It has been a while since I've had a new bird sighting to add to my list, almost a year exactly. I also had a sighting of a bird that I surveyed in Boardman, that I have never seen anywhere other than Boardman and didn't think I'd ever see again outside of Boardman! Even better, just the other day I was thinking about this bird, sad that I couldn't just go see/hear them. What were these birds? Well, I'll start with the new sighting...
Sadly, not my picture my digital camera has been dead and gone for six plus months. Click here to find out more.
The new sighting was a flock of about 14 dunlins! They are superbly cute little sandpipers. I had no idea what they were at first, besides being a species of sandpiper, and had left my bird book in the car (overconfidence). Thankfully, their black bellies makes their markings pretty easy to remember! Other distinctive features of the dunlin include moderately long legs, a longish bill that curves down a bit (describe by All About Birds as being droopy), a rather short neck and a reddish back. According to All About Birds Life History page about dunlins, dunlins that nest along northern Alaska migrate west along Siberia and Asia to Japan and China. The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) lists them as a species of Least Concern with their populations abundant but possibly declining. It occurs to me that maybe I have seen them before but because I only sta
Sadly, not my picture my digital camera has been dead and gone for six plus months. Click here to find out more.
The new sighting was a flock of about 14 dunlins! They are superbly cute little sandpipers. I had no idea what they were at first, besides being a species of sandpiper, and had left my bird book in the car (overconfidence). Thankfully, their black bellies makes their markings pretty easy to remember! Other distinctive features of the dunlin include moderately long legs, a longish bill that curves down a bit (describe by All About Birds as being droopy), a rather short neck and a reddish back. According to All About Birds Life History page about dunlins, dunlins that nest along northern Alaska migrate west along Siberia and Asia to Japan and China. The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) lists them as a species of Least Concern with their populations abundant but possibly declining. It occurs to me that maybe I have seen them before but because I only sta
rted watching for and identifying shorebirds within the last few years I didn't realize it. Their black bellies are pretty distinct though.
Anyway, the second fantastic find of the day was a sage sparrow! Yes, you heard correctly, a sage sparrow. This is very exciting for a number of reasons. First, I was just lamenting the fact that I may never see another sage sparrow again, unless I visit Boardman, about a week before this trip. The sage sparrow was basically the last bird of the day and when I first heard it I had a sense of familiarity but couldn't remember where I knew the song from. Then I realized it was one I had listened to frequently in Boardman. From there I made the connection and excitedly followed the song until I was able to spot him (the sage sparrow). After my birding compatriot recorded the sighting on eBird we received correspondence seeking a specific location at Meadowlark Prairie and confirmation that we did indeed see a sage sparrow. Once affirmation was given I was informed that this was only the sixth sage sparrow recorded in Lane County! The last one being a few years ago and in a different location. Needless to say this made the sighting even more exciting!
1 comments:
you're the birder supreme! My birding adventures are so much richer with you along...
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