[birding] E.E. Wilson shorebird patrol etc.

[Joel Geier]

Hello folks,

Today I checked a few likely ponds at E.E. Wilson Wildlife Area for
incoming shorebirds. I found only GREATER YELLOWLEGS (6) plus the
nesting KILLDEER in the usual spots. No Solitary Sandpipers, Lesser
Yellowlegs, dowitchers or peeps yet. The Greater Yellowlegs count is
increasing though.

The marshes in the north end are really full of singing MARSH WRENS --
seems like numbers increase every year. I couldn't get any rails to
call, but granted it was around noon.

Two OSPREY are now hanging around the angling & canal ponds. Orange-
crowned Warblers and Common Yellowthroats are everywhere, but I didn't
find much else in the way of warblers except for a couple of BLACK-
THROATED GRAY WARBLERS heard singing. Big-leaf maples are blooming now
so things should be picking up.

The area has some very motley-looking young GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROWS now
as they moult into adult plumage (though a few are still in first-winter
plumage). One LINCOLN'S SPARROW was sitting up and chipping on a
conspicuous perch in the brush just northwest of the canal pond, then
chased a second one.

A LESSER GOLDFINCH finally found our yard and is patrolling a loop to
claim his territory now. I still haven't seen an American Goldfinch in
the neighborhood, since early January.

Happy birding,
Joel

--
Joel Geier
Camp Adair area north of Corvallis