[birding] Finley, 8/30

[Lisa Millbank]

Don & I took a nice long walk at Finley on Sunday, about 8 miles. Starting at 6:30 at the parking lot by the bathrooms on Finley Rd., we walked south down the east side of Muddy Creek along McFadden Marsh, down to Bruce Rd., north along Cheadle Marsh, over to Pigeon Butte, north to Cabell Marsh, and back to the parking area. 
The prairie still had some Showy Tarweed, Willamette Valley Gumweed and Gairdner's Yampah blooming. A few WESTERN MEADOWLARKS were singing, and we saw a couple of WHITE-TAILED KITES (may have been the same one seen twice). We started seeing a number of RED-SHOULDERED HAWKS as we got closer to McFadden Marsh. Our total for the day was 4 or 5. We found the remains of a NORTHERN HARRIER'S meal, the plucked fur, viscera and feet of a freshly-killed vole. We didn't see any elk, but we must have just missed some, as their horsey odor lingered and there was a lot of fresh elk poop. The wind wasn't in our favor and they might have smelled us from far away.
A fledgling TURKEY VULTURE had a funny white fuzz collar, and a gray head and feet. When the wind ruffled his feathers, we could see that all of the down under the contour feathers was pure white. He had a certain charm. The vultures were gathering to pick the last scraps off a dead elk cow. There was almost nothing left of her except for some hide and bones.
McFadden Marsh was pretty sparse on shorebirds except for KILLDEER. There was a well-used otter slide at one of the water control devices, and stuck to a metal rail about 2 feet above the ground, was a fish scale-filled otter turd! River Otters do like to mark things, and I suppose it might be worth such an acrobatic pooping performance to achieve a premium scent-marking location. At Cheadle Marsh, there were a few GREATER YELLOWLEGS.
On Pigeon Butte, it reminded us of springtime with all of the birdsong and migrants moving through. Just standing in one spot, we saw HAIRY WOODPECKER, NORTHERN FLICKER, WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCHES, RED-BREASTED NUTHATCHES, CASSIN'S VIREO, BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER, WILSON'S WARBLER, HUTTON'S VIREO, PURPLE FINCH, BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEES, BEWICK'S WREN, HOUSE WREN, WESTERN TANAGER, BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK, WESTERN WOOD-PEWEES and BROWN CREEPERS. There was also a strange and incredible density of spiders! Snowberry bushes were thickly covered with webs, both orb- and dome-shaped (Linyphiid spiders). It was impossible to move without ruining somebody's carefully-made web.
At Cabell Marsh we saw a SEMIPALMATED PLOVER with some WESTERN SANDPIPERS, and LEAST SANDPIPERS. They were all so cute and plump, but I think that little plover took the cute award there.
There was what appeared to be the carcass of a GREAT EGRET floating in the marsh. The AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS and CANADA GEESE lined the logs in the marsh and a GREEN HERON was perched out there as well. Many little green turrets poked out of the water -- Bullfrogs' eyes. Walking along the marsh edge looking at tracks in the mud elicited a chorus of funny yelps as the frogs leaped away. Tracks of raccoon, nutria, herons/egrets, sandpipers, coyote, deer and elk patterned the mud.
At the old headquarters, we enjoyed a visit from a pair of WRENTITS, some CALIFORNIA QUAIL, and some Eastern Cottontails. It looked like there was a honeybee hive and a bat roost in the old chimney.
Everywhere there were dragonflies and damselflies of all kinds: Green Darners, Striped Meadowhawks, a variety of skimmers and spread-winged damselflies, and various bluets and forktails.
Pictures of the Semipalmated Plover, Eastern Cottontail, Turkey Vulture, and American White Pelicans are at http://groups.google.com/group/mid-valley-nature/browse_thread/thread/32fb4d2577a30a88
Lisa
www.neighborhood-naturalist.com

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