[birding] Chestnut-collared Longspurs at E.E. Wilson Wildlife Area

[Joel Geier]

Hi folks,

Just back from a walk that turned up a couple of CHESTNUT-COLLARED
LONGSPURS in the BPA-funded prairie restoration area on the west edge of
E.E. Wilson Wildlife Area, south of Camp Adair Road.

I'll post more of a description in a bit but just to get the directions
out quickly:

E.E. Wilson is midway between Corvallis and Monmouth on the east side of
Hwy 99W. Watch for the enormous landfill (Coffin Butte Regional
Landfill) on the west side of the highway, where you should turn east
onto Camp Adair Rd. (there is also a signboard there to commemorate the
divisions that trained here in WW II when this was the central part of
the Camp Adair army cantonment).

Go east on Camp Adair Rd. about 1/8 mile, zigzagging through a couple of
quick turns. As you pass through the second curve, look for a parking
turnout on the right (just before a "handicapped crossing" sign, I know,
the language seems a little archaic but that's what it says). This is
the parking area for the skeet range so don't be surprised if someone is
blasting away with a shotgun ... you may want to bring ear protectors
for the first 100 yards.

Go about 1/4 to 1/3 mile along the paved roadway that runs south through
the wildife area (passing about 7 of the big powerline poles on your
right), until you see a grassy opening on your right that opens onto a
berm with a wetland to the south. 

Where I flushed the longspurs is at the west end of this berm, where a
little stream drains out of the wetland and runs toward a second wetland
to the north. The birds flushed one at a time out into the grassy area
to the northwest of this point, which is a planting of western
mannagrass, tufted hairgrass and blue wildrye, though what you see this
time of year is mainly the European bentgrass that came back, about
knee-high.

I barely got a look at the first one but just enough to make me think
about longspur and pick up a hint of chestnut on the nape. When the
second bird flushed I got on the tail right away and could see the
triangular-shaped dark center bordered by white, plus general coloration
of the back with buffy/ochre & brown streaking and flecks of chestnut.
The birds landed in the grass after flights of <50 yards into the wind,
and seemed to run on the ground after they landed.

Happy birding,
Joel

--
Joel Geier
Camp Adair area north of Corvallis