[birding] no Longspurs at E.E. Wilson

[rich armstrong]

paula, nanette, & i went out to e e wilson and spent an hour walking through 
grasses in the area joel described. we did not see any little brown birds of 
any kind. we tried.
Rich Armstrong
541-753-1978
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joel Geier" <joel.geier at peak.org>
To: "MidValley Birds" <list at midvalleybirding.org>; "Oregon Birders OnLine" 
<obol at oregonbirdwatch.org>
Sent: Monday, December 07, 2009 1:43 PM
Subject: [obol] Chestnut-collared Longspurs at E.E. Wilson Wildlife Area


> 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
>
>
>
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