[birding] Blad Top (Finley) & Corvallis birds

[Don Boucher]

Hello,

Lisa and I went to the Bald Top area at Finley NWR with a few friends to see a patch of Phantom Orchids. The orchids are in a fir forest near Brown Creek. It's hard to explain how to get there and the poison oak is very numerous in the area too. Here are some highlights:

Oak Savanna: 
Western Bluebirds, Lazuli Buntings, Chipping Sparrows, Yellow-breasted Chats, Wrentits. Randy Comeleo pointed out the sound of some Purple Martins high overhead and eventually spotted one. It is likely that the martins are nesting in clearings in the nearby Coast Range and not on the refuge.

Fir Forest: 
Band-tailed pigeons, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Black-throated Gray Warbler, Orange-crowned Warbler.

For flower hightlights go see it on Mid-Valley Nature:
http://groups.google.com/group/mid-valley-nature/topics?hl=en

Corvallis:
When we got home we went grocery shopping on our bikes. We saw and heard some Red Crosbills near the confluence of the Marys and Willamette Rivers. At the BMX track there was a Cooper's Hawk harassing some crows. At first we thought the crow was prey, but the hawk only chased and didn't strike. One the bike path near ODOT station we saw two blacktail bucks in velvet. One was a gorgeous specimen with 5 points on the right antler.

Don Boucher
Corvallis, OR
www.Neighborhood-Naturalist.com
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