[birding] Corvallis Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

[Rich Hoyer]

Friday, May 15

I just returned from a jog up the Dixon Creek trail in northern  
Corvallis where I found a BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER. It was calling on its  
own, but I pished and whistled to get a visual on it in case my ears  
were fooling me. Incidentally, a Western Screech-Owl started calling  
back almost instantaneously. The gnatcatcher popped into sight within  
a few seconds, so I was able to continue on my jog. Blue-gray  
Gnatcatcher was unrecorded in Benton County as of 1999 (that's the  
latest edition of Birds of Benton County I have). Does anyone know of  
records since then?

The trail begins as a very wide sidewalk on the east side of the  
Timberhill Athletic Center, and where the pavement ends, the trail  
crosses Dixon Creek over a nice bridge. The bird was about 750 yards  
up the trail beyond the end of the paved portion. The first part of  
the trail is rather wet and muddy in a couple of spots but soon turns  
to very nice gravel and then is tarp-lined. Beyond that it becomes  
dirt. The trail crosses the the first side creek, then a smaller wet  
ditch, and then the gnatcatcher was calling about 20 yards above this  
second ditch and about 30 yards off to the east.

I created a Google map with a blue marker where the bird was.

http://tinyurl.com/pvl5zc


Good Birding,

Rich
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Rich Hoyer
Tucson, Arizona

Senior Leader for WINGS
http://wingsbirds.com
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