[birding] Coffin Butte birds & blooms

[joel]

Hi folks,

I finally found a couple of hours to walk over to Coffin Butte after a
hectic few weeks. Oak woodland species were well represented with a half
dozen or more WESTERN WOOD-PEWEES calling, plus singing LAZULI BUNTINGS
(several), LESSER GOLDFINCH, HOUSE WREN, CHIPPING SPARROW,
BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER, and PURPLE FINCH. 

An OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER was flycatching from a tall snag at the top. A
surprise was a MACGILLIVRAY'S WARBLER singing from the understory toward
the S end of the public area, seemingly on territory (We also had a
MacWarbler singing at our place on Wednesday, then move on, so there
might still be some migrating through).

I checked the quarries for Rock Wren but didn't find any. The cottonwood
plantings along Hwy 99W just S of Coffin Butte Regional Landfill had a
singing WARBLING VIREO, with a non-singing individual close by.

Native wildflowers blooming profusely on the butte today included Oregon
iris, Tolmie's mariposa-lily (a.k.a. cat's ear), and Menzie's larkspur.
A bit of spring-gold is still blooming and I found one ookow just about
ready to bloom (can't remember seeing those up there before). 

In the non-native invasives category, I pulled a few plants of rose
campion (same spots as last year) and a few plants of meadow knapweed.
It looks like ODFW has been up there spraying most of the meadow
knapweed this week, as most of the plants were drooping so I left them
alone for the time being. I'm sure there will still be some to pull
later on this summer, since that stuff is harder to kill than Rasputin.

Happy birding,
Joel

--
Joel Geier
Camp Adair area north of Corvallis