[birding] river life

[howard bruner]

As I pulled off into the deep October shade near Soda Fork on
the South Santiam River I saw a very exciting sight:  Big-leaf maple shining through conifers with
a stained-glass glow; the low slant of the sun picking up an abundant hatch in
the channel column; and what I had not seen for 2 year – the extraordinary
autumn hatch of the giant caddisfly (Dicosmoecus gilvipes).  

 

Dippers flew inches
above the sea-green pools, mayflies and smaller caddis floated up out of
the dippers reach and the occasional giant caddis flew strong vertical courses
into the sky high above.  Vine maple
splashed crimson intervals along the riparian wall.  Steller’s jays found a threat and gathered
for a tirade until it petered out and they slowly scattered up and down
river.  Gold-crowned kinglets were everywhere
- even down at eye level sharing the low zone with a mob of winter wrens
chattering across the sword fern and moss. 
A ruffed grouse let me walk right up close until I stepped beyond the
invisible line then explodes off into the thick, wet understory of logs,
branches, ferns, hazel, cascara, and candyflower.  One step off trail into calf-high vegetation
and dry times are over. 

 

A kingfisher rattles downstream and red crossbills (type 3C
400 SE 2z) move in steady kippiness in the tops of the cone-rich conifers.  At one point along the mainstem I find a
flock of California tortoiseshell
butterflies landing and mineraling on a white strata of the steepcut river
bank.
Cedar waxwings in the red alders –
I did not see them anywhere else. 

 

My mission to relocate and paint a very special big-leaf
that I have admired for years when driving through the canyon.  I thought I had a pretty good idea of the
stretch it inhabited but ended up searching a fairly extensive area of the
river without success.  My tree was a leaner
and apparently it leaned right into a swim. 
But I did get a pretty good look at dipper numbers and they are
abundant.  I ate lunch near a cliff/pool
grotto that constantly wavered with reflections from the pool.  A dipper foraged next to me flipping
submerged leaves and sticks.  In October
2006 the giant caddisfly hatch was spectacular. 
I was able to collect and identify individuals that ended up on my windshield.


 

A drive by of the Diamond Road
mitigation site produced 5 American pipits. 
Snag boat bend was very quiet, one red-legged frog, 3 pb grebes, and
mallards and gw teal with fresh basic plumage.

 

h 

 		 	   		  
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