[birding] goshawk 10/11

[howard bruner]

A juvenile northern goshawk was making a mewing call and
staying deep in the willows near the gazebo at Snag Boat Bend.  I thought I saw another in the same area.  

 

10 miles of the Willamette between Peoria
and Corvallis produced 5 kingfishers
12 spotted sandpipers, 3 red-tailed hawks, a fair load of vg , tree, and barn swallows,
2 c mergansers,  a dc cormorant, 20 song
sparrows,  a handful of y-r warblers, and
a late osprey.  White-crowned sparrows
were regular along the shore as were Steller’s jays.  A stiff northerly tried to overcome the current
as we moved downstream over the peagreen surface.  Reflections blazed the river into molten
silver behinds us and our headshadows had glory rays emanating as if we were
heavenly visitors. The sun was spun in silken ice sheets and the moon watched
us slowly drift from the intensive agricultural bare shores into the remnant
gallery forest that still perches on a narrow strand as one approaches Corvallis.  The bird life definitely picked up as the
structural complexity increased.  GBH
were scarce but throughout and crows seemed centered on harvest opportunities
around farms.  

 

Back at Snag Boat Bend at sunset the Phalaris-choked
seasonal pond (at the deck) was alive with the scufflings of presumably voles.  A sundog appeared above Blue
 Dog Mountain
(to the south of Mary’s Peak).  I watched
several nutria, near a male and 2 female (juv?) wood ducks, shovel rafts of
duckweed into their mouths with their absurdly small paws.  One A. widgeon looked lonely and lost with the
nutria and pb grebes.  Other waterfowl
came in as the light was fading.  The
evening air cooled fast as earthshine graced the end of the day.

 

h

 		 	   		  
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