[birding] 2 Black-crowned Night Herons: Cabell Marsh

[Don Boucher]

Hello,

9-10-09
Lisa and I squeezed every hour out of a vacation day by biking to Finley NWR. We arrived at Bruce Road at dawn. We briefly heard a WESTERN SCREECH OWL family talking to one other and listened to SWAINSON'S THRUSHES (weep!) rain out of the sky. We walked along the Cheadle Marsh Trail and we saw a RED-SHOULDERED HAWK and got a good look at a GREEN HERON. We searched in earnest for the elk, and even though was lots of fresh sign, we hadn't seen them all day. They must have been on the east side of Muddy Creek or south of Bruce Road. We hiked up to Cabell Marsh, saw an adult BALD EAGLE and a WHITE-TAILED KITE. We saw two Dowitchers, one was a female LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER and the other was possibly a male of the same species since they made the same call. While walking along, two juvenile BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERONS flew up from the water's edge and landed about 50 yards away. When we tried to get a closer look, they flew to the east and left Cabell Marsh altogether. We estimated 21 AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS. We met Molly Monroe while at Cabell and we all enjoyed the dowitchers. We told Molly how we admired Finely for its shorebird opportunities. 

After that we hiked back south and stopped for lunch in the shady forest along Muddy Creek. We took a video (will post later) of an excitable COMMON YELLOWTHROAT taking an extended bath. Curiously we heard a small flock of EVENING GROSBEAKS visit the area for about a half hour. The rest of the day didn't produce much due to the heat as well as the heavy equipment work being done. Some prairies were being burned on the northeast side of the refuge. A plume of smoke rose high and the wind carried little flakes of charcoal which rained down all around us. 

In general, everywhere we went, thousands of swallows. Mostly BARN SWALLOWS and few VIOLET-GREEN. On a couple occasions the swallows gathered in plowed fields by the hundreds. There were a lot of winged termites dispersing and I suppose the swallows were filling their bellies with termites. There were a lot Red-spotted Garter Snakes (a.k.a Common Garter) out today and we also found a lot shed snake skins.

Lisa took some photos: juvenile Pied-billed Grebes and the Dowitchers at Cabell Marsh. See them posted on Mid-Valley Nature:
http://groups.google.com/group/mid-valley-nature/browse_thread/thread/4d65551ebe957d66?hl=en

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

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