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

[Molly Monroe]

>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. 

Just to clarify, we weren't burning on the refuge itself today. I think they finished off a field on Greenberry that looked partially burnt last week. Not sure as we took Llewellyn Rd home to look for Orange Bishop again but no luck. We will be burning later this month in several areas around Finley as well as at Baskett Slough.
Molly~


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From: bouchdon at peak.org
To: list at midvalleybirding.org
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:25:36 -0700
Subject: [birding] 2 Black-crowned Night Herons: Cabell Marsh











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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