[birding] Migrant Chipping Sparrow here too; McDonald Forest few migrants

[Joel Geier]

Hello folks,

Today we had a breeding-plumage CHIPPING SPARROW in our yard, foraging
briefly alongside the WESTERN BLUEBIRD pair who were defending two
different nest boxes from the VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOWS (you'd think they'd
concentrate on one!). Both Chipping Sparrow and the bluebirds were using
an area that our sheep have been cropping very intensively, so the grass
is just a few millimeters high.

Yesterday mid-morning I took a 1/2 mile walk in the Lewisburg Saddle
area of McDonald State Forest, to check if any migrant warblers or
Hammond's Flycatchers were showing up yet. I found upward of half a
dozen ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLERS, but no other recent migrants.

Happy birding,
Joel

P.S. The calendar of expected migrant arrival dates in the Willamette
Valley is posted at the following link, thanks to Steve Dougill:
http://birdingoregon.info/Phenology/tabid/221/Default.aspx

--
Joel Geier
Camp Adair area north of Corvallis