[birding] mary's peak

[rich armstrong]

1. 4 of us ventured up mary's peak this morning.
2. the good news is that the upper gate was open and we drove to the top parking lot - there is no sign of snow anywhere and the road is in excellent condition.
3. the bad news is there were very few birds. we played pygmy owl tape many places and had red-breasted nuthatches respond every time, but not much else. we walked to the top - no rosy finches or anything else.
4. best was a close flock of EVENING GROSBEAKS that we even scoped near upper campground.
5. also fairly large flocks of chestnut-backed chickadees.
6. becky heard probably a couple crossbills.
7. we had 1 frustrating SOOTY GROUSE. it flushed from side of road into a tree, so poor looks at fying bird by people in back seat. then it flew a few feet and as we tried to get in position to see it, it flew off.
8. philomath ponds had 1 commen merganser, 1 wigeon that looked like 2/3 eurasian and 1/3 american(that is a guess of course), and the usual suspects (lesser scaup, green-winged teal, coots, ruddy, shovelers, ring-necks, am wigeon). also 4 yound bald eagles and a posing male harrier.
9. sunset park had 2 cormorants, lots of yellow-rumos, lots of white-crowned sparrows, both goldfinches, a waxwing, a siskin, and some purple finches.
10. hp pond had 7 canvasback, 2 bifflehead, ring-necks, shovelers, wigeon, pied-billed grebes, cormorant, kingfisher, herons, etc.
Rich Armstrong
541-753-1978
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