[birding] Chipping Sparrow apparently nesting at Roaring River Park, Linn Co. (plus a correction on Crabtree Lake)

[Joel Geier]

Hi all,

One new species for the Santiam BBS route yesterday was CHIPPING SPARROW
at Roaring River County Park, which is about a half mile east of the
Larwood covered bridge. 

The sparrow was foraging on the mowed grass under some pines as we
pulled in to start the point count, at the park entrance off Fish
Hatchery Rd. During the 3 minutes the bird flew up into a pine to sing
for a bit, then dropped down into the grass again, and finally flew off
past the ranger's residence, carrying some sort of food item. 

Presumably it was going to feed young in a nest behind the residence --
hopefully young Chipping Sparrows, but very likely a BROWN-HEADED
COWBIRD chick, given the number of cowbirds in the manicured areas of
this the park.

This park is a pleasant birding site, if you have time to walk the
trails through riparian growth in the back part of the park, along the
Roaring River where DIPPERS are possible.

Happy birding,
Joel

P.S. I gave the wrong name for the author of the book, "100 Hikes in the
Central Oregon Cascades," which describes some hikes around Crabtree
Lake. That's Bill (William L.) Sullivan, not Brian Sullivan.