[birding] Baskett Slough area -- no stilts this year?

[Joel Geier]

Hi all,

This morning I did one last MEADOWLARK survey on the north side of
Baskett Slough NWR, with the highlight being one female carrying food
down into a presumed nest with young, along Livermore Rd. I saw a couple
of AMERICAN BITTERNS flying around and heard at least two more, plus
lots of YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRDS, and a few HORNED LARKS.

Afterwards I detoured past the marsh & wet prairie restoration on Farmer
Rd., wondering if there are any Black-necked Stilts or Black Terns there
this year. I didn't see either species flying around over the wetlands,
in about a half hour of observation from the RR tracks. Seems like
there's been a dearth of stilt reports from the usual Willamette Valley
spots this year.

The Farmer Rd. wetland did have good numbers of YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRDS
along with the Red-winged Blackbirds. There were a few recently-fledged
SAVANNAH SPARROWS among more numerous adults along the RR tracks.

Happy birding,
Joel

--
Joel Geier
Camp Adair area north of Corvallis