[birding] Mitigation wetlands

[rich armstrong]

1. i have been to both evergreen wetlands and diamond hill wetlands (near 
brownsville).
2. both are frustrating because you can't actually go on them.
3. WHY? i would like to understand this.
4. what little i think i understand is that these lands get donated to the 
city or county because of tax problems or forclosure avoidance, and 
therefore, the city or county owns these lands??? is that right?
5. if so, why can't birders go on them?
6. and how do certain birders get to go on them?
Rich Armstrong
541-753-1978
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joel Geier" <joel.geier at peak.org>
To: "MidValley Birds" <birding at midvalleybirding.org>
Sent: Wednesday, June 16, 2010 9:26 AM
Subject: [birding] Bittern nesting at Evergreen Mitigation Bank


> Hi All
>
> Last Thursday (10 Jun) Ray Fiori was doing vegetation surveys at the
> Evergreen Mitigation Bank wetlands SE of Philomath, and flushed an
> AMERICAN BITTERN from a nest. Here's his description:
>
>> an American bittern jumped up between my legs and almost gave me a
>> heart attack.  It had 5 mallard size eggs, which were a solid gray
>> color. The nest was dead grass shaped into a shallow bowl on top very
>> saturated soils.  It was in an area with some nitrogen runoff from the
>> adjacent field out in the prairie dominated by almost head high Tufted
>> hairgrass and meadow barley, ~200 yds west of the emergent marsh areas
>> on the south side.
>
> He's also found a WILSON'S PHALAROPE nest in the same general area, also
> two phalaropes predated by RED-TAILED HAWKS within the past week. GREAT
> HORNED OWLS nested successfully at this site again this year, in the
> riparian growth along Evergreen Creek.
>
> For directions to Evergreen Mitigation Bank, see Site A10 on the Alsea
> Falls Loop of the Willamette Valley Birding Trail,
> www.willamettebirding.org
> The site is private land so you can't wander out into the restorations
> on your own, but you can scan it from several pullouts on Bellfountain
> Rd. The bittern and phalarope nests are straight out (west) from the
> first pullout south of Evergreen Creek -- pretty far out but with luck
> you might see or hear them flying around.
>
> Happy birding,
> Joel
>
> --
> Joel Geier
> Camp Adair area north of Corvallis
>
>
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