[birding] Albany/Tangent-area birds & plans for Saturday field trip

[Joel Geier]

Hi folks,

Around running some errands in Tangent today, I scouted out a bit of the
neighborhood in advance of Saturday's half-day field trip for Corvallis
Audubon.

I saw surprisingly few raptors or shorebirds in the fields, along a loop
via Tangent Rd., Country Rd., Davis Rd. etc. over to Thompson's Mill,
then back by way of Seven Mile Rd., with a side loop along Glaser Rd.
and down to Manning Butte. Exceptions were one small flock of DUNLIN
along Seven Mile just north of Glaser Rd., and a couple of BALD EAGLES
and HARRIERS in the same area, plus scattered KESTRELS and RED-TAILED
HAWKS. It felt like spring was pretty far advanced, despite occasional
snowflakes.

A pair of STREAKED HORNED LARKS were standing in the middle of Glaser
Rd. (a breeding locale for this endemic subspecies), but otherwise I
didn't see much of note. I thought I might find a Say's Phoebe or
Loggerhead Shrike or Townsend's Solitaire around Manning Butte, but
nada.

Returning by way of Albany, I stopped by Grand Prairie Park to confirm
that some EURASIAN WIGEONS are still around. I did see one male and a
likely-looking female. Although I didn't check the whole wigeon flock,
it seemed like there aren't as many Eurasians there as last year when
there were at least 10 drakes. 

About 25 pink-footed gulls (appeared to be mostly GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULLS
with a few possible Western x Glaucous-winged hybrids) were looking for
handouts. Quite a few more gulls were gliding over other parts of town
and I didn't check Waverly Park which normally has good numbers, so
there might be more variety than I found today.

Benton County birders have been grumbling about a perceived lack of
gulls this winter, but there seems to be no shortage right across the
river in Albany. I even saw a few gulls over downtown Albany, that
sailed into Benton County airspace over Takena Landing. Sometimes it
makes sense to go across the river.

Happy birding,
Joel

P.S. My plan for this Saturday's field trip was to visit some Albany
parks that haven't received much attention lately(Simpson, Waverly, and
Grand Prairie), and then bird a bit of the open country around Tangent,
maybe with a stop by the sewage ponds. When I volunteered to lead this
trip in place of Rich Armstrong (who has some other commitments this
Saturday), I wasn't aware of the Finley Open House, so apologies to the
folks who are organizing that event. If field trip participants would
rather do something around around Finley NWR, I'll be glad to
accommodate.