[birding] Wrentits at Luckiamute Landing -- is this new?

[Joel Geier]

Hi all,

My daughter Martha and I walked the trail at Luckiamute Landing (in the
north unit of Luckiamute State Natural Area) this afternoon, as our
contribution to the Polk Co. migration count. We heard lots of riparian
birds as expected, but no Swainson's Thrushes yet. Unfortunately, we
also didn't see any Vesper Sparrows in their former nesting area.

The biggest surprise was a pair of WRENTITS along the first part of the
trail. Seems like I might have seen a report of these birds from someone
else in the past year, or is this the first report from LSNA? If so, it
took them about 6 years to expand from the east side of E.E. Wilson
Wildlife Area to LSNA, about 2.5 miles. A small step for mankind but a
giant step for a Wrentit.

Also interesting was a medium-high-flying flock of 90 GREATER
WHITE-FRONTED GEESE heading *east* over the river. They seemed to be
coming out of a right-hand turn, as if they'd spotted Ankeny NWR and
decided to head over there for a rest stop.

Wildflowers blooming along the path included waterleaf, fringecup, tall
larkspur, and Leichtlein's camas (one single plant of common camas noted
inside the woods), plus a couple more that I need to look up.

We drove a bit of a loop on the way home, finding a pair of late RUDDY
DUCKS on the Knott Family Dairy pond along Oak Hill Rd., and three ACORN
WOODPECKERS in the oak grove along Haley Rd.

Happy birding,
Joel

--
Joel Geier
Camp Adair area north of Corvallis