Highlights and Lowlight of our Bird Surveys

The North American Migration Count for our county was Saturday. We birded our farm plus drove up Agency Creek Rd. and counted more birds. We even found new territory we had not been to before... where a logging road that had been blocked with downed trees was now cleared. At the end of that road were some old growth Douglas Firs that we didn't know existed. Here's Johnny either looking for birds or trying to figure out where we are from the top of a big one that didn't get away from the loggers. Too bad I didn't take any photos of the standing big trees.

On Sunday we surveyed for Black Oystercatchers (BLOY) and counted for the Lincoln County NAMC at the same time. The view from The Thumb over Road's End was just as beautiful as last time. And, with the help of our scope, we found three pair of BLOY down on those rocks.







Our newest survey area, Fishing Rock, allowed a much closer view of a pair.




Tuesday Johnny found both of the pair of BLOY that live on Cape Kiwanda, one on the north side of the Cape and one on the south. He called my cell phone to tell me about the pair at the ocean end of this inlet. I was watching for them elsewhere... and watching the resident Peregrine Falcon, who had just taken a bath, at the same time.

Three of the four sites we survey for Black Oystercatchers had pairs of Black Oystercatchers who cooperated for us (i.e., were visible when we were there looking for them). The fourth site not only had no BLOY but resulted in Johnny's reinjured back. He twisted wrong while unloading the canoe. He was marginally okay for the canoe trip across the Salmon River, not for that Three Rocks/South Cascade Head survey, definitely not since then. He's on bed rest until it's better. Although this ill-fated trip had no BLOY, it did have pretty cool seals watching us from shore.