Although it looked like we would not get far, with a foot of snow on our farm, we headed out anyway to do our sector of the Yamhill Valley Christmas Bird Count. Johnny had driven out over our snow covered driveway the day before and the snow covered road had been beat down by trucks. When we reached the highway, it was packed snow with few cars. We slowly made it to our count sector... and ended up having the best results for this count that we have ever had.
The first bonanza came early, just after we entered our sector up Gopher Valley Rd.... a flock of birds in the few open places in a field alongside the road. I knew American Pipits have been seen there occasionally in the past, but I had never found any. I could not tell for sure what these birds were since they kept disappearing behind snow drifts. So I took photos. My Nikon Coolpix is a superb birding buddy. And here is what it saw:
The little bird with the thin bill and long legs was, indeed, an American Pipit. It was hard to tell how many of them there were as they were mixed in with Golden-crowned Sparrows, but I guesstimated a dozen.
Onward we drove over packed snow meeting few vehicles... but every single one stopped when we were stopped and asked if we needed help. Johnny told them "Just birdwatching". They all laughed and gave us a thumbs up.
Although on the drive from our farm to the start of our sector we had seen very few birds, now they appeared wherever the snow was replaced with water or soggy grass. Hawks began appearing on tree tops, vague in the fog... but the camera helped when binoculars could not. This guy was just a dark blob until the camera detected a red tail.
And a silhouetted small raptor... Kestrel? Merlin?... turned into an obvious Kestrel with the camera's expertise.
Just as exciting as the Pipits, but far easier to see, was a group of five Mountain Quail in one of those snow-free pockets close to the road as we climbed higher into the hills. They seldom picked their heads up for pictures but I took their photos anyway. It was Johnny's first time to see these beautiful birds.
Soon after seeing the quail, PGE trucks started coming up behind us and passing as we pulled out of their way. Before long, someone driving toward us stopped and came out of his car to tell us that around the next bend were seven trucks and equipment with trees and power lines over the road so there was no going any farther. We thanked him, turned around, and headed back downhill to follow side roads. We were disappointed not to be able to get to the area where we often find a Dipper, but, like everything else that day, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
The first road we came to was Thompson Mill. Soon after it leaves Gopher Valley and makes a sharp bend, there is a huge field next to that bend that often has flocks of birds in it. This day was no exception. And the birds were not what we usually see there. We spotted the Killdeer first, but there were other birds difficult to see at the distance and behind hillocks of snow. So I stood on the tailgate of our pickup and, as I had suspected without being able to see well from the ground, there were at least six Snipe feeding with a few Killdeer.
Our friend and birding partner Mary lives in our sector of this count, off the road at the top of a mountain, and was unable to join us because of deep snow. By the time we were in her area, the road going up her way had been plowed, sort of, but was still challenging as it is steep. Johnny was determined, however, to get close and see what birds Mary had managed to find. With only a few hair raising moments, we arrived at the foot of her impassable driveway to find Mary walking along looking for birds. She had found the deep forest birds that we had not... kinglets and chickadees and a sapsucker.
Getting the truck turned around to head downhill was challenging but Johnny succeeded and we left Mary to bird in the snow and fog as we went back down to Gopher Valley road, meeting more PGE trucks fixing lines. Apparently, those were lines that brought power to Mary's hilltop home as when we arrived home, we heard from Mary that her power had just returned, after being out since early morning.
It was a very good count day after an unpromising start from our snowy farm. Pipits and Mt. Quail and Snipe... hooray!
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