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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 17, 2018)
News Blue Mountain Eagle Wednesday, January 17, 2018 A7 37th annual Christmas bird count covers Grant County and Antone Gadwall and ruddy duck seen in John Day By Thomas Winters To the Blue Mountain Eagle Contributed photo/Tom Winters Four mallards and two American wigeons congregate in a pond at the old Grant Western lumber mill, as members of the Grant County Bird Club were out on their annual Christmas Bird Count. (22), wood duck (6), gadwall (2), American wigeon (4), mallard (237), ring-necked duck (5), hooded merganser (7), ruddy duck (1), Califor- nia quail (464), wild turkey (232), great blue heron (9), northern harrier (1), gold- en eagle (2), sharp-shinned hawk (3), Cooper’s hawk (5), northern goshawk (1), bald eagle (23), red-tailed hawk (46), Eurasian collared-dove (441), mourning dove (43), great horned owl (6), belted kingfisher (5), downy wood- pecker (4), hairy woodpecker (8), white-headed woodpeck- er (1), black-backed wood- pecker (1), northern flicker (30), American kestrel (8), merlin (2), prairie falcon (1), northern shrike (2), Steller’s jay (7), California scrub-jay (25), black-billed magpie (90), common raven (100), black-capped chickadee (11), mountain chickadee (15), red-breasted nuthatch (23), marsh wren (1), American dipper (2), golden-crowned kinglet (5), ruby-crowned kinglet (1), Townsend’s sol- itaire (83), American robin (1,250), varied thrush (1), European starling (969), cedar waxwing (119), fox sparrow (1), dark-eyed jun- co (Oregon) (404), slate-col- ored junco (1), white- crowned sparrow (8), song sparrow (15), spotted towhee Species seen on this count included: Canada goose (96), mallard (24), northern pintail (3), common gold- eneye (4), hooded mergan- ser (10), common mergan- ser (1), chukar (7), ruffed grouse (1), great blue her- on (2), bald eagle (12), sharp-shinned hawk (1), Cooper’s hawk (5), north- ern goshawk (2), golden eagle (3), American kes- trel (5), prairie falcon (2), belted kingfisher (2), hairy woodpecker (1), northern flicker (5), northern shrike (2), black-billed magpie (62), common raven (46), black-capped chickadee (11), mountain chicka- dee (15), bushtit (25), red-breasted nuthatch (3), canyon wren (9), Pacific wren (1), American dipper (4), ruby-crowned king- let (4), Townsend’s soli- taire (64), American robin (3,068), European starling (262), spotted towhee (1), song sparrow (22), white-crowned sparrow (7), Harris’s sparrow (1), dark-eyed junco (Oregon) (192), house finch (2), red crossbill (6) and evening grosbeak (1). jdpolaris.com 34400 On Dec. 16, a dedicat- ed group of 10 birders per- formed the 37th John Day Christmas Bird Count. The weather was mod- erate this year with tem- peratures ranging around freezing, much better than last year’s low of minus 2 degrees. And the sun made valiant efforts to warm us in the afternoon. The sightings this year were pretty routine. A pair of gadwall and a ruddy duck were found on the Iron Tri- angle (formerly Grant West- ern) pond. It had been nine years since gadwall were record- ed, and this is only the sec- ond time a ruddy duck has appeared. One species that has been seen on every previous count and was absent this year within the count area was rough-legged hawk. Eur- asian collared-doves hit an all-time high, and are still expanding and increasing. Low snow levels allowed access to higher elevations where a black-backed wood- pecker was found – this be- ing only the fourth record for this count. Special thanks go to the Holmstrom, Mullin and Crown (Carter) ranches for allowing access to their properties, and to Iron Trian- gle for allowing access to the Grant Western mill site. Participants were Mike Bohannon, Karen Jacobs, Stacia Kimbell, Barbara and Peter Meyer, Clarence and Marilyn O’Leary, Jim Soupir, Allen Taylor and Tom Winters, with Anne Frost and Cecil Gagnon keeping track of their yard birds. Birds seen: Canada goose (1), Brewer’s blackbird (8), house finch (52), pine siskin (32), lesser goldfinch (4), American goldfinch (20), evening grosbeak (1) and house sparrow (78). Species not seen on the count day but during the count week include mountain quail. On Monday, Dec. 18, the Antone Christmas Bird Count was held with eight partic- ipants meeting at the John Day Fossil Beds Visitor Cen- ter. Participants included the compiler from Corvallis, Joel Geier, who was accompanied by his daughter Martha, Pat Grediagin, Mardi Jensen, Jeff Picton, Dave and Laurie Robinson, Tom Winters and Roger Long of Monument School along with three of his students. The weather was compar- atively pleasant with some sunshine and temperatures that soared into the 40s. Low snow levels allowed access to some of the higher eleva- tion areas. Special thanks to the national monument staff- ers who went out of their way to make sure we had a warm place to gather before the count and afterward for the countdown.
