NEWS
BlueMountainEagle.com
Wednesday, January 9, 2019
A7
Birders flock together for area Christmas bird counts
Two new species
spotted during
winter count
By Thomas Winters
For the Blue Mountain
Eagle
Thirteen birders spent
a combined 33 hours in
the field Dec. 15 looking
for birds on the 38th John
Day Christmas Bird Count.
The weather was moderate
this year with temperatures
above freezing and partly
cloudy skies.
An average number of
species and individual birds
were seen this year, but
there were some highlights,
including two new species
for the count – an Anna’s
hummingbird that has been
in John Day all December
and some Brewer’s spar-
rows that usually disappear
during the winter. Other
highlights include 10 snow
geese, a northern pintail (the
first time in 15 years) and
very low counts of moun-
tain chickadees and cedar
waxwings.
Special thanks go to the
Holmstrom, Lemons, Mullin
and Crown (Carter) ranches,
and the Pikes for allow-
ing access to their proper-
ties, and to Iron Triangle for
allowing access to the Grant
Western mill site.
Participants were Mike
Bohannon, Susan Church,
Jeremy Henderson, Randy
Hennen, Karen Jacobs,
Stacia Kimbell, Barbara
and Peter Meyer, Clar-
ence and Marilyn O’Leary,
Jim Soupir, Allen Tay-
lor and Tom Winters, with
Anne Frost and Cecil Gag-
non keeping track of their
yard birds, and Carl Stout
feeding “his” wintering
hummingbird.
Birds seen included:
snow goose (10), Canada
goose (145), tundra swan
(4), wood duck (15), Amer-
ican wigeon (7), mallard
(562), northern pintail (1),
ring-necked duck (5), green-
winged teal (16), hooded
Contributed photo/Peter Meyer
Thomas Winters and Barb Meyer were among 13 birders participating in the Dec. 22
Christmas Bird Count in John Day.
merganser (16), common
merganser (5), Califor-
nia quail (544), wild tur-
key (184), great blue heron
(13), northern harrier (5),
golden eagle (4), Cooper’s
hawk (3), northern gos-
hawk (1), bald eagle (15),
red-tailed hawk (52), rough-
legged hawk (4), Eurasian
collared-dove (169), mourn-
ing dove (16), barn owl (2),
great horned owl (3), Anna’s
hummingbird (1), belted
kingfisher (4), downy wood-
pecker (8), hairy wood-
pecker (3), northern flicker
(18), American kestrel (15),
merlin (3), prairie falcon (1),
northern shrike (1), Steller’s
jay (2), California scrub-jay
(15), Clark’s nutcracker (2),
black-billed magpie (110),
American crow (2), common
raven (180), black-capped
chickadee (25), mountain
chickadee (2), bushtit (11),
red-breasted nuthatch (24),
pygmy nuthatch (3), Pacific
wren (1) marsh wren (1),
American dipper (7), gold-
en-crowned kinglet (30),
ruby-crowned kinglet (7),
Townsend’s solitaire (89),
American robin (410), Euro-
pean starling (621), cedar
waxwing (1), Brewer’s spar-
row (6), dark-eyed junco
— Oregon (326), dark-
eyed junco — slate-col-
ored (3), white-crowned
sparrow (48), song spar-
row (18), spotted towhee
(2), red-winged blackbird
(4), Brewer’s blackbird (6),
house finch (38), red cross-
bill (3), lesser goldfinch (6),
American goldfinch (11) and
house sparrow (104). Spe-
cies not seen on the count
day but during the count
week include Canada (gray)
jay and pine siskin.
On Dec. 17, nine volun-
teers for the Antone Christ-
mas Bird Count enjoyed
balmy temperatures up into
the low 50s and morning
sunshine (except for some
local fog) with clouds mov-
ing in the late afternoon
but no precipitation. The
only drawback of the nice
weather was soft roads that
limited access to the mid-
dle section of Antone Road,
making for white-knuckle
driving while coming back
downhill in some other
areas.
The first Canada jay/
gray jay for this count was
found high up in the north-
ern part of the circle. Other
highlights included nine
raptors species (including
three prairie falcons and one
merlin), a Wilson’s snipe
(found in a small seep above
the Thomas Condon Vis-
itor Center), six northern
shrikes, four wren species
(rock, canyon, pacific and
marsh wren) and eight red
crossbills.
Once again, we appreci-
ate the opportunity to count
birds on Antone Ranch and
the friendly welcome and
interest from ranch man-
ager Zach Bruce and his
crew. We also appreciate the
support of John Day Fossil
Beds National Monument,
and the very warm welcome
from Superintendent Patrick
Gamman. Special thanks to
Shelley Buranek, the Inte-
grated Resources Manage-
ment chief, who drove all
the way down from Clarno,
over two mountain passes,
Contributed photo/Peter Meyer
Tundra swans gather on a frozen pond during the
Christmas Bird Count.
in time to open up the morn-
ing meeting place for us,
then helped us in the field
before driving back home
again in the evening.
Species seen on this count
included: Canada goose (39),
mallard (11), ring-necked
duck (3), hooded mergan-
ser (1), common mergan-
ser (1), chukar (10), great
blue heron (2), northern
harrier (2), Cooper’s hawk
(2), accipiter (1), red-tailed
hawk (8), rough-legged
hawk (1), golden eagle (3),
Virginia rail (1), Wilson’s
snipe (1), rock pigeon (1),
Eurasian collared-dove (4),
belted kingfisher (4), downy
woodpecker (4), northern
flicker (5), American kestrel
(5), merlin (1), prairie fal-
con (3), northern shrike (6),
Canada jay (1), black-billed
magpie (46), common raven
(12), black-capped chicka-
dee (6), mountain chicka-
dee (11), bushtit (54), red-
breasted nuthatch (7), rock
wren (2), canyon wren (9),
Pacific wren (2), marsh
wren (1), American dipper
(2), golden-crowned king-
let (9), ruby-crowned king-
let (14), Townsend’s soli-
taire (69), American robin
(134), European starling
(83), song sparrow (16),
white-crowned sparrow (5),
Harris’s sparrow (1), dark-
eyed junco — slate-colored
(1), dark-eyed junco — Ore-
gon (345), house finch (2),
red crossbill (8) and evening
grosbeak (1).
Our Sincerest Thanks
to all of our friends and family that donated in a million
different ways to the 26th Annual Carrie Young Memorial!
$39,061.00 was raised this year. Thanks to your generosity,
we were able to assist approximately 225 elderly throughout
Grant County. We live in an amazing county!
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts -
Lucie Immoos, Christie Winegar, & Dolores Young