WEATHER: Partly cloudy, S. breeze 0-5 mph, temp. High 40’s. Thin haze along coast but no fog. A beautiful day.
OBSERVATIONS: The total of 140 species ties our record established in 1998.
On that count we tallied 15,237 individuals.
Only 2 Harlequin Ducks. were found compared to 10 on our first count in 1979
and 20 in 1980. Last year and 1998 we didn’t find any. Their numbers have clearly fallen off.
We’ve had an over-wintering Osprey since 1996. These summer nesting residents usually head for southern California and Mexico in September.
Barred Owls first showed up in Curry County in the early 90’s and have been found on the CBC the last two years.
The Acorn Woodpecker in the Grassy Knob Road snag patch was a welcome find. Five of them were found there on the 1981 CBC, but none had been seen since.
A Say’s Phoebe, which thankfully remained for the CBC at the Wahl ranch on lower Elk River, was the first we’ve tallied on the CBC since 1981. They rarely winter north of southern California.
A couple of Horned Larks in the New River area were far short of the amazing 24 found there last year, but these two years in a row for this species mark the first records for the P.O. CBC. At one time they nested very sparsely in sand along the coast but dune stabilization apparently lead to their abandoning this prospect. We rarely see them on the coast and almost never in winter.
A Northern Mockingbird along Willow Creek near Denmark was a welcome find.
Often one of these hardy Californians can be found visiting Curry County
in the winter, usually in Brookings, but they don’t nest here.
The European Starling population seems to fluctuate wildly. In 1980 and 81 the population exceeded 6000, but then dropped into the hundreds until 97 (4757).
A rare Loggerhead Shrike on the Sixes estuary, first seen there on November 19, remained for the second P.O. CBC record. They are very rarely seen in western Oregon.
And last, but not least, a lone Brown-headed Cowbird on the Wahl ranch missed the
September migration to southern California, as did 6 of them last year.