Oregon in Spring WINGS Tour: Cold Fronts Blast the Northwest

Brrrr. I guess this is all good preparation for my upcoming trip to Gambell, Alaska, but everyone else was at least hoping for much warmer weather.

The day before yesterday, we greeted dawn at Marys Peak west of Corvallis, when all was still nice. Mount Jefferson can be seen in the distance here.

But showers, followed by cooler air arrived by late morning, and this will likely go down as the coldest Oregon in Spring tour ever.

It's never too cold for Rough-skinned Newt in the Northwest.

We dressed up well for our walk into the restored native prairie at Finley NWR, where we saw Savannah Sparrows (but no Grasshopper) and lots of great wildflowers.

This Lazuli Bunting with a Savannah Sparrow was also nice.

We then worked our way eastward over the Cascade Mountains. We stopped a couple times to look for Harlequin Duck here, but since we had seen them on the coast didn't spend too much time here.

By the time we had arrived at Lost Lake to look for Barrow's Goldeneyes, the snow level had already dropped to the elevation of the passes.

But we dropped out of the higher elevations to look for woodpeckers in some areas west of Sisters, such as the GW Burn.

This is where we found our only Black-backed Woodpecker.

Yesterday, on the way from Bend to Burns, we stopped by the Harmon Road fields just a mile off the highway and were treated to 12 Ferruginous Hawks, 2 Swainson's Hawks, a Golden Eagle, a Bald Eagle, a Prairie Falcon, and some lovely Lark Sparrows in the course of a few minutes.

Last night the really cold air hit, and we were met by near blizzard conditions at times. This is very unusual weather for late May.

A Long-billed Curlew in the Silvies River hay fields probably had no trouble finding food.

But Gray Flycatchers were absolutely everywhere, and I suspect many insectivores, such as these, warblers, and swallows perished in this cold.

We saw many migrants of all kinds throughout Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, and it was a treat to see Lewis's Woodpeckers so well.

Oregon in Spring WINGS Tour: A Blustery but Birdy Day on the Central Coast

We spent a bit of time checking the habitats at the Salmon River at Cascade Head.

Say "Tillamook!" Naomi and Joan.

Black Oystercatcher at Boiler Bay

Glaucous Gull is a rare bird in winter, and a very rare bird this late in the spring. This one was first reported by Darrel Faxon at the mouth of D River in Lincoln City. The smaller gull is a California Gull.

What's all the salt and pepper on this rock at Yaquina Head?

It's hundreds of Common Murres and several pair of breeding Brandt's Cormorants and their guano.

The historic and picturesque Yaquina Bay Bridge

A pair of Red-breasted Mergansers seen from the South Jetty of the Yaquina River

Oregonians are lucky to have countless access points to the public beaches and headlands. We made a quick stop here and had our only Wandering Tattler.

View N from Devils Punchbowl. Nearly every stop has a stunning view.

The American Crows here are noticeably smaller and higher-voiced than inland birds. If they aren't Northwestern Crows, what are they? Yachats Crow was a nickname devised by Oregon's more clever birders to indicate these beachcombing dwarfs.

The Yachats Waterfront, pronounced YA-hots. Here we saw hundreds of Surf Scoters, two White-winged Scoters, three pair of Marbled Murrelets, and a Red-necked Grebe.

Oregon in Spring WINGS Tour: Tillamook County Coast

We lucked out with the weather today. Some morning sun, then overcast, not too windy...perfect birding conditions.

Cape Meares View

Fringecups, Tellima grandiflora

Wrentit

Purple Martin at the Bay City Oyster Plant

White-crowned Sparrow, race pugetensis.

Oregon in Spring WINGS Tour: A Gorgeous Day from Portland to the Coast

Today was the first of our 10 days of birding in the wonderful state of Oregon. We lucked out with the gorgeous weather today, but if the forecasts are right, we're in for a cool, showery week.

We started at Fernhill Wetlands where we were met by my friend Steve Nord. Normally, a calm, sunny day like today can make for slow birding, but it was really good.

Highlights here were 2 Bonaparte's Gulls, four Cackling Geese, and a good variety of shorebirds, including 3 Pectoral Sandpipers, quite rare in spring.

We then worked our way through the Coast Range, stopping for Virginia Rail, being led to a Red-breasted Sapsucker by local birder Lars Norgren, and stopping by the Gales Creek Bridge where this juvenile American Dipper was waiting for us.

We made a quick roadside stop near the town of Timber and had the best views of MacGillivray's Warbler that many have ever had. We also saw Hermit Warbler, Winter Wren (soon to be split as Pacific Wren), Pacific-slope Flycatcher, and "Oregon" Gray Jay.

We had picnic lunch at the Sunset rest area where yet another American Dipper (this one an adult) perched calmly nearby.

A walk out to Haystack Rock produced high-flying Tufted Puffins and some happy birders.

Then some of our best birds were at the Nehalem Sewage Ponds. This Semipalmated Sandpiper, very rare in the spring, was amongst a large group of Western Sandpipers.

A Greater White-fronted Goose and this Cackling Goose were with the Canada Geese here.

There were also a pair of Blue-winged Teal, a few dozen Red-necked Phalaropes, some Least Sandpipers, and some very tame Long-billed Dowitchers.

Botanizing Intermezzo in Southeastern Arizona

I missed the spring wildflower spectacle in western Arizona this year, due to my trips to Mexico and Jamaica in March and early April. But some private guiding trips in late April to areas of Southeastern Arizona – late for spring wildflowers and outside the area where the spring show can be spectacular (and were, so I hear) – were surprisingly productive.

California Gulch, very close to the Mexican border west of Nogales, is one of my favorite places. We readily found Five-striped Sparrows here.

Parry's Beardtongue, Penstemon parryi, colored the hillsides pink in places. This and most of the flowers in this area are perennials.

Here behind Trailing Windmills, Allionia incarnata, are a couple annuals — Mexican Poppy,  Eschscholzia californica ssp. mexicana, and Distant Phacelia, Phacelia distans.

Santa Catalina Prairie Clover, Dalea pulchra, would make a nice landscaping plant and attract butterflies such as Sleepy Orange.

The stout, short spines on this Pink-flowered Hedgehog Cactus, Echinocereus fendleri ssp. rectispinus, really stood out, but the flowers were what really caught my attention.

The Fairyduster, Calliandra eriophylla, is putting on an amazing show this year.

Doll's Head, Lagascea decipiens, is one of my favorite composites. Not only is it beautiful, it's rather rare in the United States, is attractive to butterflies, and has a very unusual arrangement of flowers. It usually blooms only after the monsoon rains have begun in July, but the late winter rainfall has been so good that the several plants along this stretch of the California Gulch road were loaded with buds.

Here is why the arrangement is unusual: Most composite flowers (that is, members of the family Asteraceae, formerly Compositae) are actually a head composed of a several to many flowers. The most familiar ones have two flower types in each head – one-petaled ray flowers around the outer edge of the head and five-petaled disk flowers packed in the center. The yellow ball of Doll's Head is actually a dense cluster of many heads at the end of the stem, and each head bears but one flower. Amazing.

The Elegant Earless-Lizard is common in this area.

Another day trip in late April took me to Montosa Canyon on the west side of the Santa Rita Mountains.

On the normally dry, barren flats on the way up, where we stopped for Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, were some nice flowers. This species, also called Pink-flowered Hedgehog Cactus, Echinocereus fasciculatus, has much longer spines.

Hairyseed Bahia, Bahia absinthifolia, a composite with the more typical arrangement of flowers in the head.

Flax-flowered Ipomopsis, Ipomopsis longiflora

Leatherleaf, Croton pottsii

In the canyon proper is an amazing variety of shrubs and trees. We probably heard one of the Black-capped Gnatcatchers that live here, but had to be content with migrants such as Greater Pewee and some more flowers.

Pallid Hoptree, Ptelea trifoliata ssp. pallida var. cognata

Western Poison Ivy, Toxicodendron rydbergii

Hairy Fournwort, Tetramerium nervosum

Finally, an afternoon trip to the Huachuca Mountains resulted in fewer wildflowers (this area gets less winter rain, and is much higher and colder), but some Animalia provided some interest.

The geometrid moth Digrammia triviata (Geometrid larvae are familiar as inchworms.)

A true bug that appears to mimic a tiger beetle, Arhaphe cicindeloides (It fooled me until I sought help at Bugguide.net.)

The now-famous Spotted Owls in Miller Canyon have probably been seen by more than a hundred birders this month – and who knows how many day hikers and smugglers of various kinds the owls have seen. They've seen enough to not be bothered at all by anyone anymore, at least.