Oregon Birds
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Oregon Birds The Journal of Oregon Birding and Field Ornithology Volume 41 Number 1 ● 2015 Contents of Oregon Birds Volume 41(1) 2014 in Review/Oregon “Top Ten” List Hendrik Herlyn and Oscar Harper ...………………….……….……...…………......………...1 2014 Cassin’s Auklet Die-off Oscar Harper....…..…..……….….…………………….…………….…………….………..………...…...…..2 Regional Highlights (2014 Field Notes) various authors.....……………………….………………..……….……………….....…….…….3 2014 Oregon Listing Highlights Paul Sullivan………..……………………………...…………………………….…………….....……….39 Oregon Birds regrets that the Grant County report was not available for this issue. Grant County field notes will return with 2015 high- lights in next year’s spring issue. We are also currently lacking coverage for Baker and Malheur counties, and OB is looking for volunteers to take on the field notes sections for these highly interesting, remote and underbirded Oregon counties. If you are interested in becoming a Regional Field Notes Editor, please contact Hendrik Herlyn at [email protected]. Front Cover: Brown Booby at Newport. 2014 saw an unprecedented influx of this southern seabird in Oregon. Photo by Owen Schmidt (Portland) Back Cover: Oregon’s first Tundra Bean-Goose at Nestucca Bay NWR, Tillamook County Photo by Jamie Simmons (Corvallis) OBA Membership Oregon Birds The journal of Oregon birding and field ornithology Membership in Oregon Birding Association is open to anyone. Dues support events, publications and occasional special projects. Oregon Birds is a publication of Oregon Birding Association, an Oregon not-for They also entitle members to Oregon Birds -profit corporation. Two issues are produced each year, a full-color Year- and discounts on meetings and activities. in-Review issue in the spring and an issue with various articles in the Send renewals, new membership requests fall. and tax-deductible contributions to: Editors: Hendrik Herlyn and Oscar Harper Oregon Birding Association Photo Editor: Diana Byrne PO BOX 675 Lincoln City OR 97367-0675 Maps: John Notis $30 Individual The editorial team thanks longtime former editor Alan Contreras $35 Family for his support in preparing this issue. $50 Sustaining Address Change Reminder: In order to ensure the timely delivery of your copy of OB magazine, please remember to notify us at www.orbirds.org if your mailing address has changed. Thank you! Deadline for submissions for Oregon Birds Volume 41(2): August 1, 2015 Please send submissions, ideas for articles and inquiries to Hendrik Herlyn at [email protected] Oregon Birding Association and Oregon Birds are on the web at orbirds.org All photographs appearing in Oregon Birds are held in copyright by the photographer unless otherwise noted. ISSN 0890-2313 2014 in Review Hendrik Herlyn Oscar Harper Bird of the year: Tundra Bean-Goose Photo: H. Herlyn 2014 Oregon “Top Ten” List O’Brien, and another was discovered by Barbara Combs among Vaux’s Swifts coming to roost at 2014 continued to be a good year for rarities in Agate Hall in Eugene on May 12. Interestingly, in Oregon, with two new additions to the state list and a late September, a Chimney Swift (perhaps the same slew of other vagrants reported from across the state. bird) returned to the Agate Hall roost site for a few Again, the ranking was done somewhat randomly, days. based on the number of previous records in the state, 3. White Ibis. A well-described bird was seen flying length of stay and number of observers. over Page Springs campground south of Malheur One of Oregon’s least explored regions is the pe- NWR on May 17 for only the second Oregon record. lagic zone that extends 200 miles offshore. However, 4. Red-throated Pipit. This Asian stray, a third state with increased coverage through regularly scheduled record that was first discovered at Lake Selmac in pelagic trips, the efforts of birders who attend reposi- Josephine Co. by Russ Namitz on Oct 20, stuck tioning cruises that traverse the Oregon waters far from around for several days and was seen and photo- the coast between California and Washington, and nu- graphed by many birders who braved the frequent merous reports from research vessels, we are beginning late autumn rain to observe this handsome rarity. to gain a better understanding of the bird life that is out 5. Rustic Bunting. Another third state record, this there. Since this area is generally visited by few, and Asian visitor was less obliging and only lingered for rarities that are found do not lend themselves to an a couple of hours at Mount Tabor in Portland, where easy chase, I have chosen to address the impressive it was found by Nathan Osborne on Apr 25. number of interesting pelagic sightings in 2014 in a 6. Lesser Black-backed Gull. First reported by Barbara separate section, following the “Top Ten” list. Combs along Ricketts Road near Creswell, Lane Co. on Nov 23 and confirmed by Noah Strycker the next 1. Tundra Bean-Goose. Oregon’s first record, and one day, Oregon’s fourth record was joined by a second of only a handful in the entire U.S., was found on bird a couple of days later. Nov 9 at Nestucca Bay NWR by refuge volunteer Lee 7. California Thrasher. Oregon’s fourth was photo- Sliman. This Siberian visitor hung out with a flock of graphed at Pilot Rock in Jackson Co. by Frank Calla- wintering Canada and Cackling Geese and rarely han sometime during the summer of 2014. moved far from the site of its original observation. It 8. Brown Booby. 2014 was a banner year for this stayed throughout the end of the year and well into southern seabird, almost doubling the previous num- 2015, and it was seen by hundreds of birders from ber of records. Oregon’s sixth was reported by Wink Oregon and all over the country. Gross at Tierra del Mar, Tillamook Co. on Oct 25, 2. Chimney Swift. Following Oregon’s first sighting followed by a sighting at Yaquina Bay, Newport on in 2013, a year later the state saw two new records of Oct 30 by John Gutherie. The Newport bird hung this eastern counterpart of our Vaux’s Swift. One was around for several weeks and was eventually joined appropriately found in the chimney of a private by a second bird. Another sighting came from Hay- home in Carver, Clackamas Co. on May 2 by Bob stack Rock off Pacific City, Tillamook Co., when Max Oregon Birds Volume 41 (1) - 2015 1 Smith spotted a Brown Booby on Nov 8. That bird male was singing on Jun 14, and in Bayocean, Tilla- also stuck around for several weeks and was joined mook Co. on Oct 12. A Little Gull at Upper Klamath by a second bird at some point. The fourth and final Lake on Sep 19 was the 14th state record. observation was of a single booby at Rockaway The 18th records each of both Eastern Phoebe and Beach, photographed by Mike Patterson on Dec 21. Baltimore Oriole came from Langlois, Curry Co. on 9. Phainopepla. The seventh record for Oregon was May 11 and Coos Bay on May 24, respectively. A Scis- seen and photographed by Kevin Spencer at Klamath sor-tailed Flycatcher put in an appearance at Cape River Canyon on Jun 13. Arago on Dec 30, the twentieth time this species was 10. Finally, two species are tied for the tenth spot on the recorded in Oregon. 2014 list, since they each constitute an eighth state A Lark Bunting was found at Fern Ridge Wildlife record: Area near Eugene on Sep 9. The Rusty Blackbird that A Glossy Ibis was photographed by Noah Strycker at wintered in Hillsboro, Washington Co. in 2013 lingered Lower Klamath NWR on Apr 18, and a McCown’s into the report year, and another was found at Wickiup Longspur was discovered and documented on the Reservoir in Deschutes Co. on Nov 10. Last but not final day of the year near Enterprise, Wallowa Co. by least, the Gray-headed Juncos discovered in the Pueb- Khanh Tran. lo Mtns in 2013 again showed evidence of breeding at the same site in June of 2014. Pelagic Rarities in 2014 2014 Cassin’s Auklet Die-off The following species were reported in Oregon’s by Oscar Harper offshore waters by birders on pelagic trips, reposi- tioning cruises and research vessels in 2014. Details While small numbers of dead seabirds are washed up of these sightings will be covered in the annual on the beaches in the wake of Pacific storms every year, OBRC report in the fall issue of Oregon Birds. in the late fall and early winter of 2014 the Oregon coast witnessed a die-off event of unusual proportions – big Stejneger’s Petrel—Oregon’s first record enough to attract the attention of the statewide news media. Beginning in late October, unusual numbers of Hawaiian Petrel—third state record dead seabirds were reported along the entire coast – not Ross’s Gull—third state record only in Oregon, but from British Columbia to California. Ashy Storm-Petrel—third to sixth state records The vast majority of these casualties were Cassin’s Auk- Cook’s Petrel—fourth state record lets. For example, a total of 192 dead auklets was found Black Storm-Petrel—fourth state record along a 1.5 kilometer transect on Sunset Beach on Dec Wilson’s Storm-Petrel—fourth state record 21, and 126 dead Cassin’s Auklets were on a beach near Guadalupe Murrelet—fourth state record Tillamook on Dec 26, with similar numbers observed farther south. As the coverage of Oregon’s “final frontier” contin- The reasons for this unusual die-off are not entirely ues to expand, some of these species may turn out clear. Apparently, most birds died of starvation, ruling to be more common than previously thought, and out an oil spill or a contamination with toxins as the other additions to the state list are bound to turn up cause of death (which also would have affected other in the years to come.