OregonThe quarterly journalBirds of Oregon fi eld ornithology Volume 30, Number 3, Fall 2004 A Population Size Estimate for Eurasian Wigeon Field Notes: Spring 2004 in Oregon (Winter 2003-2004) Dennis Vroman.......................................117 North Coast, Ilene Samowitz......................126 South Coast, Tim Rodenkirk........................129 What? Can’t You Hear that Chipping Sparrow’s Portland Metro, Erik Knight.......................133 Rattle? Rogue-Umpqua, Dennis Vroman................135 Kevin Smith..............................................120 North Central, Chuck Gates.......................137 South Central, Kevin Spencer.....................139 A Tribute to Clare Watson Northeast, Trent Bray..................................142 Merlin “Elzy” Eltzroth............................121 Southeast, Noah Strycker.............................147 Observer List...............................................150 Unusual Rufous Hummingbird Behavior Dale Shank...............................................122 Oregon Birds is looking for Oregon Birds material in these categories: Articles deal with identification, The quarterly journal of Oregon Field Ornithology distribution,ecology, P.O. Box 10373, Eugene, Oregon 97440 management, conservation, www.oregonbirds.org taxonomy, behavior, biology, and historical aspects of ornithology Oregon Birds is a quarterly publication of Oregon Field Ornithologists (OFO), an and birding in Oregon. Articles Oregon not-for-profit corporation. Membership in OFO includes a subscription to cite references (if any) at the end of Oregon Birds. ISSN 0890-2313 the article. Names and addresses of authors typically appear at the Editor: Stephen Dowlan beginning of the article. Associate Editor: Don DeWitt Short Notes are shorter Board of Editors: Alan Contreras, Matt Hunter, Dave Irons, Terrie contributions that deal with the Murray, Mike Patterson same subjects as articles. Short Notes typically cite no references, Officers and Board of Directors or at most a few in parentheses in the text. Names and address of President: Tim Shelmerdine - Lake Oswego (2005) authors appear at the end of the [email protected] Short Note. Secretary: Judy Meredith - Bend (2005) [email protected] Bird Finding Guides “where Treasurer: Jeff Harding - Lebanon ( 2005) to find a________ in Oregon” [email protected] (for some of the rarer birds) and Directors: Dave Tracy - Bend ( 2006) “where to find birds in the ____ [email protected] area” (for some of the better Joel Geier - Corvallis ( 2006) spots). [email protected] David Irons - Eugene ( 2005) Reviews for published material [email protected] on Oregon birds or of interest to Dennis Vroman - Grants Pass ( 2005) Oregon birders. [email protected] Photographs of birds, especially Committees photos taken recently in Oregon. Publications: Open - Contact the President if interested Color slide duplicates are preferred. Please label all photos Archivist: Barb Combs, [email protected] with photographer’s name and (541) 689-6660 address, bird identification, date and location of photo. Photos Membership: Anne Heyerly, [email protected] will be returned if requested. (541) 485-0880 The Deadline for Next Issue of OFO Bookcase: Karen Bachman, [email protected] Oregon Birds, OB 30(4), Winter 2004-2205 is Dec. 30. Please send OFO Birding material directly to the Editor, Weekends: Vacant Steve Dowlan, P.O. Box 220, Mehama, OR, 97384 503-859- Webmaster: Dianna Bradshaw, [email protected] 3691 [email protected] Oregon Bird Records Secretary, Harry B. Nehls, Printed on Cover photo: Red-throated Pipit, 29 April 2004, Port Orford, Curry County. Photo/D. Munson Recycled Paper A Population Size Estimate for Eurasian Wigeon in Oregon (2003- 2004 season) Dennis P. Vroman, 269 Shetland Drive, Grants Pass, Oregon 97526 [email protected] Eurasian Wigeon do not breed in counties. Lane County reported 17, individual was added for each CBCs Oregon, but non-breeding individuals the largest number in one county. with a “count week” observation. occur regularly west of the Cascades Multnomah tallied 13; a single sighting CBC data appears to indicate annual and rarely east of the Cascades of 12 was made in Klamath County. variation in population size. The (Gabrielson and Jewett 1940, Double counting due to movement number of individuals ranged from Gilligan et al. 1994, Martinson 2003). of individuals to and from foraging- 30 (2003-04) to 59 (2001-02). The Contreras (1997) analyzed Christmas resting locations and migratory highest CBC count was notably less Bird Count (CBC) data and found a fl ight stop-overs were possibilities. than half the estimated number found slight increasing trend for this species Sightings were placed into distinct using OBOL reports. Interestingly, in the northwest. Baseline data on geographic locations to minimized the lowest CBC count (2003-04) was population size are lacking, useful overestimating numbers. Birds at from this same season. Perhaps our information for the “increasing trend” unchecked locations were possible, estimate fell during a season with less question. Sighting records found along with under-counted females, individuals to be found. in Oregon Birds provide data for factors that would underestimate the scattered dates and locations. Yearly true population size. The author wishes to thank those that CBC counts are better, but many posted Wigeon reports to OBOL. potential locations are not covered, Eurasian Wigeon CBC totals for the therefore, underestimating population 1994-95 to 2003-04 counts were Reference size. Oregon Birder’s On Line compared (see Table 2). The number (OBOL) list-server sightings, posted of CBCs with Eurasian Wigeons, Contreras, A. 1997. Northwest birds by numerous members, provide an the total number of individuals, in winter. Oreg. State Univ. Press, opportunity to arrive at a reasonably and the CBC with the highest count Corvallis, OR. close population estimate. It seemed were included in the table. A single worth attempting. OBOL 2003-04 Eurasian Wigeon sightings were compiled and summarized (see Table 1). Reports were categorized by County and specifi c locations in a County (69 total). Many locations had multiple sightings on different dates. The largest number of individuals sighted by an observer (or party) at each location was included in the estimate. Sex of individual birds, along with observer names and dates, were noted. A total of 55 observers posted 107 OBOL messages or reports on Wigeon sightings. The fi rst sighting was 2 October 2003 (Multnomah Co.), the last was 12 June 2004 (Crook Co.). The 2003-04 Oregon Eurasian Wigeon population was estimated to be 141 birds (including 14 females). Birds were reported in 23 counties with 33 Eurasian Wigeon. Photo/C. Gates birds (5 females) found in 7 east-side Oregon Birds 30(3):117, Fall 2004 Table 1 – Estimated number of Eurasian Wigeons for Oregon Counties (2003-2004 season) County # Birds Sex # Reports # Sites # Observers Range of Dates Benton 8 males 5 3 4 17 Jan – 28 Feb Clackamus 5 males 5 4 1 16 Jan – 3 Mar Clatsop 7 males 9 7 5 27 Nov – 20 Mar Coos 6 males 3 2 1 27 Dec – 4 Apr Crook 4 1 female 3 3 1 24 Feb – 12 Jun Deschutes 3 males 4 2 3 5 Feb – 25 Apr Douglas 3 1 female 2 2 2 21 Dec – 20 Jan Harney 3 males 1 1 1 4 Apr Jackson 8 1 female 8 6 4 11 Dec – 22 Mar Josephine 4 males 5 4 2 14 Nov – 16 Feb Klamath 12 3 females 1 1 1 28 Feb Lane 17 2 females 15 6 9 2 Jan – 6 Mar Lincoln 6 males 3 1 3 18 Oct – 4 Jan Linn 7 1 female 6 3 2 31 Dec – 23 Mar Malheur 2 males 2 2 2 8 Feb – 14 Mar Marion 6 1 female 5 2 3 21 Dec – 26 Apr Multnomah 13 2 females 11 7 8 2 Oct – 4 Apr Polk 2 males 4 1 4 19 Jan – 8 Apr Tillamook 7 males 1 1 1 13 Jan Umatilla 4 males 3 3 3 18 Jan – 7 Mar Union 5 1 female 2 2 2 27 Feb – 13 Mar Washington 9 1 female 7 4 4 27 Nov – 4 Apr Yamhill 4 males 2 2 3 3 Dec – 27 Jan Totals 141 107 69 68 Gabrielson, I.N., and S.G. Jewett. 1940. Birds of Oregon. Oreg. State Coll., Corvallis, OR. Gilligan, J., M. Smith, D. Rogers, and A. Contreras, Eds. 1994. Birds of Oregon: status and distribution. Cinclus Publ., McMinnville, OR. Martinson, R.K. 2003. Eurasian Wigeon (Anas penelope). In Marshall, D.B., M.G. Hunter and A.L. Contreras, Eds. Birds of Oregon: a general reference. Oregon State University Press, Corvallis, OR. Eurasian Wigeon. Photo/S. Maulding Oregon Birds 30(3): 118, Fall 2004 Page 1 Sheet1 Table 2 – Eurasian Wigeons on Oregon Christmas Bird Counts (1994-95 to 2003-04) CBC Season # CBCs Total Found Count Week est. High Count CBC 94-95 14 42 0 Portland (8) 95-96 13 36 2 Sauvie Is. (9) 96-97 16 41 0 Medford ( 6) 97-98 14 37 2 Sauvie Is. (7) 98-99 16 38 1 Grants Pass (9) 99-00 17 49 0 Sauvie Is. (7) 00-01 15 43 0 Port/Coquille (9 ea) 01-02 18 59 1 Portland (13) 02-03 18 42 1 Portland (7) 03-04 12 30 1 Forest Grove (7) Oregon Birds 30(3):119, Fall 2004 Page 1 What? You Can’t Hear that Chipping Sparrow’s Rattle? Kevin Smith, PO Box 817, Crooked River Ranch, OR 97760-0817 [email protected] Maybe some of you read the article WOW! My first trial was astounding! works above 3500 cycles, so I doesn’t I wrote about using a ‘baby monitor’ I walked out on my deck and I could interfere with normal sounds which is to hear the birds at your feeders even HEAR, House Finches!, Chickadees!, the trouble with conventional hearing though the windows are closed. Well Pine Siskins!. Birds I hadn’t heard aids which DON’T work above 5000 this is an improvement. I have been for more than 50 years. With minimal cycles and amplify EVERYTHING! unable to hear birds since childhood, adjustments I was floating on air— My unit has three settings which but have enjoyed seeing them and well, maybe not floating, but it felt divide the upper cycles by a factor even taking ‘birding-by-ear’ classes.