August 30, 2005
Southbound again
I met a birder from Great Britain today out at the South Jetty of the Columbia River. It's not unusual to meet visiting birders there. It's not unusual for them to be from someplace other than the United States. It's also not unusual for them to spot things that are unusual.
In this case, the unusual bird was a Buff-breasted Sandpiper. This is actually an annual migrant to the region, but an easily missed one because its habitat is atypical for "shorebirds" and the numbers that come through are low. Buff-breasted Sandpipers like areas with short grass like golf courses, grazed cow pastures and Salicornia wetlands. And naturally, the reported bird was in none of those places. It was on a beach that rarely gets checked because it's usually too crowded with salmon fishermen.
We also got a report of an American Redstart today just south of Seaside. I saw one about 3 weeks ago in the same approximate location. Was it the same bird? or are we on the front edge of a redstart year? It's also the same place where interesting eastern vagrants turned up last fall. I'm going to go poke around the spot tomorrow.
A Rose-breasted Grosbeak stopped for a short while at the Neawanna on the day we were out bird banding. A House Wren spent two days up on Coxcomb Hill.
The southbound migration has been evident up on Coxcomb the past several days. Mixed flocks of Townsend's, Black-throated Gray and Hermit Warblers have been especially obvious. Coxcomb is a curious rarity here in the county, an accessible Coast Range migrant fallout spot. And only 6 blocks from my house....
Posted by mbalame at August 30, 2005 3:57 AM