North Coast Diaries

Too late, the phalarope

We've had a pretty good storm series over the last couple days, south wind at 30kts, lots of rain. It's been blowing in lots of RED PHALAROPES. I counted 82 this morning at the south Jetty of the Columbia River; by this afternoon Steve Warner counted a couple hundred.

Many of these birds come ashore storm-stressed and weak. The visiting SNOWY OWLS appear to be taking advantage of the bounty. Examination of today's owl pellet haul produced a single pellet with beak parts from no fewer than 3 phalaropes.

Two other pellets contain bird feathers and bones, but probably from something larger, like a duck or gull. The remaining four pellets had Black Rat bones.

Columbia Estuary Christmas Count

The Columbia Estuary Christmas Bird Count was conducted yesterday under bright clear skies and a 35mph east wind. We've been experiencing a weird unseasonable high pressure system that's been generating below normal temperatures and a nasty east wind. The temperature at the airport was 19°F. Trees were falling down over normally passable roads. Not the typical weather for this time of year. As a result, we couldn't hear anything. Most birds decided to find a quiet place out of the wind and hide. We only managed 119 species.

The best bird of the count was probably the EMPEROR GOOSE which turned up at Hammond Boat Basin about a week ago. The very tame and easy to find HERMIT WARBLER was also pretty cool. A RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD, at Bucky's house was also an out of season surprise.

And there are still plenty of SNOWY OWLS around, 5 by this morning's count.

What's that owl eating?

I went out to the South Jetty of the Columbia River a couple days ago to look for Snowy Owl pellets. There are now four Snowies at the jetty, so I figured there should be a few pellets. For the uninitiated, owls, as well as other raptors swallow their prey either whole or in very large chunks, bones, fur, feathers and all. The undigestible parts are coughed up in a furry, cylindical bolus.

I was able to find 7 pellets at two location. Upon examination I found skulls and long bones from Black Rats (Rattus rattus).

Black Rat is an introduced species in Oregon, though one that's probably been part of the local fauna for a couple hundred years, at least since European ships began mooring in the Columbia River Estuary and doing business with the local indigenous populations. Given the presence of numerous fat and juicy California Ground Squirrels (Spermophilus beecheyi) as well as several vole and mouse species, it's surprising that the Snowies seem to be focusing on the Black Rats.

Follow the Snow Owl links to see a Snowy Owl yacking up a pellet at Scott Carpenter's photo site.

November Lowdown

Of course the SNOWY OWL invasion that's been going on since mid-November is the big news of the month. There are three at the South Jetty of the Columbia River and possibly one on Sand Island. One was also reported at Logan Rd near the Natel Grange. Elsewhere in the Region owls have been reported in Coos Bay, Newport, Portland and way too many places in Western Washington to list.

A TROPICAL KINGBIRD made an appearance toward the end of the month near Wireless Rd. It hasn't been seen since Dec 1. A Tropical Kingbird was also reported across the river near Naselle.

It looks like the male BULLOCK'S ORIOLE first seen two years ago has returned for another winter to a feeder in Astoria. A RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD has claimed a feeder across town, possibly for the second winter in a row.

An OVENBIRD is coming to a feeder on Puget Island just up river. I received photos, but not permission to post them (or give out the exact location).