North Coast Diaries

My favorite tree

There's a tree near the Astoria Mitigation Bank that has provided me with multiple photo opportunities and today was no exception. An Osprey came in and landed on the broken top and had its breakfast while I watched.

Update: Fish expert, Lee Cain, tells me the fish is an American Shad (Alosa sapidissima).

Michelle saves the day

Earth month is drawing to a close and Michelle and I finally got around to taking all her Earth Day trees out to Circle Creek to be transplanted. While on that mission we noticed a whole mess of Pacific Tree Frog tadpoles in a puddle.

We figured that the puddle wasn't going to last long enough to get the tadpoles through to metamorphosis, so we launched a rescue mission...

It was hard work and we most certainly didn't catch them all...

...but those we did catch are now in a permanent part of the wetland.

Cape D wildlife

I can remember a time when raccoons were kind of hard to find. Now they've become so comfortable around people that they act like house cats....

Greater White-fronted Geese

The annual migration of Greater White-fronted Geese has commenced. Below is a wide-angle shot of about 40% of the flock of white-fronts and Cackling Geese at Wireless Rd.

Springtime in Brownsmead

Name that tune

It's time to play name that tune.

This week's recording was made this morning at Fort Stevens State Park.

OCWA introductions

Yesterday I posted a photo essay on migrating Orange-crowned Warblers (OCWA). Today we attempt a tone poem... of sorts.

As Orange-crowned Warblers pass through, they announce their presence by singing. A typical Orange-crowned Warbler sings a quavering trill which looks like the sonogram below.

Which sounds like this Typical OCWA

But a surprising number of individuals turn up singing introductory bits that sound like other species. For example, here's one that I originally mistook for a Yellow-rumped Warbler. OCWA03 (you may have to turn up the volume).

And here's another with a front end that sounds like a Yellow Warbler. OCWA04

In both of these cases, the introduction was decidedly un-Orange-crowned-like, but ended with a proper trill. But one bird I recorded had no trill just an atypical vaguely junco-like front end. OCWA05

It's not that unusual for warblers to imitate one another and that's why I always try to chase down early songs for species I don't really expect to be around yet.

Orange-crowned Warblers

The Orange-crowned Warblers have arrived in force along the North Coast and today's photo essay is all about them

Yellow Bird

Spring has finally come to the Pacific Northwest after a ridiculously cold (and snowy!) March. I heard my first Orange-crowned Warbler just this last Tuesday which is a bit on the late side. This makes the early reports of other even later arriving spring warblers a bit strange. I think some folks may not realize just how yellow an Orange-crowned can look and they default to warblers that are more typically thought of as yellow.

So, here's the general break down:

Orange-crowned Warbler - Average first detection = Mar 31 (range 3/23 to 4/6); peak movement May 5
Wilson's Warbler - Average first detection = Apr 19 (range 4/12 to 4/28); peak movement May 25
Yellow Warbler - Average first detection = May 8 (range 5/4 to 5/14); peak movement May 31

These values are for the Oregon north coast and those living at, say, Coos Bay might want to subtract 7 to 10 days, but they're pretty close and certainly demonstrate that the most likely yellowish warbler this early in the season is the brightly colored lutescens type Orange-crowned. So, look twice before reporting the others. For more on the phenology of these warblers see : Phenology of four neotropical warblers at the Neawanna Wetlands

Guess what I am