Post by tmanson on Feb 26, 2006 12:05:04 GMT -8
Hi Fraser Valley birders:
The other night Brent alerted me to a reporting of 3 EMPEROR GEESE that were mixed in with mostly Canadas near Astoria Oregon. The report was on Oregon Birding which I check from time to time. My first reaction was nah; too far. Brent said he had already seen this species in California.
Unfortunately, my chase instincts kept building, and, knowing the way I am, I knew I was going.
I left Friday after skiing with the students all day at Manning, and after takiing liberal advantage of those sections of I5 where you can do 70 mph, I reached Astoria just after midnight.
Up early, I met Dennis from Seattle, and a birder from West Virginia, and we searched the fields of Wireless Road just south of Astoria along the Young River. There were hundreds of Geese, but most of them were in the air, I guess looking for a suitable place to land and feed. There were Goose hunters about, and that was a bad sign, although, voluntarily, the local hunters had pledged not to shoot the Emperors, or any other geese where the Emperors were located. I thought that was decent, considering I have dodged bullets in Arizona during hunting season; ( a slight exaggeration ).
After and an hour and a half of checking all the sites, we didn't turn up any EMPERORS, but we did see WHITE TAIL KITE, EURASIAN WIDGEON, ROSS'S GOOSE, NORTHERN HARRIER, and PEREGRINE FALCON. Dennis and his buddy left for Washington to look for Gyrfalcon, and I headed south to the Tillamook area, where there was a report of a TUFTED DUCK on Cape Meares Lake. After trying twice for the Iona duck, I liked the idea that this bird was on a lake. Lake Meares in not too big, and can easily be scoped. In the middle of a small flock of scaup, the TUFTED DUCK stood out. White flanks, jet black back, and a fully developed tuft. The controversial aspect of my report is that this bird looked consideraby different than the one that was posted on bcvanbirds. I am far from being an expert, as this was the first TUFTED DUCK, I have seen in the flesh. I am happy to defer to the experts who have seen many more. All I am saying is that the bird looked noticeably different. Perhaps there is an acceptable range of presentations with this duck, that allows it to still be called a Tufted. Enough said on this topic.
Heading home I retraced my steps through Astoria, and checked if the action had increased. It had. There were many more geese on the ground, including 2 GREATER WHITE FRONTED. As I was standing looking in a field with about 8 other birders, a huge flock of Canadas, including many CACKLING landed. Sure enough, the three EMPERORS were amongst them. I had to stand on the roof of my car to see them, but got good scoped views. Very handsome birds. Someone reported a SNOW GOOSE as well, so it was a very goosey day. If we had had a BRANDT, we could have rounded out the package. Headed home after this, and had the pleasure of driving through a worsening snow storm, from Abbotsford to Hope. A fun 24 hours though. Thor
The other night Brent alerted me to a reporting of 3 EMPEROR GEESE that were mixed in with mostly Canadas near Astoria Oregon. The report was on Oregon Birding which I check from time to time. My first reaction was nah; too far. Brent said he had already seen this species in California.
Unfortunately, my chase instincts kept building, and, knowing the way I am, I knew I was going.
I left Friday after skiing with the students all day at Manning, and after takiing liberal advantage of those sections of I5 where you can do 70 mph, I reached Astoria just after midnight.
Up early, I met Dennis from Seattle, and a birder from West Virginia, and we searched the fields of Wireless Road just south of Astoria along the Young River. There were hundreds of Geese, but most of them were in the air, I guess looking for a suitable place to land and feed. There were Goose hunters about, and that was a bad sign, although, voluntarily, the local hunters had pledged not to shoot the Emperors, or any other geese where the Emperors were located. I thought that was decent, considering I have dodged bullets in Arizona during hunting season; ( a slight exaggeration ).
After and an hour and a half of checking all the sites, we didn't turn up any EMPERORS, but we did see WHITE TAIL KITE, EURASIAN WIDGEON, ROSS'S GOOSE, NORTHERN HARRIER, and PEREGRINE FALCON. Dennis and his buddy left for Washington to look for Gyrfalcon, and I headed south to the Tillamook area, where there was a report of a TUFTED DUCK on Cape Meares Lake. After trying twice for the Iona duck, I liked the idea that this bird was on a lake. Lake Meares in not too big, and can easily be scoped. In the middle of a small flock of scaup, the TUFTED DUCK stood out. White flanks, jet black back, and a fully developed tuft. The controversial aspect of my report is that this bird looked consideraby different than the one that was posted on bcvanbirds. I am far from being an expert, as this was the first TUFTED DUCK, I have seen in the flesh. I am happy to defer to the experts who have seen many more. All I am saying is that the bird looked noticeably different. Perhaps there is an acceptable range of presentations with this duck, that allows it to still be called a Tufted. Enough said on this topic.
Heading home I retraced my steps through Astoria, and checked if the action had increased. It had. There were many more geese on the ground, including 2 GREATER WHITE FRONTED. As I was standing looking in a field with about 8 other birders, a huge flock of Canadas, including many CACKLING landed. Sure enough, the three EMPERORS were amongst them. I had to stand on the roof of my car to see them, but got good scoped views. Very handsome birds. Someone reported a SNOW GOOSE as well, so it was a very goosey day. If we had had a BRANDT, we could have rounded out the package. Headed home after this, and had the pleasure of driving through a worsening snow storm, from Abbotsford to Hope. A fun 24 hours though. Thor
