Dressed in raingear, we die-hard birders met at the Neskowin wayside parking lot at 9am. Some folks were still slithering into rainpants by the time all arrived who were going to brave out the weather. Yes, it was raining, but we were thankful there was no wind. Led by Field Guide, Jack Hurt, we followed the trail on the west side of the Neskowin Golf Course and passed by some very quaint and colorful little cottages that posted colorful signs by local kids asking drivers to take slow excursions down their narrow road. As always, our ASLC walk began with the presence of an eagle or two. Today, there were two. Last year, around this time, our field trip brought us to the Nestucca Bay National Wildlife Refuge on a very, very rainy day. We did our sightings from vehicles only. This year, we chose to stand tall and weather out the rain. Interestingly, upon past review, we noticed that more birds were sighted in such rainy conditions than normally seen during dry weather. We still scratch our heads and wonder why. Out there on one of the golf course fairways stood a naked tree covered with Tree Swallows and Violet-Green Swallows. Just in front of us, a Northern Flicker feverishly drilled holes in the earth below searching for grubs and the like. There's a Townsend's Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Black-capped and Chestnut-backed Chickadees, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Marsh and Pacific Wrens, all flittering from branch to branch too fast to get a good photograph of them. A hawk flew too fast in front of us to be able to identify it, and a Great Blue Heron rose above the marsh due south. All in all, yes it was a rather damp event but an exciting one nonetheless!
Sightings of the Day
Canada Goose
Spotted Towhee
Wood Duck
Song Sparrow
Eurasian Wigeon
White-crowned Sparrow
American Wigeon
Golden-crowned Sparrow
Mallard
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Bufflehead
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Merganser
Brewer's Blackbird
Red-breasted Merganser
Purple Finch
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Bald Eagle
Western Gull
Belted Kingfisher
Northern Flicker
Warbling Vireo
Steller's Jay
American Crow
Tree Swallow
Violet-green Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Bushtit
Brown Creeper
Pacific Wren
Marsh Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
American Robin
Varied Thrush
European Starling
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Townsend's Warbler
Common Raven
