Birdathon, 2001 (Part 2)

Alarms went off at 4:30 and we met back at the van at 5:00 and loaded up again. We headed inland and up in elevation to a clearcut, where we listened to the dawn birdsong chorus. Our first bird of the day was a band-tailed pigeon. The chorus was underwhelming, so we loaded back in the van and met Tim and Darlene's team, the Road Jaegers, at a previously scouted barn where a barn owl was known to be nesting in the silo. The Road Jaegers are our nemesis team, having beat us in species count every year. Last year our team had a pretty miserable year, with a total count of 187. The Jaegers set a new Audubon record of 225. We had agreed to meet at the barn owl location so that everyone would get a chance to see it. While most of the combined team members walked down to the silo to see the owl on the nest, I stayed on the road in case it flushed. Sure enough, it flushed as soon as they got to the silo. Luckily, I saw it, so our team was able to count it. One person from the Jaegers' team saw it as well, so they also got it. We also saw an Allen's hummingbird at that location, a southern Oregon species we had never before been able to count on Birdathon.

Our two teams again went their separate directions. We continued inland towards Medford, with birding stops in the Coquille Valley and Merlin. The weather was post-card perfect, with blue sky and warm temperatures which kept our spirits high. We continued on towards Klamath Falls, birding along Klamath Lake and White River. We kept a low profile. With the current controversy over irrigation water in Klamath County, it was not a good time to be an environmentalist visiting that area. However, we did have some spectacular sightings, including a green heron strutting in the sunshine, head-crest extended. What a beauty! Dave's careful scoping also netted snowy plover and common snipe. We met the Road Jaegers again at a park in Klamath Falls, scanning for goldeneyes and grebes. Although we were planning on staying near Klamath Falls that night, they still had a 2-1/2 hour drive into Summer Lake before they would sleep. While her team-mates were scoping for ducks, Darlene phoned in a pizza order. They asked for her address, and she had to explain that they weren't at a house, they were birdwatching at a pond. I would have loved to see the expression on the face of that pizza jockey.

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