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Birds of Pixieland: 2012-2014 Survey Results
- 1. The Birds of Pixieland 2012-2014 dawn villaescusa
- 2. Pixieland
- 3. Pixieland - first visit
- 5. Pixieland bird/wildlife surveys ● Cascade Head Management Plan: Wildlife Appendix ● 1996 Oregon Birds Comparing 1994 and 2012-13 (12 mo): o 1994 - 81 species o 2012-13 (12 mo) - 105 species
- 6. Pixieland habitat - tides and rain
- 7. Pixieland - high tide
- 8. Fraser Creek at low tide
- 9. Pixieland habitat - winter waterfowl
- 10. Pixieland habitat - spring nesting
- 11. Marsh Wren
- 12. Pixieland habitat - brush and trees
- 14. Nest boxes
- 15. Nest box maintenance Photo: Jody Picconi
- 16. Pixieland habitat - conifers
- 18. Raptor perch
- 19. Vagrants
- 20. Other Wildlife
- 22. What next?
Editor's Notes
- I’m dawn villaescusa, reside Lincoln City, member of Lincoln City Audubon, Oregon Birding Association Not a scientist, retired Business Analyst , 28 years State of Oregon Retired 2 years ago, same time Pixieland opened I started visiting Pixieland after initial restoration efforts were complete
- Pixieland - blue circle bottom right, jct Hwy 101 & Hwy 18, Salmon river NE boundary one of several sections of the Salmon River Estuary NAMED AFTER - a short-lived amusement park by that name that occupied the site from 1969 to 1975. -- built created an entire town, complete with an opera house -- full-sized train carried visitors around park -- large ponds, concessions, amusement rides and parking
- This was my first look - September 23, 2012, after a long dry spell. wandered around exploring - tallied 18 species of birds including a surprise Red-shouldered Hawk. No sign of amusement park
- After that first visit, I spent the next full year, 42 visits, documenting the birds and other wildlife that I observed in residence or just passing through. My findings are stored in an online spreadsheet. Over the first few months gathered information about Pixieland -- part of the Salmon River Estuary restoration -- part of the much broader Cascade Head management plan
- CHM Plan has an Appendix listing wildlife of the Cascade Head/Salmon River area as a whole (doesn’t segregate Pixieland) Last year asked to write article for Oregon Birds (Journal of Oregon Birding and Field Ornithology) Told about similar 1996 article, written by John Lundsten. He says: “In 1994, I made monthly bird surveys at Pixieland and other areas in the Salmon River estuary for the Siuslaw National Forest. Pixieland had the greatest bird diversity with 81 species seen.” (NOTE: don’t have copy of his survey) Comparatively, during my survey of the first year following dike removal, I documented 105 species - 30% more species.
- Photo: middle portion of wetlands (Spring) Large dike removed, tidal effect back bringing salt-water River and creeks and coastal rains bring fresh water to the marsh Habitat for birds as well as fish and other wildlife
- Ditch connecting Fraser Creek with Salmon River at high tide
- Same ditch at low time mud - Barn Swallows nesting under the bridge and other birds and wildlife
- In the winter, a variety of waterfowl use the flooded wetlands
- In spring, the marsh provides nesting habitat for Marsh Wrens (like one pictured here), Common Yellowthroat, Wilson’s Snipe and others. Willows - nesting Yellow-rumped and Orange-crowned Warblers Larger brush/small trees - American Goldfinch
- In case you missed him - second from the left, suspended as usual between two reeds.
- south side small copses of trees and brush - “sparrow zone” preferred nesting habitat for sparrows, grosbeaks, vireos, and thrushes
- Nesting residents - White-crowned, Song, and Savannah (not pictured) Sparrows. Lincoln’s (pictured) possibly but didn’t observe nesting behavior. In winter also Golden-crowned and White-throated Sparrows
- Dike removal took down large trees - point out Fraser Crk ditch, sparrow zone and “Robin Central” SDCWC and Audubon nest boxes - temporary augment the loss of habitat Five types of nest boxes were installed - two duck boxes (pink) -- both used (Wood and Common Merganser prs observed) 2 flicker boxes (red) -- starlings 3 thrush boxes (yellow) -- open style, none used 4 swallow boxes (blue) and 4 small species boxes (turquoise) -- CBCH used 6 of the 8, VGSW interested but not nesting Talk about zones - Fraser ditch, sparrow zone, robin zone - in spite of not using boxes, had good nesting success
- Fellow Audubon board member Jody Picconi and I monitored the nest boxes in the spring, but when it came time for hauling ladders and climbing up to clean them, younger reinforcements were called for. Catherine Pruett, Director of SDCWC arranged to have this class of tech-school students come out for a day of learning and nest box cleaning Shared info about birds and nests
- Many medium-sized conifers remain, two large ones by river Nesting for larger birds such as Steller’s Jays Cones for visiting Red Crossbills and Pine Siskins, Purple Finches, etc.
- No raptors (birds of prey) nest within Pixieland -- use for hunting Osprey - nearby nests, spring summer fly over w/ nesting materials or fish. Northern Harriers and Red-tailed Hawks live in the area year around, hunting the grasslands across the river and nesting nearby. Bald Eagles are also residents - this past spring we documented two first-year nests in the estuary - one here (camp) seen from Knight Park, the other just east of Pixieland “Red “Barn” Red-shouldered Hawks are fairly recent arrivals to this part of Oregon; however, it was the first raptor I saw during my first visit. -- seen regularly including juveniles, no nest observed Other: Peregrine, Kestrel, Merlin, Accipiters
- tall snags on the east side of the river favorite hunting perches for Peregrine Falcons, Bald Eagles and Turkey Vultures. In this case - Great Blue Heron
- In addition to the nesting and winter residents, I’ve enjoyed several vagrants, that is, birds outside of their expected range. This Palm Warbler was one of two that showed up in May 2013. Others: Townsend’s Solitaire (coastal mountains) Black Phoebe White-tailed Kite 2 Rough-legged Hawks - stayed two-three months
- Although my primary interest was birds, I couldn’t fail to notice the abundance of other wildlife Pacific Tree and Red-legged Frogs, River Otters, Harbor Seals Dragon and damselflies and other insects Deer and elk sign Coyotes
- And, of course, fish
- During my year of observation, kept spreadsheet updated sent brief reports periodically to Siuslaw, SDCWC, USFW, Yaquina and Audubon This part of the estuary has only begun to restore itself and it will take years to document changes. Plan another year of observations (2015), and hopefully future years, for comparison. If the 1994 data is available, I’d like to incorporate it into my spreadsheet as well. Also, Cornell Univ keeps worldwide “Citizen science” bird data repository “eBird” -- birders use online tools to log site-specific observations -- Pixieland designated as an eBird “hotspot” -- means continued reporting thanks to eBird users I have a few cards here with links to the spreadsheet, eBird and more of my photos. Link to 2012-13 spreadsheeet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AqzamsBeRhsPdHJPV0NPY2h0ZWtvSkd2SVhwaE95S3c&usp=sharing Link to more photos: http://s1014.photobucket.com/user/villaesc/library/Birds/Pixieland Link to eBird: http://ebird.org/ebird/hotspot/L1760306