OREGON & WASHINGTON 
Washington, while one at Redmond, De- 
schutes 12 Sep (K. Owen, SD) was e. Oregon’s 
8th. Eight westside Ruffs included a very rare 
ad. at P.S.B. 11 Aug (ph. MB); late singles in- 
habited Bandon 14 Nov (Knute Andersson) 
and Coos Bay 30 Nov (AC, RH). Thirty-four 
juv. Short-billed Dowitchers at Bend’s Hatfield 
L. 20 Aug (PL) was among the highest counts 
ever for e. Oregon; only 13 Short-billeds were 
reported elsewhere on the eastside. A congre- 
gation of 1000 Long-billed Dowitchers were at 
ER.R. 1 Oct (LM), while 790 at ES.B. 25 Oct 
was an exceptional non-outer coastal tally for 
Washington (SM). Oregon’s 3rd Jack Snipe 
was observed at close range with Wilson’s 
Snipe near Astoria 18 Oct (sketch; tMP); the 
antecedent records, taken by the same hunter 
near Florence, Lane in 2004 and 2007, only 
came to light recently. Up to 400,000 Wilson’s 
Phalaropes devoured brine flies at Oregon’s L. 
Abert in early Aug (SD, DI, DPe). These birds, 
combined with tens of thousands of ibis, avo- 
cets, stilts, and gulls, create one of the least- 
known avian spectacles on the continent. 
More than 10,000 Red-necked Phalaropes 
joined the swarms of Wilson’s at L. Abert 9 
Aug (DI, DPe). 
South Polar Skuas averaged about one per 
trip in Oregon waters, and 3 were seen from a 
cruise ship passing offshore 29 Sep (JW et al.) 
Pomarine Jaegers are rare but increasingly re- 
ported in the PT.; one was off P.N.P 31 Aug 
(VN), and another passed Green Pt., Skagit 13 
Nov (RM). Thirteen Pomarines off North 
Head, Pacific Tl Sep was 2 shy of the Wash- 
ington coast record, while 39 from shore at 
Cape Arago, Coos 7 Oct QD) rnade an un- 
precedented from-shore count for the Region. 
Counts of 90 Pomarines and 62 Parasitic 
Jaegers seen from a cruise ship passing 70-95 
km off Oregon 29 Sep QW et al.) were signifi- 
cantly higher than tallies from similar fall 
cruises since 2000. In other years, Long- 
taileds have far outnumbered all other jaegers 
70 km+ offshore. Five Parasitics were reported 
away from salt water; one at Stevenson, Ska- 
mania 25 Aug (W. Cady) was in the Columbia 
Gorge, where not detected annually, and 4+ 
were noted eastside 2-20 Sep. Two Long-tailed 
Jaegers were inland, included a juv. catching 
insects at 1200 m on Mt. St. Helens, Skamania 
22 Aug (ph. J. Bishop). Two Long-taileds were 
reported from two locales in e. Oregon, where 
very rare; however, single ads. seen at John 
Day Dam, Sherman 30 Aug (DM) and Wicki- 
up Res., Deschutes 1 Sep (PL, HH) were likely 
the same bird (see comments on Arctic Tern, 
below). The 29 Sep cruise found a paltry 29 
Long-taileds off Oregon OW); typically, such 
trips have encountered hundreds. A first-cycle 
Laughing Gull enlivened Crane Prairie Res., 
Deschutes 24 Sep (TPL, tJM, HH); if accepted, 
this would represent Oregon’s 6th record (five 
since 1998). Twenty-five Franklin’s Gulls were 
noted away from se. Oregon 7 Aug-30 Oct, in- 
cluding 13 in e. Washington, about twice the 
norm; many were presumed holdovers from 
the summer season’s incursion. An additional 
Franklin’s at Nehalem, Tillamook 22 Nov was 
late (PS). Aside from counts of 300-600 at 
Boiler Bay 4-9 Nov (PP), Bonaparte’s Gull 
flights were unremarkable. Both inland Heer- 
mann’s Gulls were found 4 Nov, with one at 
Monmouth, Polk 0- Thomas) and another at 
Dexter Res., Lane (R. Sinnott). The peak pas- 
sage of Heermann’s at Boiler Bay was 9000 on 
7 Nov (PP). 
Juv. Mew Gulls typically arrive along the 
coast in late Sep; one at Newport 22 Aug (W 
Hoffman) was quite early and another juv. at 
Soap L., Grant 5 Sep (SM, DI) was a month 
early for any Mew Gull on the eastside. About 
80% of the 25,000 California Gulls passing 
Boiler Bay 4 Nov were ads. (PP). An ad. Less- 
er Black-backed Gull at Newport 29 Aug (ph. 
Glen Lindeman) was Oregon’s 2nd. Lesser 
Black-backeds returned to e. Washington, 
where this species has been annual since 
2004; 2 ads. were at Clarkston, Asotin 8-10 
Nov (T. Gray), and another was at W.W.R.D. 
22 Nov (M&MLD). Four Glaucous Gulls 8 
Nov-f- was two-thirds the recent fall average. 
This season’s 12 eastside Sabine’s Gulls was 
similarly low; the eastside has averaged 18 per 
fall since 2003. Eleven inland on the westside 
7 Aug-30 Oct included 7 in the W.V., 3 in the 
P.T., and Josephine’s 2nd, at Grants Pass 3 Oct 
(DV). Sabine’s also showed poorly offshore, 
with just one of Oregon’s five pelagics record- 
ing a double-digit total; 40 were out of New- 
port 10 Aug (GGi). The 29 Sep cruise ship ob- 
servers encountered 605 Sabine’s QW), a far 
cry from the 2000+ tallied during a similar 
transect in 2007. Multiple reports of an ad. 
and a subad. Black-legged Kittiwake at both 
The Dalles and McNary Dams 18 Oct-22 Nov 
(BT, M&MLD, JI) surely involved the same 
birds; these kittiwakes were the 12th and 13th 
for e. Washington. 
The promising summer season flight of El- 
egant Terns flight fizzled n. of the s. Oregon 
coast during fall; flocks of 100-160 assembled 
at Bandon, Coos and Gold Beach, Curry 24 
Aug-late Sep (WH, RN, CK, PS). However, 
fewer than 20 were noted farther n. in Ore- 
gon, and just 7 summer holdovers were along 
the Washington coast 3-16 Aug. All but 14 of 
the 202 eastside Common Terns were in 
Washington; this seasonal total was about av- 
erage but included a record 120 at Potholes 
Res. 30 Aug (SM, CW, RS). Single Arctic Terns 
were well described from John Day Dam, 
Sherman 30 Aug (tD. Mandell) and 230 km j 
to the s. at Wickiup Res. 1 Sep (TPL, HH). Be- I 
cause both sightings involved an Arctic Tern i 
seen with 5 Commons and an ad. Long-tailed ij 
Jaeger (also rare on the eastside), it seems ^ 
likely that the same group of birds visited j! 
both sites; there are about 20 previous east- j 
side records. An Arctic off Vashon I., King 27 i; 
Aug (EH) provided a very rare ET. record. 
Eighty Arctics off Newport 10 Sep (GGi) pro- | 
vided Oregon’s only pelagic encounter (GGi), | 
and none were seen during the 29 Sep cruise. |j 
Nine westside Forster’s Terns 3 Aug-21 Sep, 
included 5 at ER.R. 3 Aug (DI, S. Heinl); 2 at | 
Kenmore, King 22-23 Aug (EH) were quite I 
early for w. Washington, where most records [i 
occur mid-Oct-mid-Nov, well after the east- i 
side departure. Forty Forster’s still at Potholes : 
Res. 20 Sep, including many dependent ' 
young, were at least a month late for such i 
numbers and behavior (SM, CW). NOAA re- f 
searchers encountered 9 Xantus’s Murrelets (3 j 
hypokuca, 6 of undetermined subspecies) 96- jj 
230 km off Oregon 7-18 Aug (MF et al), and j 
9 more Xantus’s were noted during the 29 Sep 
cruise, all 70 km+ off Lincoln and Tillamook 
QW et al.); deepwater surveys (60 km+ off- 
shore) encounter the bulk of the Region’s hy- 
poleuca, while Xantus’s found by pelagics (less 
than 50 km offshore) are generally scrippsi. 
Single Cassin’s Auklets off of P.N.P. 16 Sep 
(ph. SR, C. Vassalb) and Bainbridge I., Kitsap 
5 Oct (BW, GG, DW), plus 3 near Green Pt., 
Skagit 13 Nov (RM) were in the P.T., where 
rare. Pelagics averaged 75 Cassin’s per trip in 
Aug, which suggests a successful nesting sea- 
son for local breeders. The season’s high 
count, 643 out of Westport 27 Sep (BT), oc- 
curred after the influx of more northerly 
nesters. An imm. Parakeet Auklet flew past 
Boiler Bay on 11 Nov (TPP); the bulk of Ore- 
gon’s 15+ records have involved dead birds 
washed ashore during winter. A Tufted Puffin, 
very rare in the central P.T., was at Seattle 4 
Sep (G. Smith). Single Horned Puffins en- 
livened Tillamook Bay 1 Aug (M. Ratzlaff) 
and Newport 16 Aug (RN), and another was 
16 km w. of Port Orford, Curry 2 Sep (MF); 
this species is now detected annually in Ore- 
gon waters during late summer and early fall. 
Four White-winged Doves added to the 
burgeoning roster of Regional sightings. One 
at Spokane 18 Oct (tJI) was Washington’s 8th, 
while the others pushed Oregon to nearly 20 
total records; more than three quarters of the 
Region’s sightings have come since 2000. A 
Common Ground-Dove attending a feeder 
near Rochester, Thurston 26 Aug was captured 
by hand by the homeowners and seemed tame 
rather than ill (ph. T. Cadman); Washington 
has no accepted records of this species. This 
146 
NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS 
