Then the sun came out as we pulled over where the Amazon Channel crosses Alvadore Rd (just a short distance south of where Avadore Rd crosses Hwy 36). Up to that point we mostly had Kestrels; lots of Kestrels; several red tailed hawks; a few of them up close; a couple of nice looks at Red-shouldered Hawks; one on Nielsen and one on Starlite Ln.

At the Amazon/Alvadore Rd crossing, we got out of our cars and a adult or sub-adult Bald Eagle flew by low and very close to us. Even better (for me, since this doesn't happen much anymore), I was the first one to spot it. We were outside of our cars in the sunlight watching some baby sheep when the Eagle came by. People actually cheered at seeing the Eagle. This moment coincided with the arrival of Aiden and Sharon, who had gotten a late start, so maybe they were half the reason for the cheering. It was surprising how much that Eagle sighting raised everyone's spirits. The sunlight helped too and so did being out of our cars and able to talk to each other live instead of only by two-way radio. (The radios had worked pretty well too while driving on the roads).

After the Eagle we drove to the Camas Country Bakery and everyone had some cookies or sweet pastries, and some may have had coffee. It was 1:30 by then and the temperature had dropped a few more degrees and it got very windy and heavy rain again as we left the bakery. Two or three of our eight cars (six people) decided they were done for the day. We only had a short section of the trip ahead of us.

The eight of us remaining went on up to Washburn Ln and Cox Butte Road; and after seeing nothing much they were still upbeat and ready to go to a place I told them about which few if any of them knew about. I think the sugar from the bakery kept them in such an upbeat state of mind. It was impressive.

I took them to a little known county park which is not being funded because since timber revenues fell decades ago Oregon hasn't come up with new sources of revenue except for the electronics industry and internet tech in Portland and Eugene. This little park has a little restroom building and a closed road 100yds to the reservoir (Fern Ridge Reservoir - which has several excellent birding locations - the best in the valley). At the shoreline of the reservoir this little park allows you to view the "low-pool" - the only section which has water in it during the Winter. (They drain reservoirs in Fall so they can use them to prevent flooding when winter rains come). This little park (Shore Lane County Park) gives a nice view of the low-pool and that is where Swans, White Pelicans, Bald Eagles, flocks of wintering Shorebirds (Dunlin especially) can be seen. No one in my group - except me - knew about or had been to Shore Lane park before. They loved it. It's at the end of a dead-end road. Really only the experienced birders go there and a few locals.

I told the group about a book edited by a well-known local birder and all the text written by a crew of experts many of whom started birding here in their teens in the 70s and most of which still are birding regularly. I told my group that "before there was eBird (online international data-base of bird sightings), before there was OBOL , (online listserve), there were telephone trees for spreading the word about rare birds, and otherwise, there was a book called "Birds of Lane County" - this book I was telling them about." The bulk of the book is a detailed listing and descriptions of all the best places to go birding in Lane County. I used to wonder how all the experts knew about all these places. But even better, the book includes short biographies of the contributors and history of the club they formed, which preceded the Audubon Society in Eugene. It was (and IS) called SWOC = Southern Willamette Ornithological club. If you go to the Oregon Birding Association website you can find some of their earliest newsletters from the mid-70s. When the pandemic ends they will resume monthly meetings once a month. I've gone to a few back in 2018.

Even in the 30 minutes we spent at Shore Lane (until heading for home at 2:30), the weather went back and forth from sunny to drizzling and windy.
No one minded the weather.
I still think it was the sugar.

HIGHLIGHTS

• A very up-close view of low-flying adult Bald Eagle where the Amazon channel crosses Alvadore Rd
• Lots of Northern Harriers in a field including two males
• Close views of Red-tailed Hawks and a Red-shouldered Hawk in the K.R.Nielsen Rd area
• A possible Rough-legged Hawk quite far away;
• Lots and lots of American Kestrels
• A flock of Dunlin and more adult Eagles at little-known Shore Lane County Park
• Camas Country Bakery snacks raised our spirits as well as our blood sugar levels until we disbanded around 2 or 2:30pm