provided by:

Priscilla Sokolowski

Eugene, OR

Photos from personal trips  AND trips with

“Birds of Oregon and General Science” (BOGS)


Priscilla’s  

Bird photography



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Bird list: Skinner Butte, April 27, 2023
LEADER: Steve Barron

LOCATION: Skinner Butte, Eugene

About 32 of us went on this walk. Times: 9:00am. to 11:50am. Weather: Partly cloudy, 55 degrees to 69 degrees.

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Directions: We met at the W end of the Campbell Center's NW parking area, along the river, just NE of Skinner Butte.

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Where we walked today:
Some folks drove to the top of Skinner Butte. Most of us walked up the N side of the butte, birded the top and the hidden meadow just below the East part of the summit, then went down the S side of the butte, E to an alley just W of High St., and back to our cars.

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Bird lists & Highlights by JANET NAYLOR

  1. Mallard (1)
  2. Common merganser (3)
  3. Wild turkey (2)
  4. Turkey vulture (3)
  5. Osprey (1)
  6. Bald eagle (4 - 2 adults near nest, 2 small fuzzy chicks in the nest)
  7. Red-tailed hawk (1)
  8. Sharp-shinned hawk (1)
  9. Band-tailed pigeon (3)
  10. Mourning dove (1)
  11. Vaux's swift (3)
  12. Anna's hummingbird (1)
  13. Hummingbird, ? species (1)
  14. Acorn woodpecker (1)
  15. Downy woodpecker (1 - heard only)
  16. Red-breasted sapsucker (1)
  17. Sapsucker, possible Red-naped (1)
  18. Gray flycatcher (2)
  1. Warbling vireo (1)
  2. Steller's jay (1 - heard only)
  3. California scrub jay (1 - heard only)
  4. American crow (1)
  5. Violet-green swallow (3)
  6. Black-capped chickadee (2 - heard only)
  7. Bushtit (1)
  8. Red-breasted nuthatch (3 - 1 seen, 2 heard only)
  9. White-breasted nuthatch (1 - heard only)
  10. Brown creeper (3) (1 seen, 2 heard only)
  11. Bewick's wren (2 - heard only)
  12. Pacific wren (1 - heard only)
  13. American robin (2) (1 seen, 1 heard only)
  1. Black-throated grey warbler (2)
  2. Nashville warbler (1)
  3. Orange-crowned warbler (2)
  4. Wilson's warbler (1 - heard only)
  5. Yellow-rumped warbler (Audubon) (2 - 1 Audubon race plus 1 Myrtle race)
  6. Western tanager (1) (unconfirmed (seen by one person only)
  7. Spotted towhee (1 - heard only)
  8. Golden-crowned sparrow (5)
  9. Song sparrow (1)
  10. White-crowned sparrow (3)
  11. Dark-eyed junco (2)
  12. House finch (6)
  13. Finch, ? species (house or purple) (1 - heard only)
  14. Lesser goldfinch (1)
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Not Birds
Cabbage white butterfly (1)

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OF INTEREST:

  • Bald eagle nest by the river: Can't see up into it from the path and road NW of Campbell Ctr. going by near it. From Campbell Ctr. W parking lot, can still see the side of it, but trees will be fully leafed out soon. Much better view from a nearby alley; see notes below.
  • Seeing 3 Common mergansers in the river just NNE of the butte.
  • Two folks saw 1 Red-breasted sapsucker, plus 1 possible Red-naped sapsucker, just NE of Skinner Butte, near the river. (Both were same size, both were bigger than a Downy woodpecker.) The Red-naped sapsucker has been seen lately on the ENE part of the butte.)
  • Hearing a Pacific wren a little way up the N side of the butte, plus hearing a Bewick's wren on the S side near the top and another Bewick's back down near the NW parking area. Often the Pacific wrens will be down near the bottom of the N side of the butte, and the Bewick's wrens will be near and at the top of the N side of the butte, in some kind of habitat division.
  • Hearing both a Red-breasted nuthatch today (Hank, Hank, Hank, Hank, Hank) and a White-breasted nuthatch (Wheet, Wheet, Wheet). Hearing a total of 3 Red-breasted nuthatches around the butte, and seeing one of them.
  • Seeing a Northern flicker, INTERGRADE!!! Yellow-orangeish under-wings and under-tail. On the S side of the butte, a bit down from the top. One BOGS member said that N. Flicker intergrades have been around this year. (Hybrids between the western Red-shafted and an occasional Yellow-shafted visitor from the east - rare or uncommon. One BOGS member saw a Yellow-shafted near Hynix 20 or so years ago.)
  • We did not see the Calliope hummingbird today, that has been reported very recently from along the new path down a bit SE from the top.
  • Some folks seeing 2 Gray flycatchers near the hidden meadow partway down the E side of the butte. Uncommon in our area.
  • Seeing 1 male plus 1 female Wild turkey, on the new path just below the hidden meadow on the E side of the butte. Male in full display and noisy; making loud startling gobbles.
  • The N/S alley just W of High St. and N of N. 2nd and 3rd Sts. is always worth checking. Today we saw 3 Violet-green swallows on a wire in the alley, plus 5 House finches on gravel in a drive, plus 1 Golden-crowned sparrow and 3 White-crowned sparrows on grass and shrubs. Plus the N end of that alley, just above where its N end joins the road, has a great view of the Bald eagle nest. You are looking almost across at the nest, instead of looking up from below it, and there are fewer branches and leaves in the way. Today from there we saw 1 adult Bald eagle flying, one adult sitting two conifers W of the nest, and two small fuzzy beige chicks in the nest.
  • Seeing 1 Sharp-shinned hawk (pointy wings, flap flap flap glide, very fast wing-beat, long tail), that flew high over the eagle nest.
  • One of our more experienced folks saw 1 Western tanager in trees above today's parking area when a few of us got back from the alley; she was first back there. Gone a minute or so later, when others of us got back. Later note: The next day two BOGS members saw 4 Western tanagers along Cantrell Rd. So they are currently in our area.
  • Also back at parking: Some folks saw 1 Cabbage white butterfly. (Some BOGS folks have seen a few others, last few days.)

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