Williamson's Sapsucker
During the Eugene Christmas Bird Count (CBC) a bird usually found only on the East side of the Cascade Mountains was found south of Fern Ridge Reservoir. It was a beautiful male and it drew a steady stream of visitors from 12/29/2019 until... well at this writing on Jan 12, 2020, there is still a steady stream of birders going to see it.

Five of us decided to go see it after the BOGS Stewart Pond bird walk on Jan 9. That day, two birders from Portland were at the site. To be clear, this bird was not the one which brought them down to Eugene. They came down primarily to see an even rarer bird (which I've not yet gone to see), a Vermilion Flycatcher native to the Southwestern US states. This one was the 5th time one has ever been reported in Oregon. These two birders had seen the Flycatcher and then gone for the Williamson's Sapsucker while in the area.

We were fortunate in that when we arrived, Audrey Addison from Portland had the bird in her scope and let us enjoy looking at it. The bird was at quite a distance so we thought we might not have seen much of it if not for Audrey.

But we need not have worried. Just about everyone for whom this bird was at some distance when they arrived, this bird has soon flown to an apple tree which overhangs the road. It did the same thing for us after about 15 minutes, if not less. It flew straight towards us and landed in a tree 100 feet away. After a few minutes it flew to the apple tree and we walked over to the tree and enjoyed looking at it and taking photos. There were eight people at that point and all of us had cameras. The bird was not the least bit shy or concerned with out presence. Everyone was happy.