This is the eighteenth installment of the “Site Guide”. It covers a site that is found in the Coast Range of Columbia County a transect road: Pittsburg Rd.

 

This guide will be published in a series of installments:

Overview of Columbia County (5/9/14 post)

Habitats of Columbia County (5/9/14 post)

Birds of Columbia County – Overview (5/9/14 post)

Birding Sites of Columbia County – Individual installments, and associated Bird Lists of the Sites in Columbia County:

Introduction (5/12/14 post)

 

Columbia River Sites – South to North

Sauvie Island (5/12/14 post)

Scappoose WTP and Kessi Pond (5/14/14 post)

Crown Zellerbach Trail – East End (5/15/14 post)

Scappoose Bottoms (5/19/14 post)

Scappoose Bay (5/29/14 post)

St. Helens WTP and Knob Hill Park (5/30/14 post)

Gray Cliffs Waterfront Park and Dalton Lake (6/1/14 post)

Dalton Lake Trail, Columbia City, Dyno Nobel, Nicolai Wetlands, Gobel Marina (6/17/14 post)

Trojan Park, Carr Slough, Prescott Beach, Laurel Beach CP (6/22/14 post)

Rainier Waterfront, Dibblee Point, Rainier Dike Rd (6/24/14 post)

Erickson Dike Rd, John’s Slough (6/25/14 post)

Marshland Drainage District (6/27/14 post)

 

Coast Range Birding Sites

Pisgah Home Rd, Crown Zellerbach Trail (West), Bonnie Falls (7/1/14 post)

Gunners Lakes (7/3/14 post)

Pittsburg Road (7/23/14 post)

 

Here is a map of all the locations mentioned in this guide.

(A link to a downloadable copy of this guide is found in the first installment of this series)

Pittsburg Rd:

Location/Directions: (45.9009, -123.1408) 15.8 miles from Scappoose, and 0.1 mile from Hwy 47 on the Scappoose – Vernonia Hwy. From this point to Canaan Rd is 13.2 miles, all on gravel roads that vary in condition depending on logging activity.

Habitat and Birds: All but the last mile or so of the road is heavily managed Coast Range Douglas Fir forest in varying stages of harvest. The best strategy is to just get out at promising looking areas. Any place is subject to radical change from year to year. Sooty and Ruffed Grouse, Mountain Quail (rare), Gray Jays, Hermit Warblers, Hutton’s Vireos, Band-tailed Pigeons and Western Bluebirds are the highlights. Possibilities include Northern Goshawk, and Saw-whet, and Northern Pygmy Owls. From the junction with Canaan Rd it is 10.7 miles along Pittsburg Rd into St. Helens and 9.6 miles into Deer Island along Canaan Rd.

Pittsburg Rd (PL) – 70 species, 10 (5/12/14)

Cackling Goose	Canada Goose	Mallard
Mountain Quail	Ruffed Grouse	Sooty Grouse
Turkey Vulture	Sharp-shinned Hawk	Northern Goshawk
Red-tailed Hawk	Sandhill Crane	Band-tailed Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove	Mourning Dove	Anna’s Hummingbird
Rufous Hummingbird	Red-breasted Sapsucker	Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker	American Kestrel	Olive-sided Flycatcher
Western Wood-Pewee	Willow Flycatcher	Hammond’s Flycatcher
Pacific-slope Flycatcher	Hutton’s Vireo	Warbling Vireo
Gray Jay	Steller’s Jay	Western Scrub-Jay
American Crow	Common Raven	Tree Swallow
Violet-green Swallow	Black-capped Chickadee	Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch	Brown Creeper	House Wren
Pacific Wren	Bewick’s Wren	Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	Western Bluebird	Swainson’s Thrush
American Robin	Varied Thrush	European Starling
Cedar Waxwing	Orange-crowned Warbler	MacGillivray’s Warbler
Common Yellowthroat	Yellow-rumped Warbler	Black-throated Gray
Townsend’s Warbler	Hermit Warbler	Wilson’s Warbler
Spotted Towhee	Fox Sparrow	Song Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow	Golden-crowned Sparrow	Dark-eyed Junco
Western Tanager	Black-headed Grosbeak	Red-winged Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird	Purple Finch	Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch	Evening Grosbeak