Fern Ridge beckons to budding birders.

Byline: Susan Palmer The Register-Guard

FERN RIDGE LAKE - Daniel Farrar set up his spotting scope on the gravel road overlooking the marsh just east of Fern Ridge Lake. About 30 yards away, three black-necked stilts - an unusual sight west of the Cascades - poked around in the shallow muddy water.

Farrar, an assistant biologist with the Army Corps of Engineers, likes showing off these slender birds with the distinctive black and white markings because they're easy to spot and unlikely to fly away. That's important to a guy whose mission is introducing newcomers to the joys of bird-watching.

Farrar will lead an early morning hike for neophyte birders on Saturday and expects to be able to show off some of Fern Ridge's more dramatic inhabitants.

The black stilt is a prime example: a bird more commonly found in southern central Oregon, several breeding pairs have settled in around Fern Ridge in recent years.

Slightly ungainly, stilts have the longest legs in proportion to their body mass of any other bird, which is how they got their name, Farrar said.

While the lake is drained for dam repair work this summer, the surrounding marshes are still home to a stunning variety of species. Well over 200 types of birds can be found on the water and in the surrounding grasses and trees, Farrar said. Permanent residents such as darting purple martins and ubiquitous red-winged black birds give way to larger egrets and American white pelicans. Rare visitors such as sharp-tailed sandpipers - a bird more common to Siberia and the Asian coastline - also make the occasional appearance, blown off course by storms, Farrar said.

"Fern Ridge is a great place for diversity," he said.

Farrar, a biology student who just graduated from Lane Community College and will begin studies at the University of Oregon this fall, works for the corps on several projects, including national research involving counting and banding birds. But he has also enjoyed conducting bird-watching hikes this summer.

"It's like treasure hunting," he said, "only you don't keep the treasure."

The stilts on the marsh have just hatched their young within the past few weeks. Unlike many other birds, they aren't born featherless and helpless. They come out of the shell feathered and ready to run, Farrar said.

On this sunny afternoon, they aren't the only birds in the marsh. Greater yellowlegs, a shore bird, wander among stalks of last year's corn planted to give food and cover for wildlife. A black tern scans the water from a post. Nearby, a marsh wren chitters in a tree and a savannah sparrow settles in below it. Overhead, an osprey hunts.

It's easy to get started watching birds, Farrar said. All you need is a pair of binoculars, a bird identification book, a notebook and some time to wander around outdoors.

Farrar recommends binoculars with a seven or eight magnification and suggests people hold off on buying expensive spotting scopes.

"Don't spend and arm and a leg until you're addicted," he said.

Many bird identification books are available, but for beginners, Farrar suggests the "Focus Guide to the Birds of North America" by Ken Kaufman, which uses digitally enhanced photographs to emphasize a bird's distinctive markings. He also likes "David Sibley's Guide to Birds."

But more important than the bird book is a notebook and pencil to jot down what you see. Details such as coloring, size, whether a bird has a thick or thin bill all make it easier to find the bird in a guide book later.

The marsh wren and the sparrow make for good comparisons. While the two - essentially nondescript little brown birds - look similar, the marsh wren has a longer tail that it flits up while it sits.

Farrar suggests learning to distinguish among families of birds - terns vs. seagulls, sparrows vs. warblers - when starting out.

"The more details you look for, the more you find," he said.

Farrar will be able to help hikers spot and identify birds, but he also has a wealth of bird knowledge. He can describe how phalaropes feed by swimming in circles that trap insects in the spinning vortex of water, or that sanderlings breed on the tundra and leave their offspring to migrate south alone a month later.

The two-hour hike runs along the marshes west of the reservoir. It's an easy hike and bird sightings will probably include sandpipers, dowitches, ducks, coots, grebes, egrets and pelicans.

FOR THE BIRDS

Bird walk: 7:30 a.m. Saturday at Fern Ridge Lake. Drive west on Highway 126 from Eugene heading toward Veneta and turn right into the Fisher Road Wildlife Area parking lot, one mile past Fisher Road.

Bring: Bird identification books, binoculars, sunscreen and insect repellent.

Can't make it? Visit this Web site for a list of places to see birds around Fern Ridge and plan your own bird walk: www.VisitLaneCounty.org/birding hotspots