I visited parts of the Columbia Basin on 3 June to see what gems of the
avian world shone in the summer sun.

Dodson Road impressed me as a perfect paradigm of the degradation of
natural habitats to which we all bear witness. I began birding along that
road close to 20 years ago, and soon found it one of the more exciting
birding destinations, with good populations of marsh birds of many kinds.
It was my choice of places to visit for a rewarding Columbia basin
experience, and I always took bird classes there; it's scarcely worth it
now.

Now, in some of the ponds that used to be full of birds, there is almost
nothing; just in the last few years, most species have declined. Purple
loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) has crowded out the native marsh vegetation
all along its length, and now common reed (Phragmites communis), another
introduced scourge of northeastern wetlands, is increasing rapidly.

Stilts, avocets, and Wilson's Phalaropes all used to be common; we saw none
Saturday. Duck diversity was limited to the usually common Mallards,
Cinnamon Teals, Redheads, and Ruddies. One pair of Caspian Terns and a
Killdeer were the only representatives of the large shorebird/gull order.
The sand bars in Winchester Wasteway and a shallow pond on Frenchman Hills
wasteway that used to be covered with birds were covered instead with
vegetation. Some of this change may be normal vegetation succession, of
course, and the birds may be elsewhere in the area.

The sagebrush habitat along the road has also been severely degraded. It
used to be fairly extensive, and I've seen most of the sagebrush birds
along the road, including Sage Sparrows. Now that is rare, primarily
because agricultural fields are replacing the natural habitat fairly
rapidly, although there is still the occasional Sage Thrasher, Loggerhead
Shrike, or Lark Sparrow to be seen along Dodson.

Interestingly, on 4 SW, which runs west from Dodson Road, there were quite
good numbers of Sage Thrashers in clearly degraded habitat, in which
rabbitbrush and cheatgrass dominated, along with scattered sagebrush and
bitterbrush. It appears as if the thrashers are more resilient to habitat
alteration than I had thought. Perhaps they can exist in suboptimal
habitat but may be doomed ultimately if insect numbers diminish. The large
numbers of sagebrush lizards along the same road indicates a reasonably
healthy community, but wear gaiters if you want to explore it--the
cheatgrass is sock-hungry.

Dennis Paulson, Director phone: (206) 756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax: (206) 756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail: dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416