Great trip, fabulous country, and delightful change of pace from a more usual
marine outlook. No Green-tailed Towhees (or Mountain Quail or Flammulated
Owl) were located this time, despite many many hours and three days worth of
effort searching. There is probably a bird or two (G-t Towhee, that is) up
there in the Blue Mountains somewhere and perhaps better known by local
birders who have an opportunity to visit the area more often. So, nothing
really unusual or unexpected, just the thrill of visiting a new area was
enough.

For We'tside birders contemplating a trip to the far Southeast corner of our
state, you should find it most rewarding. If you have never been there
before, the eastern Blue Mountains of Asotin and eastern Garfield Counties
are absolutely wonderful! Even something as simple as the early dawn chorus
of American Robins in Clarkston was the most intense and deafening I've
experienced anywhere! That in itself will forever be most memorable.

Spectacular in breaking the arid rugged canyon relief of the mid-level
elevations en route to the "top" is an "oasis", a rich ribbon of green
riparian woodland out of Asotin, up the Asotin Creek Drainage all along the
road to the Asotin Creek Wildlife Area. This whole 15 mile stretch is dense
in birdlife and early morning chorus to match. This section also contained
the highest density of "birds sounding like Cordilleran Flycatchers"
encountered anywhere on the trip, with a minimum of 26 counted. The call is
so distinctive and loud and "different" from the more familiar "birds
sounding like Pacific-slope Flycatchers", as to be readily heard and
recognizable in passing from the car.

On up the Lickfork from Asotin Creek W.A., the "birds sounding like
Cordilleran Flycatchers" begin to give way to the other species of
_Empidonax_ flycatchers [Willow (actually everywhere in suitable habitat,
especially low to mid-level), Gray, Dusky, and Hammond's] as the road
gradually enters Ponderosa and Douglas Fir, then climbs to the cooler wet
coniferous top at 6,000+ ft. All along the Lickfork is great area to
frequently stop and really study the "difficult" _Empi's_ in depth, and maybe
even watch out for Least and Alder as well. No possible candidates this
time, however. Also, another Black Bear was encountered along this road.

I think it best to withdraw that earlier suggestive post regarding
>>...ughm... 'whisper'... possible (upland sandpiper & 'odd' longspurs)
habitat along the Cloverland Road :-X . I was just so enraptured by the
unexpected early dawn experience up there the first day, the departure from
reality (plus a dash of ignorance) just got the best of me :-)). Sorry. But
then, surprises are always possible, I suppose. A little higher up that way,
Vesper Sparrows prevail as a characteristic species in the sweeping
grasslands just below and prior to entering the Ponderosa Pine zone along
both the Cloverland and Smoothing Iron Ridge Roads (latter not advised if wet
and muddy or even if threatening to become so!).

Another interesting area of note was in the utter-most SE corner of the state
along the Joseph Creek Road (and Chief Joseph Wildlife Area) along and south
of the Grande Ronde River, south to the Oregon state line (exactly 364.2
miles, shortest route I think, from there to my door in Bellevue). Along
this road, the green ribbon of riparian streamside woodland and brush
contained the highest density of Yellow-breasted Chats I've ever encountered
anywhere. Easily, *20-30* were seen and/or heard along this 6.5 mile stretch
of road, ubiquitous and seemingly calling from everywhere in suitable
habitat. You couldn't help but to "see" a few of these rather skulky
overgrown warblers just by their sheer numbers and with minimal patience.

I had a fairly good lead on Mountain Quail in this area. A recent Mountain
Quail survey conducted by an Oregon biologist whom I learned second hand from
local state wildlife people, report a few scattered birds (perhaps hardly
enough to qualify as a viable population, as they put it) in the hills on the
east side of Joseph Creek Road, but mostly way up in the breaks of this
really rugged country and finding one would require considerable effort,
energy, and luck.

This is also a good area to see Bighorn Sheep and the herds of Elk. Deer,
both Mule and White-tailed, including a seemingly disproportionate number of
velvet bucks, were conspicuous and numerous, not so much in the Joseph Creek
valley, but otherwise throughout the low to mid-level arid grass and
agricultural lands of the extreme Southeastern counties.

Both the Asotin Creek and the Joseph Creek Roads look like having great
potential as "vagrant traps". All total, some 154 species were recorded in
five days in the Southeast Washington area bounded on the west by the
Columbia River (but including the "west bank" Black-throated Sparrow and
Common Loon in the river south of Vantage), State Route 26 (north), Oregon
state line (south) and Idaho / Snake River (east).

To Eastern Washington / Western Idaho "tweets": Nothing mentioned here you
probably didn't already know, so please excuse my gushing forth about a
wonderful experience over in your territory. It probably sounds pretty ho
hum, but for me at least for a few days, it was invigorating and inspiring
relief from the usual cold salt spray in the face.

Now... back to the reality of that rolly polly life on the high seas. First,
Alaska/SE Bering Sea-bound in July, then "jetting" straight away off the
Pribilofs, and *out of the freezer and into the frying pan* to San Felipe,
Baja California, and six weeks out on the surreal upper Sea of Cortez, for a
Vaquita (porpoise study) where sizzling mid-August temperatures will be 110+F
with humidity to match*. Eeek-gods! I'd be lying if I said I wasn't just a
tad apprehensive about how my tired old body will adapt that!

Richard Rowlett
Bellevue, WA