Wilson Cady phoned me this evening after one of our number mailed him my
post of the other day. He passes along the following on Black Phoebe
access at Washougal's sewage lagoon.

The official word from the Director of Public Works is that access to the
lagoons is closed. HOWEVER, the guys on site know of the bird and are
okay with people coming in if they follow these rules (checking in at the
buildng would be a nice courtesy probably):

1) DO NOT hop any fences--if it's closed, try the alternative
listed below that Wilson provides.
2) If access is possible, park OUTSIDE the gate and DO NOT block
the road.
3) Stay on the westernmost road that borders the NWF land. DO NOT wander
in between the ponds. This road is where the bird ahs been seen, so no
wandering should be needed. The road also provides nice height for
scoping.

Wilson is working on gaining access to the lagoons for
long-term viewing of them and the refuge around them in diplomatic
channels which he should be praised for. PLEASE be aware of this and DO
NOT JEOPARDIZE his work by hopping the fence.

AN ALTERNATIVE
If the gate is closed, Wilson suggested an alternative which keeps you out
of the Sewage Lagoon area--it does have you go into closed NWF habitat,
so do be aware of this (your call). Any errors here are in my
transcription:
1) Melt the jello in a bowl--wait that's for my wife's cranberry mold,
the ingredients of which I have to get after posting :)
1) Coming from the west, take 32nd ST. into the Industrial Area
2) At the stop sign, take a left.
3) Follow this paved road until it turns to gravel. AFter a while,
you'll see a model airplane field. DO NOT block this road either. Park
there.
4) A small weather station is located on a berm. This overlooks the
marsh toward the sewage lagoons. You'll see a chain link fence--walk
along the chain link fence toward the sewage lagoon (my best guest is that
you'll be southwest of the sewage lagoons here). The ground cover here is
three-foot high reed canary grass (Jeff Gilligan's favorite plant).
5) Eventually you'll come to an old roadbed that run from the sewage
lagoon. It gets more intactly paved the nearer you get to the lagoon.
The bird has been seen from this place (when I last saw it, it basically
flew parallel to this road into a scrubby willow area from which the raod
eminated)

Hope this helps. The bird was VERY vocal when I saw it Monday, so
listening to tapes before you leave may help. Please keep in midn the
sewage lagoon instructions.

How about this? AN e-mail copied and sent via snail mail tirning into a
telephone call and now another e-mail--pretty cool.

Happy T-Day to all. Ray

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ray Korpi "Television doesn't allow much depth."
Portland, OR/Vancouver, WA --Dan Rather, interviewed by
rkorpi at clark.edu Don Imus, 11/6/97
Compiler, Portland, OR CBC, January 3, 1998
President, Oregon Field Ornithologists
--New members always welcome--