Hello Tweets,

My mother and I birded Skamania and Klickitat Cos. along Hwy.14 April 8&9th
with a total of 91 species, with weather being mostly cloudy with partly
sunny skies and rain at times. Highlights included: CINNAMON TEAL,TURKEY
VULTURES(on ground),WILD TURKEY, LONG-BILLED CURLEW, ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRD,
ACORN WOODPECKER, LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE, and HARRIS'S SPARROW.

We started our trip at Stevenson, where the RUDDY SHELDUCK was still
present on the SK Co. fairgrounds, and at Home Valley Park a single
ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER was present. We then travelled into Klickitat Co
observing several OSPREY and TURKEY VULTURES along the way, until we
arrived at Lyle. 2 CASPIAN TERN and good numbers of California Gulls with a
few Ring-billed Gulls were present at the mouth of the Klickitat River. We
then attempted with NO luck for the ACORN WOODPECKERS for 3 HOURS near
Balch Lake, but did observe 1 male WILD TURKEY and 10 WOOD DUCKS. We
decided to head east to Maryhill S.P., where we slept overnight. The next
morning(today) we birded the park, where we observed and photographed 7
TURKEY VULTURES on the ground as they sunned themselves in the morning sun.
Several other vultures were also observed in a grove of Cottonwood trees
and flying over the park. We did NOT see any LESSER GOLDFINCHES, whch I
have seen in past visits, but did observe 2 HARRIS'S SPARROWS loosely
associating with W.C. Sparrows near the camping area. Along Hwy.14 a lone
LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE was seen east of Maryhill Museum, and a pair of
LONG-BILLED CURLEW was seen and photographed at close range. Heading west
we decided to check the Lyle area again, where a single male ANNA'S
HUMMINGBIRD was noted .9 miles north of town on S.R. 142 along a gravel
that accesses to a fishing/camping area along the Klickitat River. 2
BUSHTITS were also seen. We then checked near Balch Lake and finally saw
and photographed 1 ACORN WOODPECKER! The bird was seen on Balch Lk.Rd.,
just west of the lake on private state owned land within vast groves of oak
trees with a few stands of Ponderosa pine. We were lucky enough to observe
the bird along the road as it foraged through the trees in the same area my
mother had 2 birds on the March 21st. At Stevenson 2 CLIFF and 3 N.
ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOWS were noted among good numbers of V.G. and Tree
Swallows, and 75 BAND-TAILED PIGEONS in town and east of town on Hwy. 14.
On our way home we scoped the Steigerwald NWR in Clark Co. from Hwy. 14,
where a pair of CINNAMON TEAL and 3 BARN SWALLOWS were present.

Good Birding,

Patrick Sullivan
GODWIT at worldnet.att.net