HI Tweets

There have been a lot of new photos on the net lately and they are greatly
appreciated. I have not seen any photos of Red-naped Sapsuckers or have
just missed them.

In response to the report of the birds at Wenas seen during the Audubon
Camp Out, Elaine and I stopped by on our way back from business in the Tri
Cities and caught some great views including a California Quail pair with
14 chicks that were probably only a day or two old. We hoped for the
Williamson's Sapsuckers that had been reported nesting but didn't find
them. We did however locate two nest holes for Red-naped (I don't recall
seeing them mentioned on the report and thought that Wenas is west of their
range -- did we miss ID them?!). Both are active and one would present
an excellent photo op for someone in the area. Right where you have to
unhook the gate across the road, there is standing water off to the left.
In one of the first trees past the gate in the standing water and only a
couple of feet high is a nest hole facing the road. It is only about
twenty feet from where you stop to rehook the gate! The other nest hole is
about 3.0 to 3.1 miles from where Malloy and Wenas and Audubon road split
at the pavement. There are a number of dead Cottonwoods off to the right
and a less travelled road forks to the right and goes past them. Standing
on the road and looking at the Cottonwoods, check out the leftmost ones.
One is broken off at about twenty-five feet and the one to its right goes
from a single trunk to a double trunk (forks). In the broken off one near
the top of the main trunk is a nest hole visible from the road. Both the
male and female are apparently feeding young and come and go every few
minutes. If you miss the dead cottonwoods and come to post with Ba(?)bek
Sp written vertically on it, you have gone just a shade too far!

The crop of Bluebirds is impressive this year and Nighthawks were involved
in some acrobatics.

Excellent day!

Good Luck and Good Birding

Elaine and Bob
Federal Way, WA
taylorrt at foxinternet.net