Tweeters,

I birded in the Wenas Saturday with a group of six novice birders.
Highlights were:

- extremely high water on Audubon Road into the Boise Cascade
campground; I got through just fine with my Dodge Caravan but everyone held
their breath;
- only one outhouse still standing in the campground; we didn't
check to see if it was able to be used; I'm not sure what campers on
Memorial Weekend can expect in that regard.

Birds:

- one WHITE-HEADED WOODPECKER in the campground that gave us all
wonderful views;
- one WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH, one female CASSIN'S FINCH and five
RED CROSSBILLS on the ground within twenty feet of us on the road at the
south end of the campground;
- two TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE in a dead cottonwood near the creek in
the campground;
- great views of both WESTERN BLUEBIRD AND MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD all
along N. Wenas Road;
- TOWNSEND'S WARBLER in aspens in Hardy Canyon;
- two BURROWING OWLS along the elk fence on Sheep Company Road;
- bluebird box #16 has WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCHES nexting in it with
six eggs yesterday; the boxes with bluebirds near them had only the
startings of nests;

I think there are many species - warblers and flycatchers especially - that
haven't gotten back yet. We saw only two warblers and one DUSKY FLYCATCHER
all day.

When I got home, in the white ash tree in my back yard I found two CEDAR
WAXWINGS, one male MYRTLE WARBLER and lots of WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS
feeding on a bumper crop of aphids. This is the first time this tree has
had aphids in the almost eight years I have lived here. Tomorrow I plan to
buy a couple of boxes of ladybugs to combat them. The ladybugs worked well
on our two maple trees last year. I will keep you posted in case you also
are trying to get away from spraying your yard and trees.

Denny Granstrand
Yakima, WA