hello tweeters.

the lab manager and i went to teanaway to take care of some lab
business and then we birded (and drove a little) for about 2.5
hours. it was glorious: the sun peeked at us from behind white
puff-ball clouds while the air vibrated with the love songs of
numerous birds and insects, occasionally tickled by light breezes.

it is apparent, by the lack of certain bird species, that spring
is especially tardy this year, but there were still some amazing
birds to be seen. we saw an adult Golden Eagle in robinson canyon.
this was most serendipitous because we had just been discussing
how this particular area appeared to be superb golden eagle
habitat, so when i popped out of the car for a look, i found that
i had temporarily lost my tongue when i spotted a golden eagle,
sitting regally on a rocky cliff nearby. the bird was quite relaxed
and sat on the rock for several minutes before soaring in several
tight circles, giving us great dorsal and ventral views, before
delicately touching down on another rocky outcropping nearby. we
watched her preen and scratch for awhile before we wandered off
in search of the many silent "little grey pains-in-the-a..," er,
Empids, that were hawking energetically from every bush. i thought
that i saw Willow, Western and Hammond's Flycatchers, based upon
physical characteristics and several call notes (but no song).
after attempting this "visual-mostly" ID on these birds, we later
ran into a group of birders from mercer island entering the
canyon, who said they saw two of the three species that we thought
we'd seen (willow and western).

when we first entered robinson canyon we also saw another lovely
species that i am particularly fond of: Lewis' Woodpecker. we saw
a pair flying over the road and landing in a snag near where the
pavement ends (and the rocks begin). one of the lewis' woodpeckers
sat very still for quite some time, allowing us long and satisfying
looks. it appeared that they are setting up housekeeping since
there were several large round holes in one of these snags, so
hopefully these birds can be easily spotted again in the near future.
however, when we left later, there was a male Northern (red-shafted)
Flicker in this very same tree, almost in the identical location.

killmore road, which leads to robinson canyon road, also had many
nice bird species, especially another of my favorites; the elegant
Long-billed Curlew. two long-billed curlews flew over us as we
stared up at them from the middle of the road. when they dipped below
the horizon, we finally were able to see their warm red-brown
breeding plumage but we were not able to see where they eventually
landed, and so were not able to get better looks at them. we also
located a red-tailed hawk nest that the lab manager had seen on a
previous trip, and listened to the insistent cries of a single
puff-ball chick as it called to its parents for food. the parents,
meanwhile, soared overhead, possibly due to several loud human
disturbances in the area (cattle-ranchers moving range-maggots to
the pasture occupied by the red-tailed hawk nest and a low-flying
helicopter). other birds seen here were Northern (Bullock's)
Orioles, Western Kingbird, and many California Quail running around
madly.

a quick stop near the flying horseshoe canyon creek was also quite
productive, particularly for warblers. we saw and heard
Macgillivray's, Yellow, Yellow-rumped (Audubon's and Myrtle),
Orange-crowned and Wilson's Warblers, and also saw a gorgeous male
Western Tanager clumsily attempting to hawk insects from a pine tree.
other birds seen here include Song, Golden- and White-crowned
Sparrows, Downy Woodpeckers, an Osprey and a Cooper's hawk. we also
saw Emu and Ostrich in separate fenced pastures.

several bird species were not seen, which was as remarkable as
those that we did see, especially mourning dove, ring-necked
pheasant and mountain and western bluebirds. weird, eh?

overall, it was a great day to be out birding, and despite our late
start (1130am) and short stay (returned to seattle at 630pm, after
getting caught in a traffic jam), we managed to see 55 species of
birds in about two-and-a-half hours. our bird list follows, for
those who might be interested;

western grebe, 3 near 520 floating bridge
canada goose
mallard
scaup sp., 2
long-billed curlew, 2 in breeding plumage, flying over killmore road
spotted sandpiper, 2 in breeding plumage, near horseshoe canyon creek
glaucous-winged gull, several sitting on lights on 520 floating bridge
turkey vulture, 1 at mile post 79 (I-90)
golden eagle, 1 adult, robinson canyon
bald eagle, 2 adults, broadmore nesting site
cooper's hawk, 1 flying over horseshoe canyon creek
red-tailed hawk, many everywhere, including the active nest on killmore
road
osprey, 1 flying over horseshoe canyon creek and one nest on the power
pole 1/2-1 mile east of cle elum exit
american kestrel, many sitting on or near the bluebird nestboxes
mounted on the freeway fences
california quail, many in numerous locations
rock dove
northern (red-shafted) flicker
lewis' woodpecker, 2 at entrance to robinson canyon
downy woodpecker, horseshoe canyon creek
western kingbird, killmore road
hammond's flycatcher
willow flycatcher
western flycatcher
tree swallow
violet-green swallow
cliff swallow
barn swallow
steller's jay, indian joe hill
black-billed magpie
american crow
common raven
ruby-crowned kinglet
hermit thrush
american robin
european starling
orange-crowned warbler
yellow-rumped (audubon's) warbler
yellow-rumped (myrtle) warbler
yellow warbler
macgillivray's warbler
wilson's warbler
spotted towhee
song sparrow
dark-eyed junco
white-crowned (gambel's) sparrow
golden-crowned sparrow
western meadowlark
red-winged blackbird
brewer's blackbird
brown-headed cowbird
northern (bullock's) oriole, 3 and probably more, killmore road
western tanager, 1 and probably more, horseshoe canyon creek
house (english) sparrow
cassin's finch
house finch

non-avian list;

elk
mule deer
ground squirrel (NOT golden-mantled)
yellow-bellied marmot
mourning cloak butterflies, numerous in robinson canyon
little blue butteflies (fender's blue?)
little yellow butterflies
little white butterflies
several species of bumblebees
helicopter landing on top of a blue van in an open field (?!)

Deborah Wisti-Peterson email:nyneve at u.washington.edu
Department of Zoology, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash, USA
Visit me on the web: http://students.washington.edu/~nyneve/
<><><>Graduate School: it's not just a job, it's an indenture!<><><>