Hello Tweets,

My mother and I spent Memorial Weekend in E WA, starting at Wenas Campout
Sat.-early Sunday with the intention of mainly birding, and finding
dragonflies. At Wenas we ran into Jerry and Sandy Converse of Grand Coulee,
who at that point on birded with us in the Wenas vicinity, then led us to
Robinson Canyon, west of Ellensburg, after my mother was disappointed in
finding only 2 dragonflies with one along N.Fork of Wenas Creek, and one at
Lower Hardy Canyon, which surprised us as the weather was very warm with
high temperatures in the low 90's on Sat. and Sunday, with occasional
moderate to heavy wind in places, with increasing clouds late Sunday,
turning to mostly cloudy Monday AM, with rain west of Ellensburg along I-90
to North Bend. At Wenas Camping area we encountered ALL the main summer
residents including WHITE-HEADED WOODPECKER, GRAY FLYCATCHER, BLACK-CHINNED
HUMMINGBIRD,VEERY, and one PURPLE FINCH(uncommon and local on the east
slope of the Cascades), but the first main highlight came when I owled
along Dry Creek, west of the campground, from 8:45pm-1:30am, including
walking time, on Sat. night, where I encountered 2 FLAMMULATED OWLS, and 1
N.SAW-WHET OWL in appropriate habitat, along with calling C.POORWILLS. The
next day(Sunday)we all started at Lower Hardy Canyon, where we observed 1
singing LEAST FLYCATCHER in an aspen grove along Oak Creek, and 4 GRAY
CATBIRDS, which are rather scarce in this area, with only single birds
being seen by us in past years, so maybe there will be an expansion in the
area. Other birds present included YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT, LAZULI BUNTING,
and PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHER. We then headed towards Ellensburg, driving
north through scenic Yakima River Canyon, with 2 TURKEY VULTURES, and
several WHITE-THROATED SWIFTS overhead.. At the base of the Robinson
Canyon, we ran into Michael Donahue of Seattle, who informed us of 2
ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHERS, that had been seen near a beaver pond, further up
the canyon, by another party, and a N.PYGMY OWL, that he and the other
birding party observed also the same sight. We headed up the canyon, and
encountered the calling N.PYGMY OWL at very close range, along with
photographes taken. The bird appeared to be on territory, as we only saw
one bird, which remained the rest of the day, and seen and heard the next
day in the general vicinity. On Monday(today)my mother and the Converse's
walked up the canyon, past the lower beaver pond, and observed 1
ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER, that had just bathed in a pool of water, which I
missed, until I searched the area, where the bird had last been seen, and
encounter 2 birds, probably a pair, on a vegetated slope above the canyon.
Several other notable species during our stay included: 2 PRAIRIE FALCONS,
2 WHITE-THROATED SWIFTS, a PURPLE FINCH family(of which I heard one bird
singing),DUSKY,HAMMOND'S, and OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHERS, CALLIOPE
HUMMINGBIRD, 1 HERMIT THRUSH, VEERY, 2 LEWIS' WOODPECKER, 1 GRAY CATBIRD, 1
LINCOLN'S SPARROW, and fairly good numbers of warblers including:WILSON'S,
YELLOW, MACGILLIVRAY'S, NASHVILLE, ORANGE-CROWNED, YELLOW-RUMPED, and
TOWNSEND'S, in that order. On the way home at Easton along I-90, 4
BAND-TAILED PIGEONS were observed, which are very scarce on the east slope
of the Cascades Despite having basically NO dragonflies, the trip was
rewarding on the birding scale, as well as running into several birders
along the way, which is always a pleasure.

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
GODWIT at worldnet.att.net