Subject: WOS CONFERENCE RECAP
Date: Sep 6 20:42:46 1999
From: Andy Stepniewski - steppie at wolfenet.com


Tweeters,

This account is a little late; I offer no apologies save all those
Bartletts and D'Anjou pears and Gala apples command some of my attention
at this season.

The 1999 Washington Ornithological Society Conference was held in Yakima WA
from August 27-29 1999.An impressive list of over 150 species were seen on
the various field trips offered during the conference. What follows is a
discussion of the birds seen, with notes on unusual species. Finally, I
speculate on some notable "misses."

Starting with Vantage on the Columbia River, various diving birds
associated with this extensively man-altered habitat were seen. The
slackwaters behind the numerous dams on the Columbia and Snake Rivers now
offer a habitat probably not available to any extent in the interior of
Washington prior to dam construction. Common Loon, Horned and Red-necked
Grebes, Double-crested Cormorant, Glaucous-winged Gull were all noted. Many
passerines usually use the riparian-zone vegetation along the Columbia at
Vantage. However, perhaps due to stable weather both before and during the
conference, the hoped-for rare warblers "dancing over our heads" (Steve
Mlodinow's fantasy) were seemingly absent. It may be migrants were not
being stressed so much they were forced to seek food and shelter along the
low river valleys, thus departing this region presumably at higher
altitudes in the mountains or just cruising over in the stratosphere (a bit
of an exaggeration).

However, some species characteristic of this most arid region of Washington
were observed: Prairie Falcon, Say's Phoebe, Rock and Canyon Wrens, and
Lark Sparrow.

Participants on the popular trip to the stately Garry Oak groves and fort
at Fort Simcoe saw tons of charismatic Lewis's Woodpeckers, as advertised,
a good variety of swallows, White-breasted Nuthatch, Gray Catbird,
Yellow-breasted Chat, Grasshopper Sparrow (on the late side), and
Black-headed Grosbeak.

Most intriguing at Fort Simcoe was a single observer report by Jerry
Broadus (with experience with this species in Texas) of a Yellow-billed
Cuckoo being chased into the trees by a mob of Lewis's Woodpeckers. It
could not be relocated. If confirmed, I believe it would be a first record
for south-central Washington.

The trip into the scenic Yakima Canyon yielded Osprey, Prairie Falcon,
Chukar, a migrant Gray Flycatcher along Umtanum Creek (a species
infrequently recorded in Washington away from its breeding habitat in the
lower Ponderosa Pine Zone), a nice collection of passerine migrants and
Lazuli Bunting (recorded also at Fort Simcoe and in the Wenas, a species
heretofore seldom noted at the end of August).

The Wenas trip had the highest species list of any of the fieldtrips (69)
which surprised me a little. If this trip had been scheduled in May or
June, this would have been expected in my experience (100+ species is usual
on the same route in spring). By the end of August, however, the Wenas
seems to get quiet and it usually is more difficult to find the birds.
Singing has ceased, the birds tend to be in drabber plumages and less
conspicuous. The high count undoubtedly reflects both the expert leadership
represented on this trip and very possibly the fact I am wrong - it is now
proven that the wide array of breeding species for which the Wenas is
justly famed can still be found late in August (with a bit more effort).

Certainly boosting the total in the Wenas was eight species of shorebirds
on Wenas Lake, including Baird's Sandpiper. Other notable sightings
included: Golden Eagle, Calliope Hummingbird, Red-eyed Vireo (likely a
migrant as not known as a breeder here in recent years), Pygmy Nuthatch,
Western and Mountain Bluebirds, Purple Finch (a very local breeder on the
lower east slopes of the Cascades), and Red Crossbill.

The Cascades Bethel Ridge trip took us to all the way up to Timberwolf
Mountain (6,300'), a very scenic peak which formerly was the site of a fire
lookout. In the lower forests, we encountered scads of birds, including
seven species of woodpeckers (Lewis's Woodpecker, Williamson's and
Red-naped Sapsuckers, Downy, Hairy, and White-headed Woodpeckers, and
Northern Flicker). Other birds included Olive-sided Flycatcher, Hammond's
Flycatcher, all three nuthatches, three chickadee species, warblers
(including a Black-throated Gray, scarce in this area) and roving flocks of
juncos.

On the return of this trip, we stopped .10 mile east of the Hwy. 12/410
junction to look and listen for the Western Scrub-Jay seen by Bruce LeBar
and Ed Malais 27 August while driving to the conference. As in Puget Sound,
this species is evidently spreading north in eastern Washington. I heard a
family group in Goldendale this July; this is some distance north and east
of their usual limits in the Lyle area of Klickitat County.

What was missed? Only two species of owls were found (Barn and Great
Horned); this is in a region noted for its diversity of this group. At
least nine more species can be reasonably expected in the area at this
season! Is it fair to say the Saturday evening banquet (rumor has it the
no-host bar did $400 worth of sales) effectively reduced the number of
possible designated drivers and observers willing (and capable) of driving
into the mountains to find the owls? The plus side of our miserable owl
list is we were off the highways.

I find it interesting both Swainson's Thrush and Veery were missed. Both
were likely present in their respective habitats. Both become more
difficult to detect once they stop singing. We may have too few birders in
our community with keen ears because both species have fairly distinctive
and frequently given call notes.

Shrub-steppe species such as Sage Thrasher and Sage Sparrow were both
missed. Both are still present in the area, especially on the Yakima
Training Center. Unfortunately, the Department of the Army turned down our
request for access to this vast (second largest contiguous tract of
shrub-steppe at 330,000 acres in Washington) region. I sorely wanted to
share the treasures out there, including dawn trips to Upper Cold Creek, a
superb corridor for countless migrant passerines (and attendent raptors).
Maybe one day the birding community (and the public) will have free acess
to this critically important hub of Washington's shrub-steppe ecosystem.

Finally, Evening Grosbeak was missed. As Bill Tweit has documented on his
Rimrock Breeding Bird Survey, this species is usually abundant in the
Douglas Fir forests of the lower east slopes of the Cascades in the
breeding season. Where were they? Has the long-term Spruce Budworm
outbreak taken its course in these forests and these birds gone someplace
else? I don't know.

Check the WOS website At http://www.wos.org/TripList.htm for a
comprehensive list of species seen on each fieldtrip.

Andy Stepniewski
Wapato WA