Yakkers,

Yesterday, Christmas Day, Ellen and I went south to southernmost Yakima
County into the Horse Heaven Hills and spent part of the day wandering this
seldom-visited part of our county. We actually got above the ice fog that
has seemingly choked low-lying areas of the Columbia Basin thus far this
winter and bathed in brilliant sunshine on the snowy wheatfields, with
great views of Mt. Adams and Mt. Rainier off to the west, the tops of Yakima
and Umtanum Ridges to the north and northeast, and the Blue Mountains on the
distant south and east horizons. The view elsewhere was a sea of cloud tops.

While much of the landscape on the Horse Heaven Hills is wheat country, a
classic monoculture, there are a number of unfarmed ravines with
shrub-steppe of Idaho Fescue, Big and Threetip Sagebrush, and scattered
Western Juniper (Juniperus occidentalis), northern outposts (along with the
groves in the Juniper Dunes Wilderness northeast of Pasco) of the Western
Juniper "forests" typical of eastern Oregon. Here we found the most
diversity of birdlife. And, there were lots of deer (we noted three bucks
off to themselves, nearby were 21 does or youngsters in one herd! Rabbit,
Coyote, and rodent sign was also abundant in the ravines.

The highlight of the day was a male Mountain Bluebird in a yard along
County Line Road northeast of Bickleton (south and east of Bickleton/Mabton
Road). The bird flew north from some pines in a yard to a wild Western
Juniper in a nearby ravine, This was the first December record of this
species for Yakima County; there are also no records for January. However,
This sighting is not altogether unexpected as I have noted Mountain
Bluebirds in the Rocky Mountain Junipers (Juniperus scopularum) below Grand
Coulee Dam in December in habitat with shrub-steppe, hackberry (Celtis
reticulata), and scattered junipers. Berries would seem to form an important
component of bluebirds wintering this far north.

I checked winter Christmas Bird Count data for Oregon (for 1999) and seem to
be able to draw a close association with the presence of Western Juniper and
presence of Mountain Bluebirds. Bend and Prineville, both in the heart of
juniper country, had good numbers of Mountain Bluebirds, while counts away
from junipers seemed to have fewer or none. Incidentially, Townsend's
Solitaires also favor Western Juniper for their winter diet; we noted
several of these gentle thrushes today, also in the junipers.

Another highlight was close observation of a lone Snow Bunting amongst 1,000
or so Horned Larks in a barren field atop the ridge, but near to weedy
ground where they appeared to forage. Close studies of Snow Buntings are
always a treat; this is truly a beautiful bird!

A walk amidst brush edges near wheatfields, this time north of the
Bickleton/Mabton Road produced more good views: this time of Gray Partridge,
Ring-necked Pheasant, and California Quail. I thought this might be great
fodder for the neighborhood Gyrfalcon, but alas, no such luck.

Birds seen atop the Horse Heaven Hills:

Northern Harrier - 3
Red-tailed Hawk - 3
Rough-legged Hawk - 5
American Kestrel - 4
Prairie Falcon - 2
Gray Partridge - 8
Ring-necked Pheasant - 3
California Quail - 25
Mourning Dove - 1
Northern (Red-shafted) Flicker - 1, junipers
Horned Lark - 3,000, combied all flocks;I perceived a higher percentage of
"yellow" birds (local breeders?), than one valley to north (Black Rock
Valley east of Moxee) where whitish Arctic(?) breeders seem to be more
numerous.
Black-billed Magpie - 5, attracted to dead coyote
Common Raven - 5
Mountain Bluebird - 1
Townsend's Solitaire - 2, junipers
American Robin - 5, junipers
Dark-eyed (Oregon) Junco - 50
Snow Bunting - 1
Western Meadowlark - 1
House Sparrow - 30, farmyard


Andy Stepniewski
Wapato Wa
steppie at nwinfo.net