Subject: Colockum Pass (LONG)
Date: Jun 14 19:53:57 2001
From: Birdking88 at aol.com - Birdking88 at aol.com


Hello Tweets,
Had a full day of birding yesterday in eastern Washington with Fred Boesche
and Carol Schulz. We spent most of the day driving Colockum Road, where we're
leading a field trip, to get a feel for what's there this time of year.
Colockum Road is an old stagecoach wagon road, and the pass is at 5400ft.
This road goes through diverse habitat (from sagebrush, to Ponderosa Pines,
to Western Larch and Engelman Spruce, to large Cottonwoods and Quaking
Aspens), and I think this area is just as good or even better than the Wenas
area. The road is definitely for higher-clearance vehicles, but 4-wheel drive
is not necessary; at least not this year. It looked like they even graded it
this year in areas. Besides the Colockum, we also noted birds along I-90, and
made stops at the Potholes and at Gingko State Park in the afternoon/evening.
We ended up getting 121 species, which is quite a good total for one day in
June.

Key:
SP Traveler's Rest at Snoqualmie Pass
EB I-90 W of Ellensburg
CW Colockum Road; W side of Colockum Pass
CE Colockum Road; E side of Colockum Pass
CR Colockum Road; both sides of the pass
DR Dodson Road
FR Frenchman Hills Road
VA Vantage; area below Gingko Petrified Forest Interpretive Center

Pied-billed Grebe (DR; 2)
Double-crested Cormorant (DR; 2)
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret (DR; 2)*
Black-crowned Night-Heron (DR; 1)*
Tundra Swan (DR; 1)*
Canada Goose (DR; 1)
Mallard
Gadwall (DR, FR; 10)
Northern Pintail (FR; 1)
Northern Shoveler (FR; 14)*
Cinnamon Teal (CW, DR; 4)
Blue-winged Teal (CW, FH; 7)
Redhead (DR, FR; 20)
Ring-necked Duck (DR, FR; 25)
Ruddy Duck (DR, FR; 10)
Turkey Vulture (EB, DR; 6)*
Northern Harrier (DR; 3)
Cooper's Hawk (CW; 1)
Swainson's Hawk (DR; 5)*
Red-tailed Hawk
Golden Eagle (EB; 1)*
American Kestrel (7)
Prairie Falcon (EB; 2)
California Quail (CE, VA; 5)
American Coot (DR, FR; 10)
Killdeer
Black-necked Stilt (FR; 10)
Long-billed Curlew (DR, 15)
Common Snipe (CW, DR; 20)
Wilson's Phalarope (FR; 13)
Ring-billed Gull (DR; 10)
California Gull (FR; 3)
Caspian Tern (DR; 7)
Forster's Tern (DR; 7)
Black Tern (FR; 10)*
Mourning Dove
Rock Dove
Band-tailed Pigeon (SP; 10)
Common Nighthawk (CR, VA; 5)*
Vaux's Swift (SP; 5)
Calliope Hummingbird (CR; 8)
Belted Kingfisher (EB; 1)
Lewis's Woodpecker (CE; 3)
Williamson's Sapsucker (CW; 1)*
Red-naped Sapsucker (CE; 1)
Hairy Woodpecker (CR; 4)
Northern Flicker
Olive-sided Flycatcher (CW; 1)
Western Wood-Pewee (many)
Willow Flycatcher (SP; 1)
Hammond's Flycatcher (CR; 2)
Dusky Flycatcher (CR; 8)
Gray Flycatcher (CR; 7)
Say's Phoebe (CE; 2)
Eastern Kingbird (CR, DR; 10)
Western Kingbird (CE, DR; 20)
Red-eyed Vireo (CE; 1)*
Warbling Vireo (CR; 5)
Cassin's Vireo (CW; 1)
Steller's Jay
Clark's Nutcracker (CR; 4)
Black-billed Magpie
Common Raven
American Crow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Bank Swallow (EB, FH; 15)
Violet-green Swallow
Tree Swallow
Cliff Swallow (FH, VA; 5)
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee (CE; 5)
Mountain Chickadee (CR; 15)
Chestnut-backed Chickadee (SP; 5)
Bushtit (CW; 3)*
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Pygmy Nuthatch (CE; 2)
House Wren (CR; 10)
Marsh Wren (DR; 5)
Rock Wren (CR, VA; 4)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (CE; 1)
Townsend's Solitaire (CR; 5)
Mountain Bluebird (CR; 10)
Western Bluebird (CW; 2)
American Robin
Veery (CR; 2)
Hermit Thrush (CE; 4)
Gray Catbird (CE; 1)
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing (CR; 10)
Nashville Warbler (CE; 2)
Yellow Warbler (SP, CE; 5)
Yellow-rumped Warbler (CR; 10)
MacGillivray's Warbler (CE; 2)
Common Yellowthroat (DR; 1)
Wilson's Warbler (CW; 3)
Yellow-breasted Chat (CE; 12)*
Western Tanager (CR; 10)
Black-headed Grosbeak (CR; 2)
Lazuli Bunting (CE; 7)
Spotted Towhee
Chipping Sparrow (CR; 10)
Savannah Sparrow (CR, DR; 5)
Vesper Sparrow (CR; 6)
Lark Sparrow (CW; 2)*
White-crowned Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Western Meadowlark (CR, FR; 10)
Brown-headed Cowbird
Yellow-headed Blackbird (DR; 12)
Red-winged Blackbird
Brewer's Blackbird
Bullock's Oriole (CE; 5)
Purple Finch (CE; 2)
Cassin's Finch (CR; 10)
House Finch
Red Crossbill (EB, CR; 20)
Pine Siskin (CR, 5)
American Goldfinch (CE; 5)
House Sparrow

*Notes:
Great Egret: Both were at the first pull-off of Dodson Rd. (the one with the
bathrooms and sign with common birds).
Black-crowned Night-Heron: Adult seen in flight in the distance at same stop
as Great Egret.
Tundra Swan: Adult with apparently broken wing in the ponds on the right side
of Dodson Road.
Northern Shoveler: 1 female with 13 ducklings at the intersection of Dodson
and Frenchman Hills Roads.
Turkey Vulture: 4 soaring at Ellensburg, 1 on telephone pole on Dodson Road
(for Diann).
Swainson's Hawk: 5 total along Dodson; 1 light, 3 dark, and 1 intermediate
morph on nest.
Golden Eagle: 1 adult soaring high above I-90 west of Ellensburg.
Black Tern: 10 adults at intersection of Dodson and Frenchman Hills Rds.
Common Nighthawk: All in flight except 1 adult female perched in a tree on E
side of Colockum Pass.
Williamson's Sapsucker: 1 adult female at 4700ft was seen in flight only on
Colockum Pass.
Red-eyed Vireo: heard only in the Cottonwood forest near the East end of
Colockum Road.
Bushtit: 3 heard and then seen west of Colockum Pass, I didn't know they had
made it east of Roslyn.
Yellow-breasted Chat: Heard many near the East end of Colockum Rd; several
were seen quite well.
Lark Sparrow: 2, 1 adult and 1 juvenile, near the top of Colockum Pass at
4900ft.

Others:
Lots of various ground-squirrels and chipmunks.
A group of about 120 elk, almost half of the herd were calves. Very
impressive.
A very young Western Diamond-backed Rattlesnake at Vantage on the road at
sunset. It only had 3 or 4 segments in it's rattle, but halfheartedly swiped
at my foot a buzzed nevertheless!

Charlie Wright, 12
Birdking88 at aol.com
Sumner, WA