Spent Sat. in southern Columbia County with 2 missions in mind. First I
wanted to try and find Rufous Hummingbirds in the high country since they
have eluded me for the past 30+ trips in Columbia Co. Secondly I had heard
about recent sightings of White-winged Crossbills in the Blue Mts. just
south of the border and they aren't on the Columbia or Garfield County
checklist and I have seen them in Asotin Co. and just south of the Walla
Walla Co. line in mid summer so I figured they should be there. For the
Crossbills I took my tapes just in case. In the end I came up empty on the
White-winged Crossbills. Anyone else birding Columbia or Garfield Cos. keep
an ear out for White-winged. I think they are there if just had the time to
dig them out. Perhaps another 2-3 weeks and the cones will look riper for
eating.

Friday evening while heading up the Columbia River I zipped up 7.1 miles up
Rock Creek. The Ash-throated Flycatchers were in small groups. Perhaps
getting ready to migrate or just some odd behavior that Myiarchus
Flycatchers do after breeding.

Then Sat. morning after a quick bite in Dayton Laurie and I worked our way
up to the high country. We found a nice patch of Indian Paintbrush and tied
the hummingbird feeder to a lower limb of a close-by Douglas Fir. We had
briefly checked Rainbow Lakes fish hatchery and found 1 Solitary Sandpiper.
The Blue Mts. this time of year are always dry and the birds are scarce.
Two species were still singing. Warbling Vireos and in just about every
draw I heard Winter Wrens.

First birded south of Godman Springs then came back and headed east on FR
4608 which dead ends at Tepee Trailhead. At least the sign said Tepee
Trailhead--Mike Denny knew it by another name. About a mile we found a
young soaring Turkey Vulture which I think is only the 2'nd record for the
county. 2 hours later there were 2 Turkey Vultures. They were riding the
updrafts along the border of the Wenaha Tucannon Wilderness. Farther down
this road was one of the largest Blue Grouse I have ever seen. If it had a
longer tail I might have called it a Sage Grouse. These Blue Grouse here in
the Blue Mts. and the Wallowa Mts. always seem larger than when I find them
in other parts of the northwest.

All this time I still hadn't seen even a fly-by hummingbird. In years past
it would always be Calliope or the odd Black-chinned. Just about to go back
and watch our feeder I spotted a hummer dive. Yes there were lots of Indian
Paintbrush, but I had checked lots of other patches just like this one. I
hit the brakes and quickly found the female hummer and yes it was a Rufous!
Finally! Never worked so hard for such a common bird.

Other birds seen in the Blue Mts. were:
Wild Turkey---1
Vaux's Swift---common
Hairy Woodpeckers---3
Northern Flicker---2
Olive-sided Flycatcher---4
Western Wood-Pewee---common down low
Hammond's Flycatcher---2
Dusky Flycatcher---common
both Kingbirds ---down along the Tucannon
Gray Jays---one flock
Ravens---common
Mountain Chickadees---common
Red-breasted Nuthatch---4
Brown Creeper---1
Winter Wren---7 total seems like a lot for the Blue Mts.
Mt. Bluebirds---6
Robin---1
Cedar Waxwings---common down low
Yellow-rumped Warbler---1
Townsend's Warbler---1
MacGillivray's Warbler---1
Chipping Sparrows---common
Dark-eyed Junco---very common
Cassin's Finch---2
Red Crossbills---2 flocks
Pine Siskins---2

Sat. evening we tied up with Mike and MerryLynn Denny behind K-Mart in Walla
Walla. There we had 3 Solitary Sandpipers, 2 Western Sandpipers, 1 Greater
Yellowlegs, 1 Short-billed Dowitcher(tough in eastern Washington), and 2
Black-crowned Night-Herons.

Sunday on my way down the Columbia I checked the mudflats at Lyle. Besides
the normal gulls and Canada Geese there were 3 White-fronted Geese which
seemed very early. When I left they were flying into the wind going west
towards Bingen.

Ken Knittle, Vancouver, WA
washingtonbirder at hotmail.com






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