Subject: 3-Day E WA Trip, Permits, Directions (Long)
Date: Apr 1 08:25:59 2003
From: Lynn Schulz - linusq at worldnet.att.net


Hi Birders:
I took a "vacation" to E WA on Thurs-Sat, Mar 27-29. It was
almost as nice as my usual spring vacation to places like Texas, or
California. The weather was pleasantly warm (70 degrees on Sat), and
it was breezy in places on the first day. The birds came out.
I headed west on I-90 from the Seattle area on Thurs morning, exiting
at the Roslyn exit. After turning left from I-90, I took an immed.
other left on the gravel road that goes up to Trendwest Properties, w/
a future development now called Goldstar. There is a new sign that
says that recreationists are welcome if they stay on the roads. There
is a Trendwest number to call if you have questions: 509-649-3000.
At the top of the first hill, there is a jct where two dirt roads go
off to the left of the main gravel road. I parked there and walked
left to the trees where the Williamson's Sapsucker used to be. A gate
blocks that area and there is lots of brush. Apparently they are
worried about fire danger. Then I continued up the hill on the other
dirt road off the main road. You can access a lot of similar habitat
up there. I never saw Wms. Saps. but there were Mt Chickadees,
Cassin's Finch, Steller's Jays, and flickers. Hopefully there will be
warblers up in that area pretty soon. They have cleared the land
under the power lines, and the brush piles should be good hiding
places for small birds. I continued on the main road for some
distance, and it looks good for exploring. Of course, the plan is to
develop this into a huge place of homes and even a golf course. As I
remember it will be a big resort of 20,000 people! We can only hope
that the bad economy might slow this somewhat. Also, all these roads
tend to get closed around 4th of July, because of fire danger. Right
now there is good habitat, although there is still some snow up there,
and it's not time for warblers yet. I then came back down the hill to
the road (Bullfrog Rd), and parked in a large area to the right at the
lowpoint of the valley. I walked north on a wide gravel road that
leads north to the CleElem Riv. There is a gate there w/ another
Goldstar sign, and I walked around
it to the left. Under the power lines, there is a wetland. 12
Steller's Jays were in a flock there. At the gate, I met Bob, a F&WL
officer
who was scouting for Peregrines and other raptors. He and I walked
north on the main gravel road because he remembers a quarry up by the
river. I hung back and saw Mt Chickadee, Cassin's Finch, Red
Crossbills (bathing in a mud puddle), and White-breasted Nuthatches.
Later I saw Bob and he reported that the quarry is blasted away. The
gate to that area says no trespassing because of fire danger. I think
that may be mainly to keep out vehicles. Walking in a little ways to
look at birds is probably ok? It's Goldstar again, so people could
try to call the Trendwest number about that road. The wetland under
the power lines next to Bullfrog Rd. is not Goldstar, so that should
be accessible by walking around the gate.
I then drove twd CleElum, and stopped at the ranger stn on the right
before dropping down into town.This is always a good stop as there are
feeders there for finches and crossbills. If the birds are not at the
Forest Service Ranger Stn, they are across the street at the neighbors
houses. You can drive to this ranger stn. from the first CleElum exit
(Safeway), by driving toward Cle Elem, and then following the signs.
I pick up my Forest Service trailhead pass here. This year they gave
me some good news. The Feds now allow us to use a Golden Age, Golden
Eagle and one other Fed pass ? to use the trailheads. You can put
your
pass on the dash when you are in a posted area. After mid April if
you wish, you
can stop in at the ranger stns, show your pass, and they will give you
a paper pass that you can use any time also. It will hang on your
mirror. That's so you don't misplace your Golden pass. You can still
use the Golden Pass if you don't pick up a paper pass. Having the
Golden pass saves you $30! per year for the Forest Service trailhead
pass.
Then I headed to Swauk Prairie and Hidden Valley Road north of CleElum
but it was breezy, mid afternoon, and it was very quiet there, So I
headed east twd Ellensburg on Hwy
10. At the "raptor overlook" just past milepost 24, I observed two
Golden Eagles at the nearby cliffs by the road. They were flying
together. Bob pulled up and said that they were a female and an
immature male. The male had tried to mount her and she shook him off.
We did not see the Prairie Falcon, or the Bald Eagles that have been
in that area. Two ravens are nesting at a stick nest in a crack in
the rock at that pullout.
I continued east, and turned down Thorpe Road. At I-90 I stayed on
Thorpe Rd, and drove south 1.5 miles from the hwy. Just past 3 small
metal silos,
near a pine tree that is on the right next to the road, I pulled off
and observed the big fields on the left. 9 Long-billed Curlews were
in the short
grass field fairly near the road. They were calling at times. Down
in the
distance by the river there was a perched Rough-legged Hawk. A
kestrel hovered nearby. There was no evidence of an Osprey yet.
Continuing east on I-90, I stopped briefly at the pond along there at
mp 104. It was very late, and I didn't linger. There were some
ducks. Birding can be good
there and there is a large pullout to get you off I-90 a ways.
At the second Ellensburg exit (Canyon Rd), I got off and pulled in
back of the Bar 14 right next to the exit to view the F&WL Pond. Bald
Eagle, N. Shoveler, Ruddy Ducks in breeding plumage, and other birds
could be seen. I stayed overnight at the Ellensburg Inn, a very nice
place. Woke up in the morning to singing Goldfinches outside the
window. A Fox Sparrow called in the bushes.
Lots of Red-winged Blackbirds. It's always interesting to me to hear
their different songs when I travel. Over in E WA I occasionally hear
them do the song that is on every bird song tape (Conk er ree). Never
over here on the west side where I hear O Hee Ooh. Down at the Salton
Sea you should hear them doing some kind of wierd tinkling song.
You'd never guess they were Red-winged Blackbirds except there
are about 1,000,000 of them down there in Calif!
Fri Morning: From E'burg, I drove east on I-90 to the Ryegrass
reststop at the top of the Vantage Hill. Looked for the Sage Thrasher
but he wasn't back there yet. Saw and heard some beautiful Horned
Larks. Down in Vantage, I drove back up the old Vantage hwy to mp 22.
Stopped and listed for Sage Sparrows. There were 3 singing birds
there, sometimes perched up on a sagebrush. I called for Sage
Thrasher and that is what the sparrows answered to, not to their own
song. I stayed quietly next to my truck, and pretty soon two Chukars
flew in right below me, making pit-pit, and buk-buk-buk sounds as they
talked to each other. The Sage Sparrows made small chip notes that
reminded me of Dk-eyed Junco calls. Finally, I headed to Vantage and
drove south on Huntzinger Road on the west side of the Columbia.
Above Wanapum Dam there were 2 Horned Grebes, one in almost full
breeding plumage. Below the spillway, there was a fishing boat and no
loons. After quite awhile, the boat drifted south, and out popped the
Yellow-billed Loon. There was a singing Say's Phoebe on the fence,
and Rock Wrens were singing everywhere. There were 3 Common Loons. I
continued south on Huntzinger Rd, an area that can be quite productive
along the cliffs, and at the sand islands in the river. V-g Swallows
were flying. Just past the Beverly RR bridge, I was told that Golden
Eagles were possibly nesting up in the huge cliffs. I didn't see
them, but did see a soaring Prairie Falcon. You could hear talking
chukars. Couldn't see them of course.
Now I drove around to the east of the river and south to Beverly.
Just south of the RR bridge, I turned east at the wildlife viewing
sign (Lower Crab Creek Rd). I explored a number of accesses along
there into the Crab Creek WLA. Saw birds and the insects were out.
Decided to pack insect repellent next time, as the gnats were getting
bad. Lots of water in that desert area. It's amazing. It is still
winter there, and the Russian Olives are still dead looking. Near
Smyrna there was a brief look at a Loggerhead Shrike. Started hearing
and seeing White-crowned Sparrows, the first of quite a few.
Occasional songs told me that they may be the pugetensis White-crown.
I don't know the differences well yet but these few birds that sang
sounded the
same as the birds in W WA. But these sparrows had bright white head
stripes. As the trip progressed these small groups of Wht-crowns,
maybe 6 to a group would be along the roads on the way toward Othello.
They were somewhat shy, diving into bushes. I'm sure that we soon
will be seeing many White-c Sparrows, and they won't be shy!
At Smyrna, I drove north on Red Rock Coulee Rd which becomes E SW at
hwy 26. Just before hwy 26 I stopped at a little swale across from
the
county dump. I saw and heard a Vesper Sparrow there (what a beautiful
song), along w/ some
more Wht-crowns. Wanted a Sandhill Cranes coming into roost
experience, so I headed east on hwy 26 to Corfu Rd. Drove down Corfu
Rd by the corn field and just parked. Hundreds of Sandhills were
coming in about 5pm. About an estimated 800! Yellow-headed Blackbirds
came in for a time on the telephone lines, and then left. Drove past
the cornfields and parked again farther down on Corfu. I stayed in my
car at
both places and watched and listened. With the windows up you could
hear them distinctly. With the windows down it sounded like a freight
train. Those cranes are loud. And wonderful. I got very close views
of the birds flying in and roosting, and concluded that they were all
Lesser Sandhills (w/ short bills and dark primaries). Hope I'm right.
Some birds were bigger than others. Are the males bigger? There were
not a lot of displaying dances. I was hoping for some of that. A
couple of birds appeared to bow to one another. But mostly they were
standing or feeding. I finally left at about 6:20 and most of the
birds had landed. There were also Canada Geese in the fields.
Fri night I stayed in Othello at the Cabana motel. It's cheap and ok,
but you always have to listen to the proprietress's sad stories. Oh,
well. Better than the war, I guess. Course, then I went to my room
and turned on the war. Sheesh.
The next morning I went over to the Othello sewer ponds. These are
straight west on Main, which becomes Cunningham and deadends at the
sewer ponds. You park at a cattle guard which may have a cable across
the road. You can listen and look for birds right there. I heard a
Virginia Rail giving its breeding call, chi-dit, and a winnowing
Snipe. Walk in past the gate (west) on the gravel road (but don't
trespass
into the cow fields) and walk to a white gate at the two sewer ponds.
I saw ducks and gulls, including a Mew Gull which is quite uncommon
over there. Off in the distance I saw a Prairie Falcon flying away to
the NW. The little farm ponds in the area on Cummingham Rd had ducks
also. Next I headed north on hwy 24 to the Para Ponds. These were
very productive w/ ducks including Redheads, and quite a few
Canvasbacks. Just past there at the blackbird farm, a flock of
Yellowheads flew up. There were more W-c Sparrows. I continued NW
past the turnoff to the Columbia WLR to the overlook on the far side
of the WLR.
Stopped there for some great pix of that potholes area, w/ mesas and
lakes. Wow, what a view. It's just greening up over there, and
barely starting to
look like spring. Virginia Rails were calling below me.
Doubled back to the entrance to the WLR. Road says to Morgan Lake.
Visited the marsh unit, Goose Lake, Soda Lake. About 70 cranes flew
near Goose Lk and looked like they were trying to land. This area had
Rock Wrens, Meadowlarks (both of these species were everywhere), ducks
including good comparisons of Greater and Lesser Scaup), gulls, and
swallows. I continued north to the Potholes Res and drove west on the
dam. Hardly any birds on the reservoir. As you continue west, the
road jogs onto Frenchman Hills Rd (7 SW in DeLorme). I went over to
"birders corner" (Frenchman Hills Rd and Dodson Rd). The pond there
had several species of ducks, and 5 Tundra Swans. I continued past
the ponds about 3 or 4 blocks,
(0.8 miles past the jct) and I saw the Burrowing Owl at his black pipe
in the ground. I stayed in my car, a distance away from him. I'm
glad I did. I could see the bird was wary. He jumped every time
there was a noise from the orchard across the street. His burrow is
in a pipe. If you park just before the red fence that goes off to the
right, and look to 1 o'clock, he might be there about 70 ft to the
right of the
road in or near the burrow. After I was there, Isadora and Kendrick
Wong saw two
birds there. Stay in your car, or be very quiet for now. I think
they just migrated back here.
>From birders corner, I traveled east again on hwy 26, turning north at
D SE. I was heading to Royal Lake via the gravel. See DeLorme, page
53 as there are no signs. At a sharp left
turn at a irrigation ditch, there is a farmhouse. Park here and walk
over the little wooden bridge. There is an overlook there to Royal
Lake and the WLR lands. On the small lake I could see an estimated
20,000 Canada Geese! There were a few pair of various ducks. No
Sandhills were in the area. I guess they can be here. Behind me at
the farmhouse w/ its large
trees I could hear singing Goldfinches. Then I heard a singing
Yel-rumped Warbler! The weather was sunny and warm, 69 degrees.
There is another overlook from the road after crossing the bridge, but
the view is not supposed to be as close. I turned around at the first
overlook. Went back to Corfu Rd from hwy 26 and then took Crab Creek
Rd to the west. Before Smyrna and Red Rock Coulee Rd, in the fields
along Crab Creek there were an estimated 2000 Sandhill Cranes at about
3:30. They were pretty close and I got some great views of them here.
I then headed back up to hwy 26, left Royal City area about 4:30 and
arr home at 7pm on Sat. Roads bare and dry over the pass. Very cool
vacation. I saw and heard 81 species. I can send my list of birds
(off of this listserv) to anyone who wants to see it.
Yours, Carol Schulz
DesMoines, WA