Following a meeting for most of the day on Saturday in Cle Elum, Natalie
and I spent the last few hours of daylight Saturday and all of the
daylight hours today birding around Cle Elum, the Kittitas Valley, and
down to Vantage. In many ways our list of highlights looks much like the
list posted earlier tonight by Charlie Wright, but we did hit a few
different areas and found a few other species.

Highlights included a flock of 130-plus WILD TURKEY in the Teanaway River
Valley Saturday night and one adult NORTHERN SHRIKE along Ballard Hill
Road near Swauk Prairie, in addition to a dark morph ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK
and a HARLAN'S HAWK on Hidden Valley Road that same night. On Sunday we
were awash in game birds and raptors, with California Quail everywhere
(including more than 100 in the Wanapum State Park campground), a flock
of 12 GRAY PARTRIDGE in a field off N. 81 Road near Kittitas, and a flock
of 20 CHUKAR in the middle of Huntzinger Road near Wanapum State Park.
Along the way we also noted a number of hawks (Rough-legged, Red-tailed,
Sharp-shinned, and Coopers) as well as a handful of Northern Harrier and
a GOLDEN EAGLE feasting on a catch near Wanapum Dam.

A couple of key birds that Charlie noted we also found in the Vantage
area. One, the juvenile PACIFIC LOON below Wanapum Dam, had me a bit
confused and I took two decent digital photos of the bird to help me ID
it later, since it was clearly not a Common Loon and it didn't show any
white on its flank like an Arctic Loon. In addition, the eyes were
clearly in the dark on its head, which ruled out a vagrant Red-throated
Loon. I have posted two photos of the bird at:

<http://www.whiterabbits.com/2003photos/December/Loon1.jpg>
<http://www.whiterabbits.com/2003photos/December/Loon2.jpg>

Natalie and I also observed an AMERICAN TREE SPARROW further south along
Huntzinger Road, along the edge of an orchard with a very active group of
Dark-eyed Juncos.

Here are more details on what turned out to be an excellent weekend for
birding, despite light snowfall and slick roads in a few places:

Saturday morning prior to our meeting in Cle Elum we checked a few areas
around town and found:
- American Goldfinch
- Hairy Woodpecker
- Steller's Jay
- House Finch
- Dark-eyed Junco
- Song Sparrow

Saturday afternoon we birded from 2:30 until dusk in the Swauk Prairie
and Teanaway River Valley areas.

Hidden Valley Road:
- Harlan's Hawk (Red-tailed Hawk)
- Rough-legged Hawk (dark morph)

Swauk Prairie:
- American Kestrel
- Rough-legged Hawk (4)
- Black-billed Magpie
- Common Raven (2)
- Northern Shrike (an adult along Ballard Hill Road)
- Brown-headed Cowbird
- Brewer's Blackbird
- European Starling

Teanaway River Valley:
- California Quail (two groups, one of 30 birds and the other of 15)
- Wild Turkey (130+ that blocked the road at times as we passed)
- Red-tailed Hawk (3)
- Dark-eyed Junco
- Golden-crowned Kinglet

We spent the night Saturday at the Iron Horse Inn Bed and Breakfast in
South Cle Elum - a great place if you are a railroad buff - then set out
this morning in about an inch of fresh snow...

Swauk Prairie:
- Rough-legged Hawk
- California Quail (5)
- Black-billed Magpie
- European Starling
- Northern Harrier
- Red-tailed Hawk (3)
- Common Raven

Hwy. 97 heading toward Ellensburg:
- Cooper's Hawk
- Red-tailed Hawk (3)

Ellensburg city limits:
- House Sparrow
- Mourning Dove
- California Quail (30)
- Downy Woodpecker
- American Kestrel

Kittitas:
- European Starling
- Brown-headed Cowbird
- Brewer's Blackbird
- Red-tailed Hawk (3)
- Rough-legged Hawk
- Northern Harrier
- Mallard
- American Wigeon
- American Goldfinch
- House Finch
- House Sparrow
- Gray Partridge (12)
- Downy Woodpecker
- Rock Pigeon
- Sharp-shinned Hawk
- American Kestrel (5)

Vantage Highway:
- Northern Harrier (feasting on its kill)
- Great Blue Heron (trying to hunt in a snowy field)
- Northern Shrike (adult)
- Rough-legged Hawk
- American Kestrel (5)

Wanapum/Vantage area:
- American Coot
- Lesser Scaup
- Bufflehead
- Horned Grebe
- Barrow's Goldeneye
- Redhead
- Mallard
- American Wigeon
- Ring-necked Duck
- Common Raven
- Black-billed Magpie
- Golden Eagle (feasting on a rock ledge north of the dam)
- Pied-billed Grebe
- Common Loon (3)
- Pacific Loon (the same juvenile that Charlie noted...posting photos of
it tonight)
- American Robin
- Northern Flicker
- Dark-eyed Junco
- American Tree Sparrow
- Belted Kingfisher
- Chukar (20)
- California Quail (100-plus)

From I-90 near Canyon Road exit in Ellensburg:
- Swan sp. (two swans in a pond north of the freeway, not sure which
species due to being unable to stop...)

Happy birding!

Rob

--
Rob McNair-Huff ---------- mailto:rob at whiterabbits.com
White Rabbit Publishing -- http://www.whiterabbits.com/
Mac Net Journal ---------- http://www.macnetjournal.com/
The Equinox Project ------ http://www.whiterabbits.com/weblog.html