Natalie and I ventured into Eastern Washington this weekend to see what
we could find remaining in the still wintery conditions on the Waterville
Plateau and then in areas heading south to I-90 for our dash home Sunday
evening. Although there is not much snow remaining and many winter
species seem to be dwindling, we did encounter 43 species in our 684 mile
trip.

Saturday we headed east over Snoqualmie Pass, birded around Cle Elum and
then headed over Blewett Pass before crossing the Columbia River at
Wenatchee and heading up to the Waterville Plateau:

Cle Elum (around 10:30 a.m. under overcast skies):
- Dark-eyed Junco
- Black-capped Chickadee
- Northern Flicker (2)
- Steller's Jay (15)
- House Finch
- Red-tailed Hawk
- American Crow (20)
- American Raven
- Downy Woodpecker (female)
- Pine Siskin
- Purple Finch
- Fox Sparrow
- Red Crossbill
- Black-billed Magpie

Near Teanaway River:
- Red-winged Blackbird
- Red-tailed Hawk nest building along the highway
- Golden Eagle feasting on something in a field along the highway

Swauk Prairie:
- Prairie Falcon (2) playing tag and exchanging places in a tree top
- Western Meadowlark in nearly full spring plummage
- White-breasted Nuthatch (15)

On the north side of Blewett Pass:
- Bald Eagle

Wenatchee area:
- Belted Kingfisher (2) along the Wenatchee river as we drove past
- Bald Eagle (2 on the same branch over the river)
- Rock Dove
- Mourning Dove
- Bald Eagle along the Columbia River near Turtle Rock

Waterville Plateau:
- House Finch
- Cassin's Finch
- Horned Lark many flocks all over the plateau
- Killdeer
- Rough-legged Hawk (6) all in and around Withrow along Hwy. 2 and Hwy. 173
- Northern Shrike high atop a tree on the next road south of Lamoine
- Snow Bunting (200) in a mixed flock with 300 Horned Lark near Withrow
- American Kestrel (3)
- Prairie Falcon on power line stands north of Withrow (same place as
last year)

Near Bridgeport:
- Canada Goose
- Scaup sp.

We also said hi to Ruth Sullivan when we saw her on Bridgeport Hill Road
Saturday afternoon.

Snow depths vary on the plateau right now. We found many fields with 8-12
inches of snow but some fields have just a couple of inches remaining.
There is dramatically less snow in the area than a year ago when we made
a trip to the same area on this weekend...

Our day Sunday was a bit scattered. We meant to bird and do some research
along the Banks Lake Wildlife Area, but instead we drove back over the
Waterville Plateau past Withrow and then east on Hwy. 2 to the
intersection with Hwy. 17:

Bridgeport area:
- Sharp-tailed Grouse (1) seen by Natalie only flying along Foster Creek
near the bottom of Bridgeport Hill Rd.
- Black-billed Magpie (20)
- American raven (10)
- Golden Eagle at the foot of Bridgeport Hill Rd.
- American Robin
- European Starling
- House Finch
- House Sparrow
- California Quail
- Common Loon (in the Columbia River near the bridge just below Chief
Joseph Dam)
- Belted Kingfisher
- Northern Flicker

Dry Falls area:
- Bald Eagle (2)
- Common Raven (10)
- Canyon Wren calling along the rock face at the Dry Falls Interpretive Center
- Canada Goose
- Red-winged Blackbird (many calling in the wetland habitat at the bottom
of Dry Falls)
- Goldeneye sp.
- Scaup sp. (20) these were great to watch from the overlook, where we
could see them dive and watch them through the clear water as they swam
underwater!

Sun Lakes/Lake Lenore/Soap Lake:
- American Coot (300) in a large flock near Hwy. 17
- Bufflehead
- Redhead (20) on Lake Lenore
- Lesser Scaup
- Mourning Dove
- Canada Goose

Quincy Lake Wildlife Area:
- American Kestrel (10)
- Horned Lark (two subspecies seen)
- Western Meadowlark
- Northern Flicker
- Red-tailed Hawk

Potholes Wildlife Area and Dodson Rd.:
- Bald Eagle (3)
- Mallard
- Common Raven
- Golden Eagle (immature)
- Red-winged Blackbird
- Black-billed Magpie
- Killdeer
- Dark-eyed Junco
- Northern Pintail (25) along Dodson Rd.
- American Wigeon
- Northern Flicker

It was a great weekend for birding!

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