Hello Inlanders & Tweets,

Karen & Harold Cottet agreed to leave Spokane with me
at 1:00 AM Sunday morning for a venture into
Woodpecker heaven (i.e. Nile Burn) in Yakima County.
The Cottet's needed Black-Backed Woodpecker &
Williamson's Sapsucker for life birds, and we all
needed several target species for our state lists.

As we drove up FR 1600, we saw several Elk. By 5:00
AM, we were driving through a narrow canyon along a
creek. This creek was lined with dense conifers and
was on FR1600 about 4.6 milesup from the junction
w/Nile Road. Suddenly, we saw a fairly large, dark
brown owl flying up the canyon and watched it land on
an exposed branch under a dense canopy of fir trees.
As we piled out of the SUV, we noticed that the owl
was being mobbed by robins, RB Nuts, and Warbling
Vireos.

Although the owl was in deep shadow, it was completely
exposed from our viewpoint. Overall, the owl appeared
very dark looking from head to vent. We could see that
it was earless, dark-eyed and had very little contrast
between facial disk and rest of the head. We could see
some white spotting on the wings, side and back, but
we never had a good frontal view. It often fluffed up
in defensive mode against the harassing bird mob.
Although I was cautious in proclaiming it, I knew that
we had a Spotted Owl!

Finally, the owl had enough of the unwanted attention
from the smaller birds and flew up farther into the
canyon. (Okay, I was feeling pretty good about my
decision to getting that early start).

As we reached Nile Burn, we saw pair of White-Headed
Woodpeckers, flushed a Blue Grouse into a tall pine
tree, and noted Hammond's Flycatcher, Cassin's Finch,
Townsend's Solitaire (many), recently fledged Juncos,
Evening Grosbeak, W. Bluebird family, Mt. Chickadee,
Stellar's Jay, W. Wood Pewee, Pine Siskin, W. Tanager,
Hairy Woodpecker, Flicker, House Wren, Black-Headed
Grosbeak, Yellow-Pine Chipmunk, Cascade Golden-Mantled
Ground Squirrel, and a Coyote.

However, we could not find any active woodpecker
nests. There was no vocalizations from young birds or
feeding adults in evidence. However, I still felt that
if we worked the area slowly and methodically that we
would probably find the birds in the area.

After about an hour of searching, we were walking up
the bench past the ash pile. A White-Headed Woodpecker
flew into a nearby tree and called. As we watched it,
a second woodpecker flew into another close in tree.
This bird turned out to be a highly cooperative female
Black-Backed Woodpecker.

The BBWO produced a loud drumming that was answered by
another bird farther out. Although, we had hoped to
see it's mate, we never saw the male.

Later, we observed a rather distant male Williamson's
Sapsucker swooping around. As the temperature warmed
up further, the activity decreased considerably.

On our return trip back down FR1600, we observed a
really riled-up looking male Nashville Warbler with
its rusty crown patch raised. This bird was
frantically singing and darting around.

As the Cottetts mentioned that they needed a
MacGillivray's Warbler for their WA state list, I
heard one singing and asked "You mean like that one?".
At first, the Mac was under an umbrella of cow
parsnip. It then chose an exposed branch of shrubbery
(in full sun) and continued singing. Now that was
cooperation!

At the bottom of Nile Road, we saw a DOR Rubber Boa.
We also crossed paths with a couple of birders from
the west side who had failed to find any of the target
woodpeckers at the burn. The consensus was that you
need to get there early.

Heading east on 410, we pulled out on a river overlook
near MP 114. Several Lewis's Woodpeckers were working
both sides of the river here.

Since I wanted to reach Hardy Canyon before it became
too hot, we drove up there next. Mercifully, some
clouds rolled in and capped the temps to around the
low 80's.

A Yellow-Breasted Chat was singing from the creekside
understory, but we couldn't obtain a visual of the
bird. As a couple of orioles flashed in out of the
cottonwoods, a White-Breasted Nuthatch flew in. There
were quite a few more typical species in the site too.


As we approached the legendary "lone pine", we noted a
flurry of bird activity. Many Vesper Sparrows, a
singing Towhee, W. Bluebirds, Goldenfinches, were
among the most notable. As we approached the white
flag in the serviceberry, I heard the fussy calls of a
Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher. It quickly became visually
manifest and flitted around the area.

After Hardy Canyon, we decided to head up to the
Chinook Pass area for better views of Williamson's
Sapsucker. Although Lodgepole Campground didn't
produce any woodpeckers, it was loaded with Pine
Siskin and Evening Grosbeaks.

Our last resort was the turnoff just west of Union
Creek trailhead. The numerous snags in this spot does
indeed host Williamson's Sapsuckers. We saw several(at
least two males and a female) from this wonderful
vantage point.

On the return trip home, we did try for the
Ash-Throated Flycatcher that had been earlier reported
from MP 24 on the Vantage Hwy. When we arrived, it was
93 degrees under the blazing sun. It was not a
surprise that we didn't see much in the way of
birdshere.

This was an incredible trip. I ended up with three
state birds ( Spotted Owl, BBWO, and Blue-Gray
Gnatcatcher) and the Cottets picked up three life
birds (WISS, BBWO, & Spotted Owl) and quite a few
additional state birds. Great fun!

Gina Sheridan
Spokane, WA

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