Subject: SEVEN Woodpecker Weekend! (Long)
Date: Jun 23 08:28:18 2003
From: Rolan Nelson - rnbuffle at yahoo.com


Greetings, All!

"QUALITY, not quantity," Fred kept saying, but it turns out we got both over the weekend! Doug Runde, Fred Matthaei and I headed out early Saturday morning over Chinook Pass, headed down into the Nile Burn, crossed over into Wenas and up the Untanum Road. (Did I spell that right?) From there we headed over Blewett Pass and down into Wenatchee for the night. Sunday it was off to Orondo and the canyon just east of there on Highway 2. Then on a "lark" we folloewed Dave Beaudette's suggestion to check out the ponds on the east side of the Waterville Plateau near St. Andrews. Glad we did! From there we made a stop at the old Camas Creek burn off 97 before heading home. We ended up with 91 species for the trip including some birds we seldom see, and some we had NEVER seen. All 3 of us picked up a life bird when the Nile Burn yeilded 3 adult and 1 fledgling BLACK BACKED WOODPECKERS. At the same site we were visited by a WHITE HEADED WOODPECKER, a second life bird for Doug. !
On the
way up to the burn we were rushed by a female RUFFED GROUSE that was a lifer for Fred! Not too bad for one stretch of road! Wenas Campground yeilded wonderful close looks at several VEERYS and a very cooperative WARBLING VIREO. Another highlight for us was good close looks at a SWAINSON'S HAWK who was busy consuming a small rodent atop a telephone pole south of St. Andrews. Since this started out as a quest planned for the North Cascades in search of the BLACK BACKED and THREE TOED, a special thanks goes out to Ken Brown for urging us to check out the Nile Burn first, and to Marv Breece for the excellent directions.

Here's our list:

Pied Billed Grebe, Great Blue Heron, Black Crowned Night Heron, Canada Goose, Mallard, Gadwall, American Wigeon, Eurasian Wigeon, Northern Shoveler, Lesser Scaup, Redhead, Barrow's Goldeneye, Ruddy Duck.

Osprey, Northern Harrier, Swainson's Hawk, Turkey Vulture,Sharp Shinned Hawk, Red Tailed Hawk, Kestrel, California Quail, Chukar, Ruffed Grouse, Sora (2 heard only, darnit!) Coot.

Killdeer,Black Necked Stilt, Snipe, Wilson's Phalarope, Ring Billed Gull, Rock Dove, Mourning Dove, Band Tailed Pigeon, Kingfisher, Common Nighthawk.

Lewis Woodpecker, Red Naped Sapsucker,Flicker, Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, White Headed Woodpecker, Black Backed Woodpecker.

Western Wood Pewee,Willow Flycatcher, Dusky Flycatcher,Say's Pheobe,Eastern Kingbird, Western Kingbird, Warbling Vireo, Stellers Jay, Magpie, Raven, Crow.

Northern Rough Winged Swallow, Violet Green Swallow, Tree Swallow, Barn Swallow, Cliff Swallow, Mountain Chickadee, White Breasted Nuthatch, Red Breasted Nuthatch.

Winter Wren, Townsend's Solitaire, Western Bluebird, Mountain Bluebird, Robin,Hermit Thrush, Swainsons Thrush, Veery, Sage Thrasher, Starling, Cedar Waxwing.

Yellow Rumped Warbler, Hermit Warbler, Western Tanager, Black Headed Grosbeak, Lazuli Bunting, Towhee, Chipping Sparrow, Lincoln Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Junco.

Meadowlark, Cowbird, Yellow Headed Blackbird, Red Winged Blackbird, Brewers Blackbird, Bullocks Oriole, House Finch, Goldfinch, House Sparrow.

That's it!

-Rolan






Cedar Waxwing,


Rolan Nelson
Burley, WA
rnbuffle at yahoo.com

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