Natalie and I made a whirlwind trip to the Oak Creek Wildlife Area today
for an escape from the approaching rain and a look at how the area up Oak
Creek Road just off Hwy. 12 looks in the first spring after fire swept
through the area last summer. Since it was still cloudy and the mountains
are not all that active with birds just yet, the number of species seen
for the day was low, but we definitely had some great highlights.

Our biggest surprise was getting a very close view of a female WHITE-
HEADED WOODPECKER at the Wild Rose Campground off Hwy. 12 around noon.
This is rapidly turning into a must-stop place for us when we take Hwy.
12 over the mountains. In addition to the woodpecker we saw what appeared
to be a PINE GROSBEAK at close range, just across the Tieton River from
our vantage point, and we also saw both VAUX'S and WHITE-THROATED SWIFTS
flying fairly low under the hazy cloud cover. Other highlights for the
day included seeing a flock of 20-plus RED CROSSBILLS at about 2,700 feet
up along Oak Creek Road, and a pair of RED-NAPPED SAPSUCKERS a bit lower
along Oak Creek Road, in trees alongside the beaver dams...

Other birds at the Wild Rose Campground:
- numerous Steller's Jay
- numerous Yellow-rumped Warbler
- Nashville Warbler
- Turkey Vulture
- Red-tailed Hawk
- Red-breasted Nuthatch (heard only)
- Song Sparrow
- White-crowned Sparrow

We also saw our only butterfly of the day here, a simple Cabbage White.
With no sunshine anywhere, this day was a bust for butterflies...

Our next stop was the headquarters area at the Oak Creek Wildlife Area.
The elk are gone into the mountains but the birds normally associated
with feed lots are prevalent here, as were more raptors.

Oak Creek Wildlife Area HQ:
- Brown-headed Cowbird
- European Starling
- Steller's Jay
- Brewer's Blackbird
- California Quail
- Rock Dove
- House Finch
- Barn Swallow
- Violet-green Swallow
- Common Raven
- Say's Phoebe
- House Sparrow
- Red-tailed Hawk
- American Kestrel
- Mourning Dove
- Vaux's Swift

Along Oak Creek Road, the fire that moved through last summer covered the
lower three miles or so of the creek bed, burning many of the oak trees
and especially doing extensive damage along the creek itself. It is
amazing to see this area now, after seeing it in its more "original"
state last June. With all of the undergrowth gone, wildflowers are poking
through the ash, acorns are everywhere, and it is very easy to hear and
observe birds moving through the trees. I caught a glimpse of a
woodpecker in this burned area, but not enough to ID the bird. Seeing the
changes to this habitat has me wondering if there will be post-fire
loving birds here soon - Black-backed Woodpecker and others that like to
move into old burn sites.

In this lower part of Oak Creek a number of American Kestrel were taking
advantage of the open habitat for hunting. We also watched a Golden Eagle
soaring over the road, while American Robin and Northern Flicker, as well
as roving flocks of Yellow-rumped Warblers moved through the area.

Other birds along Oak Creek Road:
- Common Raven
- Red-tailed Hawk
- Red-breasted Nuthatch
- Violet-green Swallow
- Vaux's Swift
- Nashville Warbler
- Hermit Thrush

And for mammals along Oak Creek Road, Natalie saw what she thinks was a
Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel.

Some of our last birding of the day was done from inside Trout Lodge in
Rimrock:
- Cassin's Finch
- numerous Pine Siskin
- Spotted Towhee
- Rufous Hummingbird
- Black-capped Chickadee
- Dark-eyed Junco
- Brown-headed Cowbird
- White-crowned Sparrow
- Song Sparrow

It simply turned out to be a great day for birding, despite the overcast.
It was also interesting to see the numbers of raptors moving through the
mountains.


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