Subject: Columbia Gorge Birding
Date: Oct 25 21:46:18 2003
From: Wilson E Cady - gorgebirds at juno.com


Twelve Vancouver Audubon members joined me on Saturday, 10/25 for
a birding trip up the Gorge from Washougal to Maryhill State Park.
Our first stop was at the Washougal Sewage Lagoons where there
were 5 MEW GULLS. About a mile further east, the newly mowed fields at
the Steigerwald Lake Refuge had about 24 WESTERN MEADOWLARKS on it along
with two coyotes stalking the newly exposed mice and voles. Several noisy
flocks of "Cackling" CANADA GEESE flew in while we were parked along
Highway 14 looking the fields over.
The bays in the Columbia River held very few waterfowl due to the
high winds we encountered until reaching Bingen in Klickitat County. We
did find one pair of BUFFLEHEAD in a small flock of LESSER SCAUP at Dog
Mountain near Cook's in Skamania County.
Bingen Pond held a few waterfowl that were being watched over by
a PEREGRINE FALCON. Our best birding began after we left Highway 14 on
Old Highway # 8, just past the Catherine Creek Nature Conservancy site we
started seeing LEWIS' WOODPECKERS. In the oaks at the top of the grade
just before Balch Road there were dozens of these woodpeckers visible in
the air at a time. While watching these birds 7 LESSER GOLDFINCHES flew
in and landed on a blackberry bush giving everyone decent views. We
lunched at the Lyle - Balch Cemetery where the high numbers of Lewis'
Woodpeckers continued to amaze us. A flock of about 35 WOOD DUCKS were on
Balch Pond as we headed back to Old Highway 8 for a stop at the granary
tree where at least 2 ACORN WOODPECKERS were busy stashing nuts in the
holes in the tree. Lewis' Woodpeckers were abundant in this location
also. This oak forest now has the largest concentration of these
beautiful woodpeckers that I have seen in any location.
Our total species count fo rthe day was 61.

Wilson Cady
N45 35.618' W122 13.738'
Washougal, Skamania County, WA
gorgebirds at juno.com