Natalie and I spent another weekend birding, and this time camping, first
in coulee country and then in the Wenas Valley. Although we saw fewer
species than last weekend, we had some definite highlights along the way.

The biggest surprise was a Sunday morning full of woodpeckers in the
Boise Cascade Campground along Wenas Creek (Yakima County, DeLorme page
50, B2). Among the woodpeckers was a male THREE-TOED WOODPECKER, seen
hammering near the top of an old cottonwood tree upstream from the main
camping area that was full of motorcycle and ATV riders when we arrived
at the site on Saturday afternoon. The woodpecker was seen from a
distance of about 75 feet and through binoculars only, but I clearly saw
the yellow forehead patch and black-and-white laddering on the
woodpecker's back. The bird was about the size of a small Hairy
Woodpecker. Unfortunately, the bird was only observed for a minute before
it flew into the forest farther upstream, and while Natalie was able to
briefly see it and note the yellow forehead patch, she was not able to
view the bird as long as I did. The woodpecker was chased off the
cottonwood tree by one of a pair of NORTHERN FLICKERs that were guarding
nest holes. If anyone wants to try to relocate the bird, it was on the
group of four cottonwood trees upstream from the main camping area, and
these trees were woodpecker magnets. I also viewed DOWNY and HAIRY
WOODPECKERS on these trees, as well as RED-NAPED SAPSUCKERs. And the pine
trees on the other side of the road from the cottonwoods were reliable
for WHITE-HEADED WOODPECKERs as well.

The woodpecker highlights on Sunday were just part of our birding
weekend. We left Tacoma Friday morning en-route to a conservation
meeting in Soap Lake, and our lone highlight on the drive over was just a
few miles south of Soap Lake, between there and Ephrata, where we watched
a COMMON RAVEN stoop and land on the ground south of the highway and
scare a LONG-BILLED CURLEW into the air. Later Friday night, while
driving to Sun Lakes State Park to camp for the evening, we found a
single CHUKAR along the side of Highway 17 between Soap Lake and the
park. A few more highlights from Friday evening after setting up our tent
we watched a handful of groups of SANDHILL CRANES migrating north after
sunset, and large flocks of migrating CANADA GEESE. A dozen BLACK-CROWNED
NIGHT-HERONs flying south over our camp capped the sightings for the night.

Our route Saturday included sightings of WHITE-THROATED SWIFT flying
along the cliff edges at Lake Lenore, a trio of AMERICAN AVOCETs on the
sandy lake shores at the Soap Lake city limits, and a single SWAINSON'S
HAWK flying south over the highway between Ephrata and George. Next on
the agenda was a quick tour of Frenchman Coulee. We watched our first
TURKEY VULTURE of the trip along the edge of the coulee and enjoyed
photographing a number of blue butterflies puddling at the end of the
road. We also watched a river otter swimming past us in Wanapum Lake.
Back on the west side of the Columbia River, we returned to the Quilomene
Wildlife Area along Old Vantage Highway for the second weekend in a row,
where we again viewed at least two BREWER'S SPARROWs, a pair of SAGE
SPARROWs, a SAGE THRASHER, and a LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE.

We ended Saturday with a drive up Umtanum Road from Ellensburg, then down
Wenas Road to set up camp in the campground at the end of Audubon Road.
Along the route, as we drove toward thunderstorms over Clemans Mountain,
we found a pair of TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE along Wenas Road, just uphill
from where we found a CALLIOPE HUMMINGBIRD feeding on currant blooms in
the intermittent sunshine. We saw both of these birds just over the
county line in Yakima County.

Sunday, in addition to the woodpecker sightings noted above, I watched a
sparring match between a COMMON RAVEN and a GOLDEN EAGLE high over Wenas
Creek in the morning, and a lone OSPREY was seen flying very high over
the area. All three nuthatches were in the area, and it was a real treat
to find a PYGMY NUTHATCH nesting hole in a short stump across the road
from our camp site. As we left the camp area on Sunday around noon we
enjoyed seeing and hearing a pair of NASHVILLE WARBLERS along Audubon
Road across from the beaver ponds on the uphill side of the road. A
single Sara's Orangetip butterfly passed through the area while we
listened to the warblers.

We returned home along Highway 12, where our main highlights were a pair
of HARLEQUIN'S DUCKs in the Tieton River. Our last bird sighting of the
trip was a single TURKEY VULTURE soaring over Highway 7 near the town of
Mineral.

What an excellent weekend for camping and birding! We did encounter rain,
hail, and thunder in the Wenas area, and Sunday morning was icy, but
overall, it was a great time to be birding.

--
Rob McNair-Huff ---------- Tacoma, WA
Author of Birding Washington (Falcon Publishing, 2004)
and Insider's Guide to the Olympic Peninsula (Globe Pequot, 2001)
White Rabbit Publishing ---- http://www.whiterabbits.com
Mac Net Journal ---------- http://www.macnetjournal.com
The Equinox Project ------ http://www.whiterabbits.com/weblog.html