Hi Tweeters -
I spent the long weekend in the Blue Mountains in SE Washington doing
some birding and being surprised by the cold weather -
For the most part, I saw the normally expected suspects for mountain
habitat, a lot of fun but nothing too surprising. A couple things
worth note though:


GREEN-TAILED TOWHEE -5/29 Biscuit Ridge, Walla Walla Co [Delorme
p41 D-8, ABA p. 513-4]. It was a slick & steep climb in cold &
drizzle, and the wait of about an hour made me feel like I 'earned'
the sighting. Nevertheless, it sure is great to have that Washington
Birdfinding guide.
The directions in the ABA guide took me right to one [actually, an
adding error had me stopped half-a-mile too early and I was ready to
offer the revision to the book in this message... only to catch my
error just now...]. For those w/o: From Dixie on SR 12, take Upper
Dry Creek rd 10.2 miles to the crest of Biscuit Ridge, park and slide
down the steep hill a ways next to a draw w/ some scrub & trees in it.

I also checked the Wenatchee Guard Station spot [in Asotin Co] for
GTTO's on Sunday 5/30 but didn't have any luck and wasn't as
motivated to stumble too far down the slope in the [again] cold
drizzle.

Much of the higher elevation Columbia County spots mentioned in the
ABA guide remain snowed in - I drove on muddy-but-decent roads up to
just before the Godman Campground in the Umatilla Forest [ABA p.
515], but from there on the road looked impassable. [All other main
roads I tried (including Fields Spring SP in Asotin & Wickiup CG in
Garfield) were fine w/ no snow at all]

?PHILADELPHIA VIREO?
Today, on my way home, I stopped at the boat launch below the Gingko
Interpretive Center in Vantage after hearing Steve Mlodinow's Birdbox
message -

YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT - still there. It moved around alot, and later
when I went up to the center it or another was singing away from the
ledge of the balcony behind the center!

Vireo: I _think_ I saw the PHILADELPHIA VIREO reported by Steve M,
but I could use a little help with this one -- Over the course of a
couple hours I caught several short looks at what may have been the
right bird.
What was right for a Philadelphia: This bird had a much darker cap &
eye-line than a Warbling, and a very stubby bill. There was a
Warbling Vireo around a little later and I was surprised at the size
of a Warbling's bill in comparison to what I saw of the 'suspect'
bird. Given that a Red-eyed's bill should dwarf a Red-eye's, the bill
is why I'm thinking this was the right bird. Nevertheless, judging
bill-size on a moving vireo is tough, especially given the rest of
the id, below.

However:
However, the suspect I was looking at did not seem to have much color
on the throat/breast at all. I see mention in guidebooks that the
yellow can be very pale 'especially in Spring' . Also, given that I
was in pretty bright light when getting my looks, this may be less of
an issue than I think. I guess the easiest question, for Steve M, is
how the coloring looked on the Philadelphia seen Saturday? Beyond
that though, I'd appreciate comments on how often folks have run into
non-yellow-looking Philadelphia's w/in their range. The few times
I've seen them [in the midwest], the yellow coloring has been
strikinginly noticable.

In any case, the boat launch area below the Interpretive Center was
more alive than the trees around the center iteself, definitely worth
a visit if you are in the area. [Oh yeah, location: Kittitas Co.,
Delorme p. 52, A-0; ABA p. 290, see today's birdbox transcription for
more specifics].


Finally: On the Old Vantage Hwy this afternoon, there was an
ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER at the same location it visited last year at
this time. I had a great moment of having one snag with an
Olive-sided Flycatcher, a Western Wood-Pewee & the Ash-throated all
together at once - wish I did photos...

Location: Old Vantage hwy, at a big pulloff about .2-.3 miles west
of mp 24. Today it was in the trees along the ditch south of the
road. [Delorme p.51 A-7.5].

Matt Bartels
Seattle, WA

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