Subject: [Tweeters] Skamania Co. 11/7/04 Ancient Murrelet, Mo.Chick...
Date: Nov 7 20:32:48 2004
From: Matt Bartels - mattxyz at earthlink.net


Hi hi -
I spent the day over in Skamania County, poking around.

As already reported by Wilson Cady, the highlight was definitely the
Ancient Murrelet at Bonneville Dam. In the period when I watched it
[between ~9:30 & 11:00am], it stayed very close to the face of the
dam, near the orange floating buoys on the far side. Apparently, this
is also where it was found yesterday. The bird was visible from a
hill near the visitors parking area, but there are 2 other options
that seem to be only sometimes available. First, there's a 'vantage
point' that offers a little more elevation -- it's not normally open
though, so you need to ask the ranger to let you in. Likewise, and
best of all, it is possible to be escorted right up onto the dam! The
ranger on duty in the Visitors Center, Mike, was very friendly and
quite willing to share in the excitement. He took me through several
locked doors, and we ended up outside, looking right down at those
orange buoys from above. The Murrelet was right there, feeding away.
According to Tom Herzig, who was there yesterday and today, the
ability to get into these closed areas is pretty much up to the
discretion of the ranger on duty, and yesterday's ranger was not as
obliging as today's --

Also at the dam:
Western Grebe, 1 Red-throated Grebe & an American Kestel, & many
Common Mergansers
Across the river, hugging the Oregon shore and unwilling to come on
into Skamania waters, was the Yellow-billed Loon [thanks Wilson Cady
& Jerry Martin for getting me on it].

Across the street from the dam entrance, at the "Bonneville
Trailhead" for the cascade trail, a large flock of Chickadees
included Mountain Chickadees [2 that I saw, +1 more seen later by
Wilson Cady].

Other sightings:

Horned Grebe - one at the mouth of the Wind River, at Carson

Great Egret - one at Skamania Landing, near the bridge onto the island.
Greater White-fronted Goose 3 - Stevenson, at the Community Park
[Rock Ck Cove]
Tundra Swans - many at Franz Lake Overlook & Skamania Landing
American Dipper - Little White Salmon Fish Hatchery, under the
bridge [naturally], looking longingly at the 100s of full-grown
salmon lined up to get upstream.
Varied Thrush - 4+ at the St.Cloud Ranch park, Skamania

Matt Bartels
Seattle, WA
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