Hello Tweets,

Today we made a dragonfly/birding day trip to the South Prairie area of Skamania Co.,which lies north of the town of Willard and Hwy.14. The weather was superb all day and as we left the Tacoma area early this morning a single Great Egret was noted flying north along Lakewood Drive in Lakewood,Pierce Co. It was an odd place to see this bird,as it flew with a Great Blue Heron and could show up anywhere and perhaps at the Flett Basin wetland area near the 100 Acre Woods. Most of the best highlights during the remainder of he day were encountered in Skamania Co. with a few shorebird species observed to and from desitinations along Hwy.14 at the Steigerwald Lake NWR in Clark Co. Most noteworthy species of the day follow below:


Great Egret
1 along Hwy.14 at the Steigerwald NWR,Clark Co.

Turkey Vulture
5 along Hwy.14 at Cape Horn,Skamania Co.
4 along Hwy.14 at North Bonneville,SM
3 along Hwy.14 at Home Valley,SM
5 along Hwy.14 at Cook,SM
1 over Willard,SM
1 along FR 66 at South Prairie,SM

Peregrine Falcon
1 along Hwy.14 east of North Bonneville,SM(soaring and calling overhead with 3 Osprey)

Long-billed Dowitcher
8 along Hwy.14 at the Steigerwald Lake NWR,Clark Co.(with 3 Greater Yellowlegs and 1 Least Sandpiper)

Northern Pygmy Owl
1 calling bird at South Prairie,SM

Olive-sided Flycatcher
3 along FR 66 south of South Prairie,SM

Dusky Flycatcher
1 along FR 66 at South Prairie,SM

Violet-green Swallow
450+ settling along powerlines at the town/community of Mill A,SM

White-breasted Nuthatch
1 at South Prairie,SM(noteworthy for location)

Western Bluebird
1 pair at the town/community of Mill A ,SM

Warbling Vireo
2 along FR 66 at South Prairie,SM

Hermit Warbler
1 female bird amongst a mixed flock of passerines along Lost Creek Rd.(accessed off of FR 66),SM

Chipping Sparrow
1 at South Prairie,SM


Dragonfly specialties of the day included the following:

Emerald Spreadwing
American Emerald
Mountain Emerald
Brush-tipped Emerald
Pacific Spiketail



Good birding,


Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
Fircrest,WA
godwit at worldnet.att.net