Subject: [Tweeters] Birding Vantage to Cle Elum
Date: Mar 15 20:03:20 2005
From: B & P Bell - bellasoc at isomedia.com


Hi Tweets

14 of us birded around Vantage and then back toward Cle Elum today. Things started out promising as we headed east toward Cle Elum, but all too soon the wind started to pick up. We headed straight out to the Old Vantage Hiway and sage country. A stop on the tower road resulted great looks at a pair of Horned Larks just as we stopped, and a brief hearing and even briefer looks at a pair of Sage Sparrows. Two more chased each other around on the other side of the road, but the wind was really blowing by then. We made another stop at the lower Quilomene Wildlife Area with great looks at a Sage Thrasher hanging on for dear life to the top of a sage. It later flew to a more distant sage and proceeded to sing.

Just east of mile 22 we stopped and got wonderful looks at a Great Horned Owl on the nest in the cliffs of Schnebly Coulee. Good to see them back there. We took the old road down to the river and scanned the scaup flock - all Greater Scaup with a couple of Horned Grebe, a Pied-billed Grebe and two Long-tailed Ducks. A few Violet-green Swallows were zooming around.

The various scaup flocks along Huntzinger Road were just Greaters along with many Common Goldeneye, a couple of Barrow's, and Bufflehead. We had another Great Horned Owl on the nest in the cliff near where the Gray-crowned Rosy-finches had been reported, but not by us today. No Rock or Canyon Wren either. The ducks on the river were Tuftedless.

We headed back west, picked up a couple of Red-tailed Hawks circling overhead, another Great Horned Owl in the nest on Hiway 97 near Smithson Road. Started to pick up bluebirds along Bettis Road, both Mountain and Western. More bluebirds on Swauk Prairie. An immature Bald Eagle at the bridge over the Teanaway River on Red Bridge Road, and a pair of American Dippers covorting upriver.

Along the way various American Crows, Common Ravens, Black-billed Magpies, American Robins.

A good, but very windy day!

Brian H. Bell
Woodinville Wa
bellasoc at isomedia.com