Saturday night we set up camp near where Crab Creek road crosses Crab Creek. A Great Horned Owl was calling in the distance.

We were awake again just before dawn due to half a dozen male Northern Flickers using the guard rail on the bridge for their drumming purposes. One Flicker already had a female next to him, but he kept on drumming. I got up and wandered about, disturbing the Flickers and by doing so, giving my husband a bit more sleep. They weren't kept away long though, soon getting used to my presence and starting in again. Other birds joined into a full morning chorus. American Robin, White-crowned Sparrow, Song Sparrow, California Quail, Western Meadowlark, Redwing Blackbird, Brewer's Blackbird, Mourning Dove, Mallard, Black-billed Magpie, European Starling, Killdeer, House Finch, and Canada Goose were all present and accounted for. Coyotes were yipping. A nearby herd of cattle said a few words as well. We had a leisurely breakfast, enjoying the break in the rain.

The nearby salt lakes were nearly dry and produced nothing more than a few Killdeer. We walked out to Nunnely Lake and found Lesser Scaup, Horned Grebe, Pied Billed Grebe (at least half a dozen of these), Eared Grebe, Hooded Merganser, Double Crested Cormorant, Common Merganser, Great Blue Heron, Kingfisher, more Redwing Blackbirds, Violet-green Swallows, and a Caspian Tern that made a fly-by.

We attempted to follow Opperman's directions in Birder's Guide to Washington by checking out a cobble road area that goes along the Columbia but had to turn back due to a rather newer but downed barbed-wire fence across the cobble road. We did see more Canada Geese, Brewer's Blackbirds, Redwing Blackbirds, and hundreds of swallows flying too high to ID. The cove near the dam, also mentioned in the guide, was deserted due to what looked like some maintenance boats out by the dam. We were getting hungry again, so our next stop was the Ginkgo visitor area. The wind was very brisk up there and we really did not see much, but what we did see was probably one of the main highlights of the trip for me. As we were sitting in the car eating our lunch, a lone bird showed up right in front of the car. It perched, looked at us, flew down to the ground and then back to the perch. It then flew to another perch, and I thought it was going to fly away, but it turned again, flew in clo!
ser to
the car and perched, staring at us as much as we were staring at it. Then it flew off and disappeared under some eaves. And that was my first ever Say's Phoebe...it was love at first sight! And I only grew fonder of her when I found her on a nest a little while later, her tail sticking up and beyond the nest, her little eyes looking back at me. I could have watched her forever. Now I really wish I had made it down to see the Black Phoebe near Vancouver when it was there. What incredibly pretty birds!

The only birds I spotted from the overlook, were a large float of American Coots with one horned Grebe in amongst them. We then took the Vantage Highway, stopping to look for owls, but never did spot them. When we pulled out at the eastern most access point to the wildlife area there wasn't a bird in sight. But when I started wandering through the sage brush, a Sage Sparrow popped out and sang, and then another. They flew off a ways, I followed, they sang again. And that was the end of the show. But I appreciated the short appearance very much. We continued along to Ellensberg then took the back way to Cle Elum, before catching I-90 to Lake Easten State Park, where we fixed a quick dinner, surrounded by the new snow, that had not been there on our drive east Friday night. Along the way we saw Northern Harrier, Rough-legged Hawk, Rock Pigeon, Ring-billed Gull, Ravens (eating a dead deer on the side of the road),and an immature Bald Eagle being harassed by a smaller ha!
wk I
could not see well enough to identify. In Cle Elum we saw a lot of House Sparrows and not much else. We did come across a herd of Elk on our way towards the freeway which please my husband greatly. At the state park, the water was very low. Mallard, Green-wing Teal, Bufflehead, American Crow, and Killdeer were moving about on the patches of snowy ground and icy water. Dark-eyed Juncos were the last bird of the day, they were hopping about the snow grabbing up little tidbits as we ate our own dinner and dark started to close in.

We had a very enjoyable trip, I just wish we could get over their more often...there's still so much to see...

Maurie Kirschner
Olympia WA
outdoorchickerooatyahoo.com


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