This weekend's birding adventure lead Mike Fleming and me from Robinson
Canyon where we camped out last night, through the Wenas Valley up Chinook
Pass. We spent several hours at Black Canyon to scout for an upcoming Wenas
campout field trip. Here the highlights:

Common Poorwill (2 heard only at Robinson Canyon)
White Pelican (~40 in shallow water in Yakima River at Yakima Canyon, around
MM8)
Swainson's Hawk (2 pairs - one dark-morph and one light-morph - along US12,
north of Selah)
Yellow-breasted Chat (Black Canyon, Wenas Valley)
Vesper Sparrow (Black Canyon)
Lark Sparrow (Black Canyon)
Dusky Flycatcher (Black Canyon)
Gray Flycatcher (Black Canyon)
Lewis's Woodpecker (2 active birds ~5mi NW of the intersection US12 & SR410
off 410 along the river)
White-headed Woodpecker (1 pair at Nile Burn - about 8mi up the road from
Nile Rd & FR 1600, thanks to Neil Zimmerman for showing us the site)
Pygmy Nuthatch (1 at Nile Burn)
Evening Grosbeak (~8 at Lodgepole Campground on SR410)
Vaux's and Black Swift (Lodgepole Campground)

The Nile Burn site failed to produce Black-backed Woodpeckers. It looks like
the burn is getting to old for them. A special treat was a Raven's nest with
young about 2mi down the road from the Nile Burn.

Cheers,

Stefan Schlick
Bellevue, WA