Fred Boesche and I headed over to the eastside again today, this time (and
for the first time) going up the Wenatchee side of Colockum Road rather than
starting in Ellensburg. After birding that area of Colockum Road (up to
where the pavement ends) we headed over to Potholes Reservoir. At the end of
the day we had 127 species accumulated.

Our first stop was a brief one at Snoqualmie Pass, where a total of 65
Band-tailed Pigeons were coming to some of the feeders at the summit. This
is far more than I've seen at this site in previous years.

In the open areas along the northern end of Colockum Road, Lark Sparrows and
Loggerhead Shrikes were very prevalent. Soon we got into the cottonwoods
which host large numbers of chat, Bullock's Orioles, and Lazuli Buntings.
Out of curiosity, I kept a tally of all the Yellow-breasted Chats which were
detected in the riparian growth along Colockum Creek. The results were
astounding to me: 56 birds in 4.5 miles of roadside habitat. Other species
seen along this stretch were Purple and Cassin's Finches (Purple actually
outnumbering Cassin's), MacGillivray's Warblers, Eastern Kingbirds, and
plenty more. Three different Wild Turkeys were spotted. The highlight was an
Ash-throated Flycatcher, very active and vocal on the slope on the west side
of Colockum Road, about .3 mile north of the Kingsbury Road turnoff. We only
saw evidence of the one bird.

We did some birding in the afternoon from Dodson Road to Potholes Reservoir.
Plenty of additional species (Burrowing Owl, Forster's Tern, Clark's Grebe),
but nothing out of the ordinary. Still it was a fantastic day spent birding
these two areas.

Cheers and good birding
Charlie Wright
Bonney Lake, Washington