Hello All,
This large and growing fire has taken out very valuable nesting areas for many migrant passerines such as chats, catbirds,black-headed grosbeaks,veery, swainsons thrush, yellow warbler, nashville warbler, fox sparrows, chipping sparrows and one known green-tailed towhee site. It is burning in timber, woody shrubs, grasslands and wheat fields. The areas lost so far are all in steep canyons. Hartsock, Payne Hollow, North Fork Coppei Creek, Wolf Fork Touchet River, South Fork Touchet River, Whitney Creek, Hatly Canyon and much more. All these areas are covered with oceanspray, ninebark, snowberry, black hawthorn, pin cherry, bitter cherry, wild apples, blue elderberry and many conifers. Some plants will come back and others will be lost. So how will populations of birds fare that are so dependant on these sites year after year for nesting. Huge numbers of passerines nest in this region. It will all be interesting to see. Maybe we should lead a May WOS Field trip called Birding After The Burn. Just a thought.
Later Mike



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Mike & MerryLynn Denny
1354 S. E. Central Ave.
College Place, WA 99324
509.529.0080 (h)

IF YOU HAVEN'T BEEN BIRDING, YOU HAVEN'T LIVED!
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