Hi Tweets,



On Tuesday, August 30th, Barbara and I spent about 5 hours in eastern Clark and western Skamania Counties. We got a late start from Portland and started birding along SR 14 about 11 am. The weather was unsettled early, mixed clouds with sunbreaks, and periods of drizzle in the Columbia Gorge. The temperature varied from the upper-50s early to about 70 by mid-afternoon. In Skamania County we spent most of our time at two sites: St. Cloud Ranch at milepost 29.9, a birdy old apple orchard on the Columbia, and the Franz Lake Overlook on SR 14 at Milepost 31.5, an unlikely spot that proved interesting because the bushes concealed good numbers of passerines, though it was hard to get good looks at them. The best birds in Skamania County for us were 4 Black Swifts overhead at St. Cloud Ranch hawking insects above 3 dozen Violet-green and a few Barn Swallows. We also saw Orange-crowned, Black-throated Gray, Yellow-rumped, and Wilson's Warblers, and watched a young Cooper's Hawk make an unsuccessful pass to catch a Northern Flicker. We also saw 10+ Wood Ducks at Franz Lake and on Lower Duncan Creek in Skamania.



Back in Clark County we birded the trees and the meadow along the Dike Trail out toward Steigerwald Lake NWR; the birds here proved to be the usual suspects, at this season not really worth the long walk, but it might be more rewarding using bicycles. Our best sighting here was a very pretty dark-phase Red-tailed Hawk. Our species total was 47 for a short day in the field.



Pied-billed Grebe (Skamania = S)

Double-crested Cormorant (S, Clark = C)

Great Blue Heron (S,C)

Canada Goose (C)

Wood Duck (S)

Mallard (S)

Common Merganser (C)

Turkey Vulture (S,C)

Osprey (S,C)

Cooper's Hawk (S)

Red-tailed Hawk (S,C)

American Coot (S)

Ring-billed Gull (S,C)

California Gull (C)

Glaucous-winged Gull (S)

Rock Pigeon (C)

Band-tailed Pigeon (S)

Black Swift (S)

Belted Kingfisher (S)

Downy Woodpecker (S)

Northern Flicker (S)

Pileated Woodpecker (S)

Purple Martin (S,C)

Violet-green Swallow (S,C)

Cliff Swallow (S)

Barn Swallow (S)

Cedar Waxwing (S)

Bewick's Wren (S)

Hermit Thrush (S)

Black-capped Chickadee (S,C)

Red-breasted Nuthatch (S)

Steller's Jay (S)

Western Scrub Jay (S,C)

American Crow (S,C)

Common Raven (S)

European Starling (C)

Orange-crowned Warbler (S)

Yellow-rumped Warbler (S)

Black-throated Gray Warbler (S)

Common Yellowthroat (C)

Wilson's Warbler (S)

Spotted Towhee (S)

Savannah Sparrow (C)

Song Sparrow (S,C)

House Finch (C)

American Goldfinch (S,C)

House Sparrow (C)



Good Birding!



Paul Webster

Seattle

paul.websterATcomcast.net