I took advantage of my family leaving me to my own devices for a day and a
half, packed up the mutt, and did a birding trip to see some of the birds
mentioned in recent postings.



Highlights:



BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKER: I parked just east of the telephone pole before
the sign indicating a winding road, at the tallest and steepest part of the
hill. I don't know why. As soon as I reached the top, I was assaulted by
the calls of a juvenile Black-backed Woodpecker. It was incredibly loud,
but I could not locate the bird. I did see an adult male skulking around
with a larvae in his bill. Circling the location of the source of the
noise, I discovered a nest hole with the juvenile nearly fledged inside.
The entrance was three feet above the ground in a severely fire burned tree,
near a ten foot pipe with a warning sign about underground stuff. (I didn't
read it). I left within minutes of stumbling on this nest.



SPARROWS:

BLACK-THROATED SPARROW- at least two, one of which was a male, on either
side of Huntzinger Road in the draw .8 mile from the Park entrance.

LARK SPARROW -Huntzinger and Umtanum Road

GRASSHOPPER SPARROW - Umtanum Road, at Bluebird Box #109. (Thank you Yakima
Valley Audubon for stenciling the boxes in numbers large enough to read from
a distance and can be used as landmarks). This bird responded to a recorded
call.

Also, Song, Chipping, Vesper, Brewer's - a great day for sparrows for me



PRARIE FALCON: Umtanum Road, within a half mile of BlueBird Box #54 and the
snag. Appears to me to be a juvenile bird. Got excellent long looks and
even attempted to digiscope it.



LEWIS'S WOODPECKER-Umtanuum Road



FLAMMULATED OWL - I owled for an hour north of Ellensburg and had at least 4
FLAMS. It was a bright night and easy to see the flyovers in response to my
calls. I had one group of at least three at one location, and a single bird
at another. At both locations, the "hoop" call given as the male advertising
call and response to my call seemed very much subdued to my ears. I can
usually hear a FLAM response from a quarter to a third of a mile away, but I
was having difficulty hearing these birds at 40 feet.



Missed:



ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER- spent half an hour at the pullout at mile marker
23.6 and didn't see or hear either bird. Perhaps one was in the box on eggs,
and the other out feeding.



Thanks to all who posted or provided directions. They were most helpful.



J. Acker

Bainbridge Island, Washington

owler at sounddsl.com