Subject: [Tweeters] Klickitat County
Date: Jun 4 22:06:16 2006
From: washingtonbirder. Knittle - washingtonbirder at hotmail.com


Birding Klickitat County with Guy McWethy Saturday and a few hours Sunday
morning we spent Friday night listening to 17 trains go by at Avery Park
along the Columbia river while trying to sleep on the ground. Between
trains a family of Barn Owls were very vocal on the cliffs above Hwy 14.
After dawn we found a few White-throated Swifts just west of Avery Park. We
checked out the town of Maryhill and found 1 lone Tree Swallow way out of
place for such a dry area. A smart stop along the water at Roosevelt
produced a Peregrine Falcon knocking a small bird out of the air and picking
it up out of the water, there was a late Common Loon not far off shore, and
2 airborn American White Pelicans soaring over the northern part of town.
North of Six Prong Road we noted an Ash-throated Flycatcher using a bluebird
house and a Prairie Falcon sitting on one of the many power poles along the
road. Backtracking to Six Prong Rd. we found a Mockingbird not far from the
western end of Six Prong Road singing loudly on top a large Juniper Tree.
This was our best bird of the day. Other birds found along Six Prong Road
were Long-billed Curlews, a Loggerhead Shrike and an adult Black-crowned
Night-Heron. Just past ther heron we ran into Wilson Cady and his wife who
had just seen a Ferruginous Hawk, which we missed finding.

Going north on Sand Ridge Road we found Sage Sparrows, Grasshopper Sparrows
(heard only), Sage Thrashers, and Brewer's Sparrows. It was nice that Guy
had his I-Pod, even though not all species responded. We made a quick stop
crossing Pine Creek and had the normal plus a White-breasted Nuthatch.
Farther along was our only Lewis's Woodpecker of the trip.

At Conboy NWR we saw and heard Sandhill Cranes in their bright rusty
breeding colors along with 1 Yellow-headed Blackbird. We ended the day at
Trout Lake with 114 species all in Klickitat Co. and our last bird was
shortly after dark with Poorwills landing on the dirt road close to our
camping area. 15 mins later with both of us thinking that we had a good day
of finding birds it began to rain and it rained all night. We ended up wet
trying to sleep on the ground and we found the night longer than most
nights.

Suday morning a quick check of Trout Lake revealed a family of Catbirds
mewing in the downpour. Heading back into Clark Co. we stopped along Hwy 14
and scoped out the Mute Swan and a male Redhead at Steigerwald NWR.



Ken Knittle
Washington Birder newsletter
2604 NE 80th Street
Vancouver, WA 98665
mailto:washingtonbirder at hotmail.com