Hello, tweeters.

Just a note from a pleasant trip to Kittitas County on a beautiful
sunny day. Nothing rare to report. Most interesting to me was a
Clark's Nutcracker flying over I-90 at the west exit to Cle Elum,
first I've seen from that highway in 38 years of driving it. It will
be interesting to see if there are other reports from that area, or
if this was more or less of a vagrant.

There is a huge Bald Eagle nest visible in a cottonwood grove to the
north of I-90 just east of the east exit to Cle Elum, with two birds
in attendance. I hadn't seen that nest before. Unfortunately, we
couldn't see it from highway 10, where you can stop your car, so it's
a drive-by nesting. I assume it will be much harder to see when the
trees leaf out.

Quite a few Say's Phoebes and both species of bluebirds around. This
is a good time of year for mammals, as the Yellow-bellied Marmots,
Piute (formerly Townsend's) and California Ground Squirrels, and
Least Chipmunks are back above ground. We saw a few California Ground
Squirrels from highway 10 between Teanaway and Thorp, and I don't
know of any records north of that. This species has moved up from the
south, all the way from the Columbia River in just a few decades.

Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115