I spent today scouting the route for next Saturday's WOS fieldtrip to
Vantage, the Columbia and the Wahluke Slope. There is still a couple of
spots available BTW if anyone is interested. Those that are signed up please
bring your WDFW access sticker as we will be stopping at multiple places
that need them.

I started around Kittitas where a pair of LONG-BILLED CURLEWS were located
in a traditional spot along Parke Creek Rd. Along the Vantage highway,
MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS, SAGE SPARROW, SAYS PHOEBE, VESPER SPARROW, LOGGERHEAD
SHRIKE and SAGE THRASHER were found in most spots that I looked for them.
These were the first Sage Thrashers for the year for me, and the males were
not displaying, but only softly singing, indicating that they probably only
arrived a day or two ago. Typical arrival date for this species along the
Vantage Highway is about March 23 or 24; I would say they were on time or a
day late. The GREAT-HORNED OWL was on the nest in the basalt cliffs in the
coulee.
There was some discussion earlier on the blocking of Beacon Ridge rd due to
the construction of Wild Horse Wind Farm. I did try to obtain access as this
is a great road for shrub-steppe species. I did a good deal of my master's
work on Sage Thrasher off of this road and Thrasher, Brewer's Sparrow and
Loggerhead Shrike are in very high density along this road. Gray Flycatchers
have also been found nesting in these areas (there is a piece in Washington
Birds that will be coming out on this). They are heavy into the
construction, including working on Saturday's right now (the start of the
construction is just around the bend of the road from the highway vantage
point). It is my understanding that once the farm has been completed
(sometime this summer or fall) access will likely reopen, but right now it
is closed and with the amount of construction going on the birding wouldn't
be very good anyhow. The wind farm in mainly located north of Whiskey dick
mountain but this area is the access from the highway. Here is a link for
those who are interested in it.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11717579/from/RL.1/

At Vantage a few interesting highlights, with one being very unexpected.
Around Wanapum Dam state park large rafts of Greater and Lesser Scaup were
present, 300-400 a rough estimate. Despite searching no Tufted Duck could be
found in them. 9 AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS were found below Wanapum Dam. The
flats below the dam have a new security warning, saying that you need to
check in with the Wanapum Offices on the other side of the river to access
these, very inconvenient. Most of the area can be viewed from along
Huntzinger rd though. Also below the dam were large rafts of Common and
Barrow's Goldeneye, about 150 Common and 35 Barrow's. Now for the real
prize.... while watching the CLIFF and VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOWS in the draw
south of the dam, a loud bubbling sound came ringing out from overhead. I
looked up to see a male PURPLE MARTIN flying with the Violet-greens and
stayed in the area for a few minutes, then it headed down stream towards
Priest Rapids Dam. This is not only a totally unexpected record for Kittitas
County, but also seems quite early even for the Westside. The view was close
and the song unmistakable!

WHITE-THROATED SWIFTS and CANYON WRENS were found along the cliffs heading
down to the river off of Silica Road. On the south slope of the Wahluke
Slope SAGE SPARROWS were singing and a BURROWING OWL was at its burrow. A
single MERLIN was found near the Wahluke Ponds. An interesting side note was
that the road that used to go into the large riparian grove on the south
side of the highway is now plowed up and while one can walk into this area
you can no longer drive into the grove. As it was nearing the end of the day
I didn't have time to walk in.

Finally a Ferruginous Hawk was spotted yesterday along Hwy. 24 east of Moxee
hunting the ground squirrels, I stopped today but was unable to locate the
bird. I did have a LONG-BILLED CURLEWS flying overhead and vocalizing at the
spot.

All in all a fine sunny spring day with only minimal wind.

Scott Downes
downess at charter.net
Yakima WA