Marv Breece and I met up with Mark Houston west of Satus Pass Friday night
at the old snow-ski run. It was cold when darkness fell with snow patches
just above us, but warmed up during the night when it clouded up. Our route
on Sat. May 27 would lead us from Simcoe Butte, where heavy snow drifts
forced us back down the moutain, to the Columbia Hills southeast of
Goldendale to Six Prong Road and north on Sand Ridge Road and to Bickleton
with an hour of birding near dusk along Pine Creek Road northwest of
Bickleton.

Hermit Thrushes, (Slate-colored) Fox Sparrows, Dusky Flycatchers, along with
Horned Lark and a heard Clark's Nutcracker greeted us on Simcoe Butte with
Brisk cold air. We were hoping for a Blue Grouse, but only found breast
feathers of one. Are next destination provided us with one of our quality
birds of the day when birding southeast of Goldendale along the Columbia
Hills we encountered 1 Band-tailed Pigeon way out of range. Although not
tough in Klickitat Co. around Trout Lake, this one was a long way from any
normal range. The habitat here was grass farm land with large patches of
oaks filling in the ravines and northside slopes of some of the Columbia
Hills. The wind was just beginning to pick up when we dropped down into
Rock Creek. Vaux's Swifts were moving through and feeding along Rock Creek.
Of course Ash-throated Flycatchers were seen at several places along Rock
Creek. We headed east up Old Hwy 8 where we encountered 1 female Lesser
Goldfiinch along a small ripairian patch. All other goldfinches were
American in that area.

We birded our way down to Roosevelt and up Roosevelt grade to Six Prong
Road. This was a very birdy road with Prairie Falcon, Long-billed Curlews,
Loggerhead Shrike, 1 Ferruginous Hawk, and 1 imm. Black-crowned Night-Heron
on the far eastern parts of this road. We headed north on Sand Ridge Road
and found a flock of the gray-interior race of Bushtits, Sage Sparrows,
Brewer Sparrows, another Loggerhead Shrike, and a family of Sage Thrashers.
Lightning and thunder storms were on both sides of us as we worked our way
north to Bluelight and west towards Bickleton. Our last hour of birding was
north and west of Bickleton along Pine Creek Road. This road has scrub-oaks
and Pnderosa Pines inter-mixed. A Gray Flycatcher was a nice find in here.
Lots of vehicles for a dead end road, but looked good enough for a return
trip. It reminded me of Blue-gray Gnatcatcher habitat if it had been in the
foothills of the Sierra Mountians of California. That night we headed to
the mouth of Rock Creek where wind with gusts and rain made for a wet night
sleeping on the ground.

Sunday morning with all the wind we birded our way up Rock Creek to Newell
Rd. Our only Lewis's Woodpecker was seen here, but not much else. A
Bewick's Wren was sounding very much like a chickadee or titmouse that we
wished we would have recorded it for it's uniqueness.

Mark headed back home, while Marv and I headed west to Conboy NWR and then
Trout Lake. At Conboy NWR there were two Sandhill Cranes (very brown) out
in the lake itself with 2-4 American Bitterns which were flying behind the
cranes. The water was very high. Soras were everywhere it seems. We
checked out Kreps Lane and headed west to Trout Lake. Here we hiked the
trail heading west which runs along the northern shore of Trout Lake. At
one spot we were surprised to see Hermit, Black-throated Gray, and
Townsend's Warblers all together. We checked them over for hybrids, but saw
what appeared to be only pure birds. One lone Red-eyed Vireo sang from one
of the tall Populars along the lake shore. On the west side a Virginia's
Rail called once. We didn't have the time to hike the western most trail
where Catbird, Veery, and Yellow-headed Blackbirds hang out. We saw lots of
Evening Grosbeaks and more Band-tailed Pigeons.

On Monday Marv and I birded the Dike Road west of Woodland. Many normal
migrants were singing from the patches of trees along the Columbia River.
We then headed up to Red Rock Pass, which was impassible near the top due to
snow drifts. Birds of note up here were Hermit Warblers, Gray Jays, a
calling Blue Grouse, and one calling Hutton's Vireo. The Common Nighthawks
had not yet arrived, but this is a good place to see them near Goat Marsh.

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