Tweeters,



Ellen and I led a class sponsored by the Seattle Audubon Society fieldtrip
to the western Columbia Basin. Our objectives were to introduce our
"students" to shrub-steppe plant and bird communities, and conservation
issues in the basin. Though it was calm and mild in Seattle, it was windy in
Ellensburg, difficult conditions for birding these open habitats.



Our first stop was on the Old Vantage Highway east of Kittitas. Here,
deep-soiled Big Sagebrush and Bluebunch Wheatgrass habitat abruptly meets
rocky, thin-soiled lithosol habitat. Because it was cold and breezy, the
morning chorus was very subdued. With effort, we had reasonable views of
Mountain Bluebirds and Brewer's Sparrows. Though birds were keeping quiet,
the shrub-steppe was a riot of color so plants drew our attention. We
admired Sagebrush Violets, Hooker's Balsamroot, and several biscuitroots
(Lomatium).



Continuing down the Old Vantage Highway, we peered into the basalt crevices
at eye level to stare at a Common Raven nest in the area of cliffs that
sometimes harbors Great Horned Owls. At another stop in the Quilomene
Wildlife Area, a Sage Sparrow posed atop a Big Sagebrush and sang for
several minutes, giving everyone great views.



Down to the Columbia at the interpretive museum at Ginkgo Petrified Forest
State Park, the wind was still howling so we took refuge in the lee of the
building where we had lunch in the bright and warm sunshine and scoped
waterbirds in the river below. White-throated Swifts sliced through the air
overhead and, though it was noon, a steady flight of Yellow-rumped Warblers
were flying north in relative calm in the lee of the cliffs. On Wanapum Lake
below, we scoped a few Horned Grebes, a raft of Greater Scaup, and a Caspian
Tern.



South of Vantage we headed along Huntzinger Road to check out the tall cliff
and talus slopes at Sentinel Gap. It was warm and less windy here. Far
above, at clifftop level, we watched many more White-throated Swifts
rocketing about. Our biggest treat here was a Chukar perched motionless atop
a boulder for a full 10 minutes, not 50 feet from the road. At one point I
had to question whether this was a real bird! A Rock Wren posed nicely, too
here. Below us, on islands in the Columbia we had a brief look at American
White Pelicans before they flew off.



Across the Columbia River we headed first south, then east along Crab Creek,
making a few stops to sample the Greasewood and Saltgrass habitat. Breezy
conditions thwarted our efforts to find Loggerhead Shrike, common here,
though one zipped across the road in front of me. We lingered here at
several stops, admiring a pair of Golden Eagles high on the Saddle Mountain
cliffs south of the road. Out came all our scopes and we all had great
studies of these regal birds perched.



Our final stop was along SR-26 at the "County Line Ponds," at the
Grant/Adams County line. These saline ponds, a northern extension of habitat
typical of the Great Basin, were full of birds. Showy shorebirds such as
Black-necked Stilt, American Avocet, and Wilson's Phalaropes (oddly, all we
saw were females) stole the show. A Yellow-headed Blackbird was another
showy species. It took some focusing to study the Least and Western
Sandpipers, and the waterfowl dotting the ponds (Northern Pintail, Mallard,
Gadwall, Am. Green-winged and Cinnamon Teals, Northern Shoveler, Bufflehead,
Lesser Scaup, and Redhead).



Homeward, on Frenchman Hills Road, we had a great stop with five species of
raptors

(Northern Harrier, a pair each of Swainson's and Red-tailed Hawks, American
Kestrel and Prairie Falcon). At another stop on Adams Road just south of
I-90, we watched another pair of Swainson's Hawks mating. Both pairs of
Swainson's Hawks had both light and dark forms. Along the roadside were
American Pipits bobbing about the shoulder weeds.



Heading down the grade to the Vantage Bridge were three Turkey Vultures
soaring over I-90, our final new species for the day.



Andy and Ellen Stepniewski

Wapato WA

steppie at nwinfo.net