On my way back from the WOS Omak/Waterville Plateau weekend field trip today
(I'm sure Kraig or Kathy will post all the details of that, and better than
I would), I decided to do a bit of birding in Leavenworth, for my third
attempt at white-headed woodpeckers and my fifth at pygmy nuthatches. I
arrived at the Sleeping Lady resort along Icicle Creek Rd at 12.15, and it
was pouring with rain - but I was there, and unlikely to be back in the near
future, so I donned the full waterproofs I hadn't needed on the official
trip and took the plunge.



At first glance, it seemed pretty birdless - I heard one call from a
chestnut-backed chickadee in the first 20 minutes. But I eventually found a
group of tall pines near the gift shop with some small birds flitting about
right at the top - chickadees, and some tiny shapes with long thin beaks
that intermittently chittered in the right kind of way. It took ten minutes
of rhythmic peer-up-at-tree-then-wipe-binoculars, before one finally dropped
low enough on the trunk for me to get a view of the whole bird, without
backlight or mist on the optics. Finally, a satisfactory and unquestionable
sighting of my life pygmy nuthatch!



With that success, I moved on to the second woodpecker hopeful site, the
fish hatchery a few hundred yards up the road. The parking area immediately
in front of the building had been ploughed, but not much else, and again it
seemed sparse in bird life. I walked past the fish pens and was about to
give up, when I spotted a flock of birds at the top of a deciduous tree
across the river. I followed a previous set of footprints closer through the
snow, and discovered them to be waxwings.



On the field trip, we'd spent parts of three days looking for Bohemian
waxwings around Bridgeport, and come away with a single flock of cedars.
With some trepidation, I high-stepped my way across the bridge through snow
up to two feet deep, managed to clear enough snow away to open the gate
enough to squeeze through, and reached the start of the interpretive trail,
where the trees had kept the snow depth below the top of my boots. Scanning
the few birds that were actually facing me, I found three cedar waxwings,
then one that looked darker - or was it just the way it was silhouetted
against the light? Small groups of waxwings were moving back and forth
between that tree-top and a couple of lower berry bushes in the middle of
the river, and watching those birds for a few moments, I was able to confirm
Bohemian waxwings, with darker bellies and chocolate brown undertails. It
was a mixed flock of about 50 birds, mostly Cedar with probably 10
Bohemians.



I never did find my white-headed woodpecker, but I probably couldn't have
been more pleased than by accidentally finding the bird I'd so recently
given up on! The woodpeckers will wait for me another time, another place. I
left Leavenworth at 2pm a very happy birder, and then discovered that
Snoqualmie Pass was temporarily closed as well as Steven's, and I wouldn't
have got home any sooner even if the rain had put me off. A thoroughly
satisfactory day!



Louise Rutter

Kirkland