Gidday Tweets,

This is a belated posting on some weekend birding that Marissa Benavente,
Brent Stephenson of New Zealand and I did.

On Saturday we birded from Seattle to Snoqualmie Pass and then to
Umtanum Creek and Wenas camp. At Jack Block Park in Seattle we
had great looks at the Purple Martins, with perhaps a dozen birds present
and female or young birds peeking out of the gourds. I was mildly
surprised to see two Surf Scoters there as well, both apparently young
male birds.

At Sikes Lake we saw 2-3 Bank Swallows perched on the wires
with VG, Tree, R.Wgd, Cliff and Barn Swallows making for a great study. The
group included a few immature Tree Swallows looking vaguely like
giant Bank Swallows.

At Snoqualmie Pass we found a male HERMIT WARBLER paired
with a female Townsend's. The Hermit was "pure" in appearance,
although a look at his DNA would undoubtedly show funnier things
going on than in the British royal family. Nearby, at Stampede Pass,
we saw a Dipper and we had a flyover from two Black Swifts.

We hiked Umtanum Creek a short ways up from the Yakima River
and heard several YB Chats, although none would show themselves.
Marissa did a little dance on the hike out to avoid stepping on a
rattlensake curled up on the trail. Brent was ecstatic to see it as there
are no snakes in New Zealand and he's a big fan of them.

We spent the night at Wenas campground and although owling
conditions were good there were no Flammulated Owls calling.
We did hear 3-4 Poorwills and were awakened in the night by Great
Horned Owls duetting near the creek.

In the morning we birded the creek and Hog Ranch Ridge. There
was 1-2 Chats along the creek, which surprised me, and on the
ridge there was a pair of WHITE-HEADED WOODPECKERS feeding
a fledged youngster. 2 Gray Flycatchers were also present as
were fair numbers of other birds despite the very hot dry conditions
in the area.

We spent a very, very hot afternoon along Dodson Rd. The birding there
seems vastly poorer than in the past. Seems like the vegetation has
really changed in the last 5-10 years. We did manage a few Stilts on
Frenchman Hills Rd., a Lark Sparrow at the north end of Dodson
and a few other good birds, but not a lot else.

good birding,

Jim Flynn

--
Jim Flynn
merlinmania at comcast.net
Seattle, WA