Good morning Tweeters,

Yesterday, May 23, I joined Tom Aversa, Rick Sanders, and Dave Swayne as
they did some scouting for the annual Kittitas County Big Day they will be
attempting next week with Steve Gerstle. Birding was limited to daylight
hours and no attempt was made (thank heavens!) to run the whole route. We
started at Snoqualmie Pass around 6:30am and stayed pretty much within the
I-90/Kittitas Valley corridor over to Vantage, then made a late-afternoon
excursion partway up the Colockum Road before finishing with a look at the
ponds along the north side of I-90 near Kittitas around 7:30pm. Here are a
few of the more interesting birds we came across.

In the residential area across from the Travelers' Rest at Snoqualmie Pass
(ABA Washington guide, p. 269), a dozen or more BAND-TAILED PIGEONS and a
singing FOX SPARROW.

At the beginning of the Stampede Pass road, in the wetlands along the north
side (ABA Washington guide, p. 271), a RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER and a hybrib
RED-BREASTED x RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER, apparently paired. The hybrid partner
was striking marked, with red head and breast (perhaps less deeply red in
color, tending toward a rose tint), much more white and less black in the
wings and back than the phenotypically pure Red-breasted, and much of the
black-and-white facial pattern of a Red-naped although less strongly
expressed. As we drove off, Steve Dang, Penny Koyama, and Rachel Lawson
arrived, making a stop on their way to Wenas; hopefully they relocated this
interesting sapsucker pair.

As reported previously on this list, the private access road along Bullfrog
Road a couple of hundred yards north of the Roslyn exit (ABA Washington
guide, p. 273), while still gated, is not posted and no guard is present. So
presumably it is OK to walk up the road, which we did, unchallenged, to the
power-line corridor. In this half-mile stroll we found the full array of
mixed-forest birds -- among them CASSIN'S VIREO, BLACK-THROATED GRAY
WARBLER, and PURPLE FINCH -- that made this road such a popular birding
destination in the recent past, before the Trend West development began and
the gate went up.

In open pine/fir forest on a hillside at the east edge of Ronald, on a spur
off the main road, a male WILLIAMSON'S SAPSUCKER. This is the site described
in the ABA Washington guide, pp. 274-275, and although the turnoff from the
main road has been reconfigured slightly it is still recognizable. However,
the whole hillside has now been subdivided and the first signs of
construction are evident, so don't expect the sapsucker to be present for
too many more seasons.

At the Elk Heights burn pioneered by Gene Hunn we found an adult female
BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKER and several HAIRY WOODPECKERS, and crossed paths
again with the Dang party.

In remnant cottonwoods amidst the creeping residential development northwest
of the Manastash Road-Cove Road intersection, one LEWIS'S WOODPECKER. This
whole area, south to the irrigation channel at the end of Cove Road, used to
be a prime location for this species, which is increasingly difficult to
find in Kittitas County.

Tom saw well a BEWICK'S WREN in the WDFW wildlife area along the Yakima
River south of Ringer Loop Road just east of Canyon Road (ABA Washington
guide, pp. 306-307), but it vanished by the time the rest of us came over to
look for it. Ten years ago Bewick's Wren was quite rare in the county, with
a handful of records at most, but in the meantime it has continued its push
northward through the Yakima River Canyon where it is now fairly easy to
find. It will be interesting to see if, and how, it progresses into the
Kittitas Valley.

A COMMON NIGHTHAWK in flight over agricultural fields east of Ellensburg,
the first sighting of this species this year for all four of us.

Finally, as we drove through the town of Kittitas, Dave's eye was caught by
an unusual-looking dove on a wire. We stopped and got a quick look at it
before it flew -- enough to arouse our suspicions. So we followed the bird
into side streets and alleys where we soon located three EURASIAN
COLLARED-DOVES, one of which obliged with confirming looks at all the field
marks. The invasion continues.

Good birding!

Hal Opperman
Medina, Washington
hal at catharus.net