Hi Tweeters,

Yesterday, Dave and Sherry Hayden and myself escaped western Washington's early Fall season and headed to Yakima County. The skies were sunny and the temperature perfect; it was actually 30 degrees cooler than it was on our Audubon trip to the same locations 3 weeks ago. We mostly birded on the side roads west of Toppenish NWR as well as on the refuge itself. We went to the BOBOLINK location initially posted by Andy Stepniewski, which is off of Lateral C Rd., roughly 0.5 miles north of Marion Drain Rd., looking to the grassy field to the west. We observed at least 3 male Bobolinks as they would fly out of the grass and land briefly on the irrigation pipe wheels. There is no way to be certain how many individual that we observed, as they would pop in and out of the grass and vanish from view for a time. We did not see any females. This species was a lifer for Dave and Sherry and only my second siting. If you go to view them, make sure that you bring a scope.

Other species seen in the region include: Mallard, Gadwall, 1 late NORTHERN PINTAIL and 1 AMERICAN WIGEON, both on a pond near Blind #2 on the refuge, Blue-winged Teal, Cinnamon Teal, Northern Shoveler, Ring-necked Duck, Ruddy Duck Canada Goose, American Coot, Red-tailed Hawk, Northern Harrier, Turkey Vulture, American Kestrel, 2 GREAT-HORNED OWLS in the avenue of trees as one walks toward the visitor center (probably the same 2 that we saw 3 weeks earlier, 1 was the youngster who is now flying but still hasn't lost all of its downy feathers), lots of California Quail, Ring-necked Pheasant, Great-blue Heron, Sora (heard only), Killdeer, 25+ BLACK-NECKED STILT (very common in the ponds on the refuge and also seen off of Pump House Rd.), Wilson's Snipe, 1 LONG-BILLED CURLEW (off of 97 on Toppenish Ridge), 5 WILSON'S PHALAROPE (mixed in with the stilts on the refuge), Mourning Dove, perhaps 20 COMMON NIGHTHAWKS, including one sleeping on a wooden fence off of Goldendale Rd, 5 !
species
of swallows, including 2 BANK SWALLOWS (at the southern bridge off of Lateral C Rd.), strangely, we did not see any Violet-green Swallows all day, we also saw the holes of a Bank Swallow colony off of Pump House Rd, but did not observe any swallows in the area, Western and Eastern Kingbirds, Western-wood Pewee, American Robin, GRAY CATBIRD, Horned Lark, House and Marsh Wren, Common Yellowthroat, Red-winged and Yellow-headed Blackbirds, Western Meadowlark, Brown-headed Cowbird, Bullock's Oriole, Vesper Sparrow, American Goldfinch, and Black-headed Grosbeak. In addition, we followed up on Gary Wiles' Townsend Ground Squirrel sightings and found additional squirrels and burrows south off of Pump House Rd. where it meets Lateral C Rd. as well as to the west of Lateral C Rd. near the juncture with Pump House Rd. They seemed to prefer open areas and terrains with low grass or similar sparse vegetation.

In the late afternoon, we drove up Oak Creek Rd., which was my and Dave's first time in that area. We all agreed that it is a spectacular place, both for birds and scenery. It reminded us of Catherine Creek Preserve, another one of my favorite locations. Species seen include: lots of LEWIS'S WOODPECKERS (actually more than we saw at Fort Simcoe SP 3 weeks earlier), including a few that had nesting cavities, Northern Flicker, CALLIOPE HUMMINGBIRD, VAUX'S SWIFT, Cedar Waxwing, Black-billed Magpie, CASSIN'S VIREO, Yellow-rumped Warbler, NASHVILLE WARBLER, lots of WESTERN TANAGERS, LAZULI BUNTING, spotted Towhee, and several of the usual suspects. We also caught glimpses of 2 species of flycatchers that refused to vocalize and would not stay in one place, so we couldn't get a definitive ID.

Birds seen from the car include: 30+ A. WHITE PELICANS (around the Yakima area), Osprey, Pileated Woodpecker, Barrow's Goldeneye, Pine Siskin. In all, we spotted 79 species in Yakima County for the day.

Good birding,

Lonnie Somer
Olympia, WA
wheelermombi at comcast.net