Hey tweets, We were the few, the bold on Friday and Saturday as 16 of
us set out on a Seattle Audubon trip to bird Kittitas County and the
Yakima Training Center. It started to snow as we neared Snoqualmie
Pass, and it continued off and on for most of the trip. Every time we
thought we had outrun the snow, it came back. Still, we had a great
time with wonderful companions, and we did see some fantastic birds:
large numbers of EVENING GROSBEAKS at South Cle Elum; an AMERICAN
DIPPER at Teanaway Bridge; WESTERN BLUEBIRDS on Umptanum Ridge, as well
as both SHRIKES. They were all quite lovely in the falling snow, but we
turned back to Yakima Canyon because the snow just kept a-comin.

On Canyon Road, we found a little flock of Savannah Sparrows that also
harbored a Horned Lark and quite a few Vesper Sparrows. Further down
the canyon road, we found one of our best spots of the trip: a little
flock of Bighorn Sheep, standing spang up against the skyline on one of
the foothills. The sun came out and brought the hill alive with birds,
along with a coyote and more bluebirds. It was all quite beautiful,
even though we missed the snow.

On the way down to Yakima, we stopped off at Cowiche Canyon and were
serenaded by a Canyon Wren that sang two full arias for us. None of us
have ever been to Cowiche Canyon before, but we all want to go back
again when the spring is further along. It's a delightful, uncrowded
place full of great habitat - as soon as you get past the junk-strewn
yards of two houses that front the canyon. It's not a place I'd like to
bird alone, but in a group, it could be fantastic.

The next day, we got up well before the crack of dawn and hauled our
sleepy carcasses out to the Yakima Training Center. Then we slip-slided
our way out to the lek, a good 10 miles downrange, led by two YTC
biologists. The Sage-grouse were out in force, strutting their stuff as
dawn pinked the snow-covered hills. It was ravishing, and funny at the
same time. Do you know the way male Sage-grouse fight? They start by
fanning out their spiky tails and huffing their ruffs to show two
yellow air sacs nestled like Easter eggs on their chests. If they're
lucky, a female will take note. If not, they display against each
other. To make a bigger impression against rivals, sometimes one lowers
its head, folds up its tail and assumes a football shape. Then the
football scurries across the lek as its legs go dinka-dinka-dinka. When
it gets close to the rival, it screeches to halt and immediately
spreads out its tail and huffs its ruff. I couldn't stop laughing. If
only humans would fight that way.

After that show, we headed down to Fort Simcoe to see Lewis's
Woodpeckers, which were swooping around everywhere. Every tree seemed
to harbor one or two. Back on the road again, we kept our eyes peeled
for Long-billed Curlews. After straining to find any in the surrounding
fields, we found two nonchalantly feeding in the White Swan baseball
outfield, sublimely unaware of the Little League baseball game going on
closer to home plate. I guess the birds figured that the boys would
never hit a fly out their way.

Altogether, we found 71 species of birds. - Connie, Seattle
constancesidles at gmail.com